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!