Breaking Barriers: Watersports Inclusion Games Launched in Malahide
The 2025 Watersports Inclusion Games were launched today, Monday 12 May, at Malahide Yacht Club by Lord Mayor of Fingal, Brian McDonogh. The event, set to take place in Malahide Yacht Club, Co. Dublin on the 5th and 6th of July in 2025, is a landmark event celebrating watersports for people of all abilities from the physical, sensory, intellectual and learning spectrums, and of all ages and demographics.
The Watersports Inclusion Games is a national event which aims to make watersports a more inclusive and accessible place for all. It is organised by Irish Sailing in association with Malahide Yacht Club, Canoeing Ireland, Diving Ireland and Fingal Local Sports Partnership. The event is supported with activities by Spinal Injuries Ireland and Sailing into Wellness. Offering further support are numerous local and national organisations including Safe Haven Sailing, Sail Training Ireland and clubs and training centres from around the country who will support the event with resources, volunteers, instructors and facilitators.
First run in 2017, the Games will take place on the sheltered waters of the Malahide estuary, an ideal venue to accommodate all spectrums of activity. In fact, it was Malahide YC Committee member Sean Walsh who was instrumental in the first coordinated disabled sailing project in 1981 with the Challenger Trimaran Project. This introduced wheelchair users to sailing and grew into an extremely successful programme of inclusive sailing.
There will be sailing, kayaking, canoeing, paddle boarding and fast boat rides. Over 400 participants are expected to take part across the weekend.The games, which are now a regular landmark occasion during the summer watersports calendar, are the product of ongoing inclusion training and awareness drives being activated by the organising bodies in line with Sport Ireland’s Policy on Participation in Sport by People with Disabilities and are enabled by grant funding from Sport Ireland Dormant Accounts Sports Inclusion Fund.
Speaking at the launch, Irish Sailing COO, Sarah-Louise Rossiter said,
“I am delighted to be here to launch the annual Watersports Inclusion Games. It is events such as this that will help to inspire people of all abilities to take part in watersports activities and perhaps even one day compete for Ireland in Paralympic sport."
Margaret Fay, Commodore of Malahide Yacht Club at the launch,
“The Inclusion Games has become an annual landmark occasion, celebrating inclusive watersports activity. By raising national awareness of inclusive opportunities and encouraging more watersports providers to adopt an equal-access approach to watersports delivery, we aim to ensure greater accessibility on the water to enhance the lives of disabled people throughout the country; we plan to run a safe fun-filled event, it is very exciting.”