GREAT BRITAIN TAKE SILVER IN WHEELCHAIR RUGBY EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS!

Get Kids Going! support Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby by providing the team with their Paralympic Rugby wheelchairs. The team, pictured above during a recent event, are showing great form in the build up to the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

The Great Britain Wheelchair Rubgy team achieved great success by claiming a silver medal at the International Wheelchair Rugby Federation (IWRF) European Championships in Nottwil, Switzerland on Sunday 9th October.

By claiming the silver medal, the Great Britain team also confirmed their qualification for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby CEO David Pond reflected on his blog :

“It has been a tough tournament – just what we have needed at this stage of our paralympic preparation – and I think we can be proud that our new look team is really starting to shape up.”

Great Britain had defeated previous European Champions Belgium by a single point before succumbing to Sweden 49-42 in the final.

Get Kids Going! has teamed up with Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby (GBWR) to support talented wheelchair rugby players on their journey to sporting excellence. This year Get Kids Going! have supported the 'Florida Project', an 8 week intensive international training camp where some of the brightest young talents in wheelchair rugby come together. Get Kids Going! Will continue to support Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby with bespoke rugby wheelchairs all the way to the 2012 Paralympics. Aaron Phipps from the Florida project said: “Being a part of the Florida project has got me closer to playing for Great Britain. Thanks Get Kids Going!”

CONGRATULATIONS TO TEAM GB ON A FANTASTIC PERFORMANCE AT THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS!

SHELLY SECOND IN NEW YORK!

Shelly Woods in action earlier this year

Shelly Woods, Get Kids Going! wheelchair athlete, surprised the charity by deciding at the last minute to take part in the New York City Marathon Wheelchair Race on Sunday November 6th. Bride-to-be Shelly came second in the Women’s Wheelchair race at the ING New York City Marathon after unexpectedly racing just three weeks prior to her wedding!

Shelly raced to her best ever time in New York – 01:52:52 – but it was not quite enough to win as Amanda McGrory pipped her to the line – gaining revenge for Shelly’s victory at the Bupa Great North Run in September!

Speaking after the race on her Twitter feed , Shelly was quick to offer her congratulations to rival and friend Amanda. The pair have swapped a number of victories in recent months as the build up to the 2012 Paralympic Games in London hots-up!

Shelly is one of Britain’s best medal hopes and has been supported by Get Kids Going! since age fourteen. She believes that without the support of the charity, she would not be competing at the level she is now.

Shelly will be marrying her fiancée Chris in her home town of Lytham St Annes – we wish the couple all the best.

CONGRATULATIONS TO SHELLY ON A PERSONAL BEST IN THE ING NEW YORK CITY MARATHON WHEELCHAIR RACE!

GET KIDS GOING! RUNNERS RULE THE ROYAL PARKS FOUNDATION HALF MARATHON!

Motahar Hossain (second from left) posing with his medal at the Get Kids Going! stand after the race.

Motahar Hossain was one of the fabulous Get Kids Going! runners who took part in the Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon on Sunday 9th October 2011.

Motahar completed the course in a time of 01:42:11 and said after the race that it was a fantastic course and great to run for Get Kids Going!

The Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon is one of the most scenic city runs in the world, with a beautiful 13.1 mile autumnal route through four of London’s magnificent Royal Parks and past some of the capital’s most iconic landmarks.

If you, like Motahar, would like to help Get Kids Going!, you can sign up for the Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon in 2012 by clicking here and entering and paying online. It’s easy and safe.


WELL DONE TO ALL OUR FANTASTIC RUNNERS AT THE ROYAL PARKS FOUNDATION HALF MARATHON!!!!!

GET KIDS GOING! TEAM BRILLIANT IN BERLIN

Craig Fenemore was just one of many Get Kids Going! runners who took part in this year’s BMW Berlin Marathon on 25th September 2011.

Craig crossed the finishing line in a time of 03:36:22 and can be seen in the picture above posing with his hard-won medal!

The course is a famously fast and flat 26-mile loop and bills itself as “the fastest marathon in the world”. This loop starts and ends at one of Berlin's most outstanding monuments - the Brandenburg Gate. After the runners set off they will come across famous locations such as the Reichstag, the Rathaus Schoenberg, Potsdamer Platz (near to the line of the Berlin Wall), and many others, before making their way back to the Brandenburg Gate and the finish line!

