The RPMF distributed £43,000 in grants to 199 talented young British athletes
National age group record holders, World and European youth championships, Mini London Marathon medallists and competitors are among the young athletes who received 199 RPMF Grants Awards for 2017. In total we received over 560 applications, in itself a record.
Following his gold in the 800m European Youth Championships and having set the second fastest ever time in his age group for the 1500m, middle distance prospect, George Mills won the RPMF’s U18 category annual award at the England Athletics Hall of Fame evening in October and is further supported by the RPMF in 2017.
Other awardees include, Holly Mills (European Youth Gold – Long Jump), Imani Lansiquot (4th in World Junior and British 100m Championships), Jake Norris (European Youth Silver – Hammer and British age group record holder) and Zak Skinner (Top UK ranked T13/F13 multi-event athlete) as well as Harriet Knowles-Jones, David King, Sabrina Sinha, Amber Anning, Taylor Campbell, Ada’ora Chigbo, Khai Riley-La Borde, Dillon Labrooy and Zak Seddon to name just a few.
Of the athletes who we supported, 32% are sprinters or hurdlers, 18% middle-distance runners, 27% throwers, 14% jumpers and 9% from combined events.
Some 46% of athletes were aged 17 or under, 38% aged 18-20 years with 17% aged over 21.
Top clubs whose athletes received awards were Windsor, Slough, Eton & Harrow with 9 athletes, Birchfield Harriers 8, Cardiff, Enfield & Harringey and Shaftesbury Barnet each having 6 athlete awards. The Weir Archer Academy also received 3 awards. In total athletes from 109 clubs around the UK received awards.
You can find the full list of the 2017 grants recipients here.
The majority of the British athletics Olympic teams in 2008, 2012 and 2016 had at some stage in their careers received support from the Fund, including all of the London 2012 and 2016 individual Olympic athletics medallists – Jessica Ennis-Hill, Mo Farah, Christine Ohuruogu, Greg Rutherford, Robbie Grabarz and Sophie Hitchon .
These Annual Grants are designed to make a difference and range in value depending on the athletes’ ages, ability and personal circumstances. They have been created with the aim of assisting athletes to develop, helping recipients to make the difficult transition from junior to senior level through support for equipment, specialist coaching or travel and importantly helping to build the athletes’ confidence and self-esteem through recognition.
Please help us to continue supporting the next generation of British athletic talent?
A key source of fundraising for the RPMF is via money raised by ‘Ronners’ taking part in events such as the Virgin Money London Marathon or from club events and societies. If your club is running an event or a loved one has received support from the RPMF and you wish to support the RPMF in someway and invest in the future of our sport then please get in touch by emailing info@rpmg.org.uk
Would you like to Run for Ron in 2017 – it’s not too late?
We only have a limited number of Virgin London Marathon Golden Bond places still available and being a small charity, we rely heavily on the funds raised from this event. If you’d like to run in this year’s event then please download our form and return it to us as soon as possible. No later than January 31, so be quick.
