Table Tennis England staff went the extra mile(s) in September and showed their support of SportsAid by travelling all the way to Tokyo!
Staff ambitiously set their sights on covering the equivalent distance from our head office in Milton Keynes to Tokyo, host city of the 2020 Olympics – to complete the month-long #MyMiles challenge in support of the charity.
A total of 30 employees took part in the 30 day challenge with the aim of covering 5,921 miles between them – the equivalent of 6.56 miles per person per day.
The challenge ended yesterday, and after a month of walking, cycling, swimming and running, we can successful say we reached Tokyo – and even started the return journey – by clocking up 6,139 miles between us.
The following staff members took part in the challenge:
Aled Howell (Coach and Education Manager), Alex Mercer (Competitions and Events Officer), Ann Nixon (Executive Assistant), Carol Miles (Competition and Events Manager), Claire Brockwell (Clubs, Schools and Leagues Manager), Colette Gooding (Development & Volunteer Officer South East and East), Colin Eley (Partnerships Manager, Mass Market), Ffion Evans (Marketing & Communications Officer), Gemma Parry (Development Officer South West) Greg Yarnall (Head of Development and Volunteering), Jack Grundy (Programmes Activator), Jade Griffiths (Participation Programmes and Insight Officer), Jenny Leach (National Delivery Lead), Joanna Keay-Blyth (Head of Operations and Governance), Johnathon Driscoll (Programmes Activator), Judy Rogers (Safeguarding and Ethics Manager), Julie Snowdon (Marketing & Communications Officer), Keegan Barstow (Schools Officer), Keely Armitt (Head of Mass Participation), Martin Ireland (Area Lead – North), Neil Rogers (Head of Competitions and Events), Paul Stimpson (Senior Communications Officer), Rebecca Hughes (Customer Engagement Manager), Sally Shutt (Coach Education Officer), Shelley Halliwell (Coach Education Administrator), Sam Garey (Head of Finance and IT), Sara Sutcliffe (Chief Executive), Sandra Pelizzoni(Membership & Systems Manager), Sharon Evans (Schools and Clubs Administrator) and Simon Mills (Director of Sport).
Why did we do it?
It is all part of SportsAid Week 2019, which runs from September 23 to 29 and aims to raise money for the charity, which supports the country’s most talented young sports stars as they strive to represent Team GB and ParalympicsGB at future Olympic and Paralympic Games.
More than 1,000 athletes across more than 60 sports receive grants each year. The majority are aged 12 to 18 and receive an average award of £1,000. Among the young table tennis players to have received funding in recent years are Charlotte Bardsley, who was named SportsAid athlete of the month last November, plus Denise Payet, Helshan Weerasinghe, Amirul Hussain, Ruby Chan, Josh Weatherby and Jasmin Wong, plus para player Felicity Pickard.
Paul Drinkhall, who competed at London 2012 and Rio 2016 and will be aiming to qualify for Tokyo 2020, is also a SportsAid alumnus, as is para world champion and Paralympic medallist Ross Wilson.
All the money raised assists athletes with training and competition costs, including equipment, accommodation and transport, during the critical early stages of their careers. The initiative also acts as an opportunity to shine a spotlight on SportsAid and the work the charity does to provide athletes and their parents with support at the beginning of the talent pathway.