Two Special Olympics PEI athletes, Roy Paynter and Tommy MacGuigan, were recognized at the Sport PEI Awards on February 19th in Charlottetown.
Roy Paynter
Award of Honour
The Award of Honour is not given every year and only celebrated when something extraordinary in sport needs to be recognized. Roy was recognized for his accomplishments at the 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Abu Dhabi, where he brought home 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medals. He placed first in the 200-meter free swim and third in the 100-meter backstroke. He won the 100-meter breaststroke, posting a time just under one minute and 45 seconds. He later added a silver, along with his team, in the 4 x 50-meter medley relay. He was the only athlete from Prince Edward Island on the Canadian Team.
PCE Award Winner
To recognize the successes of Island athletes at an international and national level, the board of directors introduced the PCE Awards. The honour represents the values at Sport PEI: Participate, Compete, Excel. These awards recognize those who have won medals at International or National multi-sport games during the previous calendar year.
Tommy MacGuigan
Inspiration Award
PEI has a number of individuals in sport who can rightly be called an inspiration. Whether they have fought back from adversity, or done things above and beyond what is usually considered the norm, these individuals can certainly be considered role models in our amateur sport system. To be considered for this award, you simply need to "inspire" and Tommy MacGuigan, through his 35+ years of involvement with Special Olympics, has done just that.
