**We made it to £400! That covers around half of the flight/accommodation and registration costs of the trip!**

All roads lead to Paris!

When I first heard about the Gay Games, I was sitting in a hostel bar in Copenhagen, chatting to the American girl from the bunk below me. She lived in Cleveland, Ohio - where the 2014 Gay Games were held and told me all about how she and her brother planned to go to Paris to take part in the festivities. Having never heard of the Gay Games, I looked into it and realised there was a boxing competition as part of it and made a resolution to myself to get fit and compete.

Fast forward eight months and training is well underway. I've gone from training once a week with the Glasgow based LGBT friendly boxing group - Knockout Glasgow - to training four to five times a week at The Edge Gym and completely transforming my physical and mental health along the way. I've lost 2 stone, and am on my way to becoming (dare I say it?) a contender.

The only slight snag in this Rocky-esque tale is... well, the road to the Gay Games is paved with expensive registration fees, equipment, airfare and accommodation (to say the least). That's where this crowdfunding campaign comes in! I'm hoping with a bit of fundraising, and the generosity of friends, family and strangers we'll take a Tyson style bite out of these expenses.

Paris 2018 is a bit of a once in a lifetime - for me at least -, the next Gay Games in 2022 is in Hong Kong and even if the 2026 is back in Europe I'll be a bit old to be getting punched for fun. Not only will it be a great experience for myself, I'd like to use it as encouragement for more of the LGBT+ community and women to get into boxing, because it can seem like an intimidating environment when you're on the outside looking in.

So if you can spare anything, a donation of funds, a prize for a raffle or know of someone who might be interested in getting involved it would all be massively appreciated.