If you, like Craig, would like to help Get Kids Going! by running the Berlin Marathon, please do sign up for BMW Berlin Marathon 2012 here!!!!!

WELL DONE TO ALL OUR FANTASTIC RUNNERS AT THE BMW BERLIN MARATHON!!

SUPER SHELLY STORMS TO VICTORY AT BUPA GREAT NORTH RUN!

Shelly Woods retained her wheelchair title and won the Bupa Great North Run title for a fourth time in a time of 50:14 ahead of the USA's Amanda McGrory and Italy's Francesca Porcellato. The race, which took place in Newcastle on Sunday 18th August, is generally considered to be one of the world’s best half marathons and attracted a star studded field.

The victory marks another highlight for Shelly in 2011 following impressive recent performances and continues Shelly’s domination over the Newcastle course. Shelly is a massive fan of Get Kids Going! and has been supported by the charity since aged 14. In an interview last month, Shelly said that without the support of the charity, she would not be competing at the level she is now.

If you too would like to compete in the fantastic Bupa Great North Run in 2012 you can sign up and pay online using the following link . There are also plenty of other events coming up including The Bupa Great South Run in Portsmouth on October 30th 2011; The Virgin London Marathon 2012 ; The Paris Marathon 2012 and many others.

CONGRATULATIONS TO SHELLY ON ANOTHER FANTASTIC VICTORY!

JOSH PARTNERS PM!!

Get Kids Going! was represented at International Paralympic day on the 8th September in Trafalgar Square as Josh Steels partnered David Cameron in an exhibition tennis match. The pair played a match against London mayor Boris Johnson and his partner as the day helped to promote next year’s Paralympic Games which run from 29th August to 9th September 2012.

Get Kids Going! wheelchair-tennis player Josh has been in fine form recently and has competed all over Europe in the aim of boosting his world ranking. 18 year-old Josh was a runner up in the National Wheelchair Tennis Championships in May and also helped Great Britain to a fourth-placed finish at the World Team Cup, staged in South Africa in April. Josh believes his new Get Kids Going!-funded wheelchair has helped to improve his performances this year and credits the charity with helping him out massively with the financial costs of competing.

Speaking to the BBC just after the event, Get Kids Going! President Sebastian Coe said, “People get Paralympic sport in this country. Our history in the Paralympic movement and that many of our Paralympians are household names gives us a real head start in this country.”

Paralympic tickets are on sale now here …so Get Kids Going! encourages everyone to make the most of this opportunity to see the fantastic Get Kids Going! athletes in action.

SHEIKH STARRING FOR GET KIDS GOING!

Sheikh Muhadin Sheikh is one of Get Kids Going!’s most talented young wheelchair-racers. Sheikh started wheelchair racing in just 2007- when he first tried the sport on the recommendation of his school teacher in East London. Like many of his fellow athletes, he confesses to a love of speed and says that David Weir, the five-time London Marathon winner, double Paralympic Gold Medallist, and Vice President of Get Kids Going!, is his role model.

This year has been Sheikh’s most successful yet. At the London Marathon in 2011, Sheikh won the wheelchair race 14-17 age category with a time of 12 minutes 30 seconds – meaning that Sheikh is approximately twice as quick as he was in 2009 when he completed the same distance in 25 minutes.

For Sheikh, this massive change is quite simple – it is “all because of Get Kids Going! and the new chair”.

Sheikh says that Get Kids Going! has “changed my life”.

“Before I had a really small chair…I had outgrown it. Get Kids Going! has helped me to set all of these new personal bests”

Sheikh has recently returned from the Swiss Open Championship where he won his heats in the 100m, 200m and 400m. He finished third in the 800m and helped the Great Britain Junior Team to fourth in the 4x400m relay.

Sheikh will be competing in a number of events in the near future, including the BUPA Great North Run – where many get Kids Going! supporters will also be doing their bit for the charity. To get a charity place for the Great North Run 2012 please follow this link

MICKEY SMASHES WHEELCHAIR-RACING WORLD RECORD!

