50 promising young athletes recognised and funded by GO GOLD

50 promising young athletes from 14 sports from Judo through to Sailing, have been successful in receiving grants as part of our GO GOLD Funding Programme 2018/19.

The aim of GO GOLD is to support local talented athletes who are being recognised by their National Governing Bodies of Sport as being our future Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games participants.

The athletes were presented with their grants by the Chairman of Leicestershire County Council Janice Richards, at County Hall on Thursday 19^th April. The grants aim to provide valuable financial support towards kit, equipment, travel and accommodation for competitions and tournaments.

Funding ranges from £250-£1,000, and Podium level funding is provided by Leicestershire County Council, Leicester City Council and Rutland County Council to those athletes who are competing at Regional (East Midlands), National or International Level in an Olympic, Paralympic or Commonwealth discipline.

Athletes have been successful from 8 districts across Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland. All Podium level athletes will also receive free Leisure passes to their local Leisure Centre, to support their training programme.

• Blaby - 7 athletes supported
• Charnwood - 12 athletes supported
• Harborough - 8 athletes supported
• Hinckley and Bosworth - 4 athletes supported
• Leicester City - 7 athletes supported
• North West Leicestershire - 5 athletes supported
• Oadby and Wigston - 3 athletes supported
• Rutland - 4 athletes supported

Harrison Gamble from the recently crowned Basketball League Champions Leicester Riders, congratulated the athletes and spoke through his experiences in sport: "I was told by my first coach I would never make it as a pro; so, keep working hard, listen to your parents and try and talk to as many athletes in your sport as you can".

GO GOLD Ambassador Harriet West from North West Leicestershire, who has now secured her second year of GO GOLD funding and represented her nation at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, said: "Swimming is quite an expensive sport, so the money helps with hotels, travel and the equipment we use. The funding from GO GOLD really does go a long way. Now I'm going to keep going to see where I can get to".

Athletics star and GO GOLD Ambassador, Amy Griffiths from Oadby & Wigston also spoke of her gratitude for the funding opportunity: "It's just a great source of funding and it helps me in athletics so much. It's going to help me a tremendous amount, so I can go away and train in places and compete in races to help with my qualifying times, and race against the best girls in the country and in the world. It also means I can pay for things that I need like physio and equipment, helping me become the best I can be".

The Chairman Trophy Award for the most improved athlete was awarded to hurdler, Victoria Johnson from Charnwood, and humoured the audience with a modest speech:"I do things like slow drills, train and getting the technique right… that's it really". Compere for the evening, Gaynor Nash, reiterated how athletes who won this award, "have gone onto competing in the Olympic games, representing their county or turned professional".

All the GO GOLD athletes will be blogging throughout the year on their competition and training progress – visit www.lrsport.org/blogs to read the latest Blogs.

Pictured: GO GOLD Ambassadors.