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