Mickey Bushell has been wheelchair racing since aged ten when he first tried the sport and was hooked by “the thrill of going fast!” He is now a major medal hope for Britain at the London Paralympics in 2012 and is hoping, of course, to bring home a gold medal. Mickey is massively optimistic about his chances in 2012 and also about British Paralympics in general. He describes the current atmosphere in the Great Britain team as “one great community”.

Mickey surprised some when he burst onto the scene to win a silver medal at the Beijing Paralympics but he will certainly not catch anyone by surprise this time around! In August 2011 Mickey broke his own T53 100m world record in the heats of the US National Championships in Miami. His time of 13.84 was a huge improvement on his previous record of 14.47 and nearly a full second ahead of the second placed athlete.

Mickey says about his support: “The race chair and training grant I received from Get Kids Going! helped me get off to a flying start to win my silver medal in Beijing 2008. I couldn’t carry on and do what I do without Get Kids Going!”

DANIELLE HITS THE BULLS-EYE!

Disabled archer Danielle Brown achieved massive success during the recent Paralympic World Championships in Torino and, on Tuesday 9th August 2011, was also been named the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) Athlete of the Month.

Danielle said that she was “really really pleased with her performance” at the Paralympic World Championships when she came away with an individual gold medal in the Women’s compound, two team silvers (in the mixed team event and the Compound Women’s event), and a new world record. For Danielle it was the culmination of a sustained period of really hard work and the event marked the moment when “everything came together”. Having now won the World Championships three times, Danielle is firmly focused on achieving success at the London 2012 Paralympics.

Danielle has been competing in the sport for eight years having started at the age of fifteen. Get Kids Going! paid for a new wheelchair for Danielle at a stage when her previous chair was so old that she was “pushing around on one arm”! Danielle said: “the prices are astronomical” and that without the massive support of Get Kids Going!, financing her new equipment would have been a struggle.

SHELLY & HANNAH STAR AT DISABILITY ATHLETICS LONDON GRAND PRIX

Get Kids Going! stars Hannah Cockroft and Shelly Woods starred during the Disability Athletics London Grand Prix in Crystal Palace on the 5th & 6th of August 2011.

Shelly stormed to victory in the T54 800m on Friday night in a time of 1:59.16, beating nearest rival Keira Frie to second place.

Hannah also impressed at Crystal Palace and clocked an impressive time of 1:01.19 in the mixed classification T52-54 women’s 400m on Saturday. Speaking after the race Cockcroft credited her success to her new wheelchair and said:

“I’ve just got a new racing chair so I’m still getting used to it, but it’s great to have a chair that fits. We’re always working to improve something and it’s paying off; I’ve now nailed my start and I’ve got a good top end speed – now it’s just my transition phase I need to work on! It’s all really coming together now”

Meanwhile Shelly was also pleased with her work throughout the weekend, having used the high quality meeting as an opportunity to “try out some different tactics”. Speaking after her victory Shelly said:

“I’m happy. It was a good race. I’m starting to find some good speed now. I’m taking each race as it comes and treating every race as a stepping stone towards the London Paralympics.”

Hannah has been supported by Get Kids Going! for the last year. Shelly has been part of the Get Kids Going! team since age fourteen and believes that without the support of the charity, she would not be competing at the level she is now.

CONGRATULATIONS TO HANNAH AND SHELLY ON A GREAT WEEKEND!

BIG YELLOW FELLOWS GET ON THEIR BIKES FOR GET KIDS GOING!

Luke McLaughlin, Paul Holmes and Mike Fitzgerald, who all work for the self-storage provider ‘Big Yellow’, are cycling nearly 200 miles over two days for Get Kids Going!, as they undertake the first part of their ‘Gold Challenge’ for the charity.

The boys, who will be competing under the name ‘Big Yellow Fellows’, will be attempting to navigate around all 34 of the Big Yellow stores within the boundary of the M25. Mike Fitzgerald, who has taken on the mantle of team leader, said:

“We had been talking about doing something for charity for a while and with the Olympics approaching, endurance cycling seems like the perfect thing to do.”

Mike went on to admit that “we are all comfortable on a bike but I have to admit the idea of cycling 191 miles over two days has taken some getting used to!”

