The 2018 Invictus Games are about to get underway in Sydney, Australia and the UK's British Airways gave the nations 2018 squad, a heroes’ send-off at Heathrow ahead of their 10,558-mile flight down under.
The Invictus games were set up by His Royal Highness Prince Harry in 2014 and is a parasport event especially for wounded, injured or sick armed forces personnel and their associated veterans. Some of the disciplines taking place at the games in addition to athletics are archery, rowing, powerlifting, cycling, swimming and wheelchair basketball.
This year, Team UK comprises of 72 wounded, injured and sick serving military personnel and veterans who were photographed in front of a specially detailed British Airways Boeing 777. The jet proudly displays a Good Luck message to the team and conveyed the team to Australia for the games which run from 20th - 25th October.
Alex Cruz, Chairman and CEO, said: “We are fortunate enough to have a long history of supporting Great Britain’s national teams, so we’re immensely proud to be the official airline of Team UK and part of this monumental occasion. It’s an honour to fly the nation's heroes’ and we are doing everything we can to make their journey as enjoyable as possible to ensure they arrive refreshed and ready to perform when they touch down in Australia.”
Mark ‘Dot’ Perkins, Team Captain of Team UK, said: “The send-off British Airways has given us has been incredibly special and we are now even more determined to give it our all in Sydney and make the nation proud. When we walk out in front of the crowd for the opening ceremony it will be an intense experience so having British Airways’ expert crew on hand to make our journey to Australia as seamless as possible is incredibly reassuring and an immense support.”
Members of the UK's team will compete in 11 sports: Athletics; Archery; Wheelchair Basketball; Cycling; Powerlifting; Indoor Rowing; Wheelchair Rugby; Swimming, Sitting Volleyball, Wheelchair Tennis and a new sport for 2018, Sailing, which will take place in Sydney Harbour.
