RPMF are very excited to announce that they are now accepting applications for 2024 grants!
If you are a young athlete (15-23 years old), this is your opportunity to apply to be aided financially for the 2024 season.
Since 1991, we have given out over £2.5m in grants to thousands of athletes which have proved to be immeasurable; not just as financial aid but they also resonate as sources of motivation and belief. As Keely Hodgkinson eloquently put: ’it gave me the belief that I could achieve in sport’. When Mo Farah received his first grant from RPMF, he was finally able to buy his first pair of running spikes!
This is a particularly poignant year for RPMF as we remember Shaun Pickering who passed away earlier this year. Shaun set up this fund alongside his mother, Jean, in memory of his father Ron Pickering and to continue his remarkable legacy.
Shaun was a giant of a man, and not just in stature; his passion for athletics was rarely matched. From playing an inimitable role in the development of young British athletes through his devotion of time to RPMF, to coaching and mentoring athletes in his own spare time. As an talented shot-putter himself, he competed for Team GB in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and won bronze in the 1998 Commonwealth games in Kuala Lumpur. The impact he had on British athletes and athletics was second to none.
So… who can apply?
We invite applications from athletes of national standard, aged 15 – 23 (or over in exceptional circumstances). We also invite Para athletes of the same age (plus exceptional cases) who have a national para classification to apply.
And what happens after you have completed your application?
You sit back and gruel through winter training while we review and discuss applications. Finally decisions are made in mid-January. If you are successful in the application process you will be informed via email to the address provided on their application form. Within this email, you will be asked for your bank details in order to pay your award directly into your account. Unsuccessful applicants will be informed also by email to the address provided on the form.
Applications close 14th December 2023. Unfortunately, we cannot accept applications after this time.
