6:00a.m. 4th July 2008

| By Grant Reynolds

The money is in the bank, now it’s off to Portugal for the Australian Down Syndrome swim team.

USM Events are the latest local business to show their generosity and donate the athletes’ quest for gold.

USM Events general manager Geoff Meyer said every time USM ran a sporting event, a portion of funds was donated to a charity and after a successful Noosa Blue Water Swim in May he was happy to hand over a cheque for $1828 to the swimmers.

“We chose a local charity to get involved with and these guys are doing such a great job,” he said.

“The amount of world records and medals they’ve won is just incredible.

“We fully support what they’re trying to do.”

Team manager Sue Stanley said the swimmers were raring to go and the team could concentrate on training now the funds had been arranged to get the team to Portugal in November this year.

The entire Australian squad will assemble at Noosa in September for another intensive training camp.