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.