A DISABLED teenage swimmer hoping to get a medal for Britain in the 2012 Olympic Paraplegic Games joined other disabled youngsters on the athletics track for charity. Thomas Brown was helping them raise cash for the BBC’s Children in Need with a sponsored walk, run or push around the track at Mile End stadium in East London before the big drive on TV

A DISABLED teenage swimmer hoping to get a medal for Britain in the 2012 Olympic Paraplegic Games joined other disabled youngsters on the athletics track for charity.

Thomas Brown was helping them raise cash for the BBC’s Children in Need appeal with a sponsored walk, run or push around the track at Mile End stadium in East London before the big charity drive on TV.

The 17-year-old has spina bifida, but is a swimmer with Paralympic potential.

He’s already a member of the GB Swim Team and trains at Mile End and at Bethnal Green’s York Hall.

Disability sports coach Marianne Sharpe said: “Some of them have benefited from Children in Need in the past—they really wanted to give something back.”

Thomas wants to represent Great Britain at the 2012 London Olympic & Paralympic Games just up the road in Stratford in four years’ time.

It was a real boost for the other 34 youngsters and adults when he arrived and spurred them on to complete 124 laps during the all-day event, clocking 30 miles to raise £370.

Children from several Tower Hamlets school took part, including Osmani Primary and Oaklands Secondary. Adults from a Mile End special project raised a further £200.