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!!