Thanks for visiting our fundraising page.
We (Xander Hurley and Caroline Bird) have been selected to represent the Great Britain Deaf Badminton Squad at the 21st Deaflympics in Taiwan, 5-15th September 2009.
Unfortunately, unlike many British Olympic and Paralympic athletes, Britain’s deaf athletes receive no form of aid from the Government for training and there is no funding in sight to enable their participation at the Games. Each athletes is faced with a daunting financial hurdle of raising personal sponsorship.
UPDATE 28/04/09 - Sponsored Bike Ride -
Caroline Bird, Xander Hurley, John Slack and Joshua White are gearing up to cycle the entire 87 miles (139km) of The Ridgeway Trail in only two days. The National trail, mostly off road, stretching from Overton Hill (near Avebury in Wiltshire) to Ivinghoe Beacon (near Tring in Buckinghamshire) will be tackled over the weekend of 17th/18th July 2009
UPDATE 21/07/09 - Bike Ride completed!
Over the last weekend we completed our gruelling Ridgeway challenge, covering 87 miles in two days (23 hours riding in total). It was a mixture of fun and torture with all the up hills, muddy paths, punctures and plenty of falling off the bikes mixed with some great countryside and exciting downhills.
On Saturday, 18th July we left at 8.30am from Ivinghoe Beacon. The many up hills challenges meant we only covered 10 miles in five hours. Adam Booth (my work colleague) joined us to guide us through from near Wendover to Chinnor as he knows the routes well and he was full of encouragement for us all. We were very grateful for his help or we would all have got so lost so many times. After 43 miles we arrived at the halfway mark in Streatley-on-Thames at 7pm for our overnight stay. Needless to say, we all enjoyed big meals for dinner as we all were so hungry.
On Sunday we left Streatley-on-Thames at 9am with our sore and stiff muscles from the previous day. We started off quite well and after 15 miles we arrived at White Horse Hill at 12.45pm. Due to horrible weather later in the afternoon it was very difficult to ride on muddy paths all the way to the finish. We gained plenty of cuts and bruises, and were very cold and tired. We have never been so glad when we saw the finish line at Overton Hill at 8pm.
Thank you so much for supporting us.
Thanks,
Xander Hurley and Caroline Bird
Website links
www.deafbadminton.org.uk - For more information on Great Britain Deaf Badminton
www.efds.co.uk - For profile information of Xander Hurley
www.oxfordshiresport.org - Oxfordshire Disabled Person Sports Award - Runner Up - Xander Hurley
www.2009deaflympics.org - The official Deaflympics 2009 Website
www.ukdeafsport.org.uk - The UK Deaf Sports Website
www.timesonline.co.uk - The Times article about the funding issue.
NB: Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: UK Deaf Sport gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.