In addition to endurance cycling, the Big Yellow Fellows will also be competing in five other Olympic events over the next few months as part of the Gold Challenge. If you are interested in taking part in the Gold Challenge yourself then please do click on the link above. Alternatively you can call the office on 020 7481 8110 or email info@getkidsgoing.com for further information.

If you would like to sponsor the Big Yellow Fellows then please do help them out by visiting their fundraising page

GOOD LUCK TO THE BIG YELLOW FELLOWS!

H&T PAWNBROKERS RAISE FUNDS FOR GET KIDS GOING!

Having joined forces at the beginning of the year, H&T Pawnbrokers has been orchestrating a series of company-wide fundraising days to support Get Kids Going!

The first, on the 16th July, featured staff giving away balloons, running drawing competitions, working in fancy dress, and giving away loads of sweets and cakes! The Fareham and Portsmouth stores even held a non-stop bike ride where staff took it in turns to jump on an exercise bike for the whole day. Having thoroughly exhausted themselves in the name of charity, they certainly deserved a break on the following day.

Get Kids Going! are proud to be associated with H&T Pawnbrokers and congratulate them on making it to their first £10k (that’s pounds sterling...not kilometres on the exercise bike!).

CONGRATS TO H&T PAWNBROKERS! HERE’S TO THE NEXT £10K!

DEREK MAKING GOOD PROGRESS IN EPIC WALK

Get Kids Going! was delighted to catch up with Derek on Monday 22nd August to talk to him about his progress through a charity walk from Leeds to Plymouth and back again (a distance of over 700 miles). Speaking from a service station in Worcester, before a 26 mile walk to Gloucester the following day, Derek admitted to “putting his feet up for a while!”

Derek, who has raised nearly £57,000.00 for charity so far, chose Get Kids Going! as one of his causes because he is “deeply impressed with the aims of the charity and giving disabled people the wonderful opportunity of participating in sport”.
After two years of preparation, Derek was delighted to finally be on the way and confessed to having his 55lb rucksack packed over a week before the start date! Derek is fully aware of the difficulties of the challenge and has already endured a number of “hard times” (including several detours which have added extra miles) in amongst the week that he has been walking. Derek can, however, look forward to celebrating his 50th birthday in the town of Plymouth where he was born, and to running the Great North Run for Get Kids Going! just two days after he is scheduled to return home!

Get Kids Going! is delighted to have long-term supporter Derek Brown on the team for this amazing adventure. We wish him every success during his walk.
If you would like to contribute to Derek’s fundraising then please visit his website at www.derekswalk2011.org . Once there, it is possible to support Get Kids Going! by clicking the ‘Sponsor Derek’ box, and picking Get Kids Going!

Derek also has a Twitter page which can be viewed even without a twitter account), where he will be putting updates and photos from each day of his walk.

KEEP GOING DEREK!

ALEX AND NIKI CROWNED SAILING WORLD CHAMPS!

Get Kids Going! disabled sailors Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell were crowned SKUD World champions for the third consecutive year in the IFDS Disabled Sailing Combined World Championships in Weymouth last week (2nd-8th July 2011).

The pair are widely recognised as the dominant force in British and world SCUD 18 sailing, and led from start to finish during testing conditions. A second and fourth place on the penultimate day secured the victory and meant that the team were able to celebrate victory with a day to spare. The victory is perhaps all the sweeter for the fact that it took place in home waters, in the venue which will host the sailing competitions during the 2012 Paralympics.

Speaking after the race, Alex said “We couldn’t have done it without the fantastic support of Get Kids Going!”

“We had to work really hard for it today but managed to get the job done. Our strength this week has been our consistency across the range of conditions, we’ve hit a few adverse moments and day two wasn’t exactly a sparkling day for us but we pushed on through the whole time and just made sure we stuck it out. My shoulder’s been niggling all week, so I’ve had a lot of physio, so it’s not just us there are a lot of other people who make your campaign what it is. I’m more than excited to win in a 20-boat fleet on home waters in the Paralympic venue, we couldn’t have asked for anything more than that.”

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALEX AND NIKI ON ANOTHER FANTASTIC RESULT!!

LOUISE SERVES UP TRIPLE TENNIS TITLE!

Get Kids Going! was delighted to talk with wheelchair-tennis star Louise Hunt after a series of impressive performances in the last month. Louise won her third women's doubles wheelchair tennis title in as many weeks after partnering Germany's Bianca Osterer to victory at the Arcotel-Rezidencija Open in Zagreb, Croatia on 28th June 2011. The pair triumphed 6-1, 6-2 to round off a hugely successful European clay court tour.

Her success during the Croatian Open was matched by doubles’ titles at the Czech Open and the Slovakian Open. Louise narrowly missed out on Singles titles during the same tournaments but finished as a semi-finalist in one and runner-up at the other two.

During the last year Louise has beaten two players in the top 15, something that has contributed to what she describes as her “best year so far”. Louise is firmly on track to make the Olympic team for London 2012 and she is aiming to medal by the time the Rio Olympics come round in 2016.

Louise started playing tennis at the age of just 5 and she believes it is a sport she was always “destined to play!” Louise was actually the recipient of the first ever wheelchair distributed by Get Kids Going, which she received in 1997 at the age of seven. The support she has received from Get Kids Going! has “meant the absolute world to me. I could not have done what I have without Get Kids Going!”.

Louise will be competing in the British Open from 18th- 25th July in Nottingham.

JOSH GAINS ACE EXPERIENCE AT CROATIAN TENNIS OPEN

Get Kids Going! wheelchair-tennis star Josh Steels recently returned home from Croatia where he put up an excellent fight against the third seed, and world number 48, in the first round of the International Federation event in Zagreb on 23rd June. Despite the defeat, the Great Britain Junior number one was upbeat about his performance against such a top-level player, describing himself as “very happy with the way I played”.

Josh has been playing tennis for four years, and he is now targeting as many senior ranking events as possible in order to fulfil his dreams of representing Great Britain at the 2012 Paralympics. He is currently having an impressive year, and despite being only eighteen, was a runner up in the National Wheelchair Tennis Championships in May and also helped Great Britain to a fourth-placed finish at the World Team Cup, staged in South Africa in April.

Josh put his impressive new performances down to his new Get Kids Going! tennis wheelchair which was given to him by the charity in May this year! We wish Josh all the best for his next events as he attempts to move up the rankings.

KEEP GOING JOSH!

David Weir Wins 5th Virgin London Marathon

The Get Kids Going! team enjoyed unprecedented success at the 2011 Virgin London Marathon on Sunday 17th April. Vice President David Weir claimed a historic fifth title in the Men’s Wheelchair Race with a record time of 1hr 30mins 5secs. David’s victory on Sunday, which The Daily Telegraph described as ‘tactical perfection”, makes him the most successful male wheelchair athlete in the race’s history. In the Women’s Wheelchair Race, Shelly Woods, who has been supported by Get Kids Going! from the age of fourteen, almost made it a double success before she was ‘pipped to the post’ for silver and a time of 1hr 46mins 31secs. Get Kids Going! Juniors Sheikh Muhadin Skeikh and Jake Williamson rounded off a hugely satisfying day by claiming Gold and Silver in the Junior Wheelchair Race with times of 12mins 41secs and 14mins 6secs respectively.

Speaking to Get Kids Going! before the marathon, David and Shelly were keen to point out just how much the charity has helped in the development of their sporting careers. Get Kids Going! has helped to buy the expensive equipment they have both needed to compete at an advanced level. As one in a family of three Shelly notes that it was simply impossible for her parents to afford the sports wheelchairs she needed to advance as an athlete. Shelly continued, wheelchair racing is “not for the faint-hearted. To be honest, it’s a really hard sport to be good at...it takes a lot of time…and you’re really on your own out there”. Having overcome financial and societal barriers, Shelly and David are optimistic about the future of disability sport in Britain. David said that youngsters now have “a lot more choice available” – improvements in technology have meant that sports practiced by just a handful of disabled youngsters are now far more accessible with the right support from charities like Get Kids Going!.

Both athletes are now setting their sights on London 2012 Paralympic Games, and with under 500 days remaining, the sense of anticipation is growing. Shelly says: “It’s exciting…I remember watching Athens and Sydney on TV…seeing Tanni Grey-Thompson…and I was thinking…ooh can I do that?” Get Kids Going! hopes that these inspiring athletes will be igniting the same dreams in a new generation of athletes.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OUR WONDERFUL YOUNG ATHLETES