GLL Sport Foundation Awards 2023

Date posted 27 Jun 2023
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Top athletes from South Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse took to the Beacon Theatre in Wantage on Wednesday 14th June to celebrate the GSF 2023 South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse Sports Awards.

More than seventy people attended the event to celebrate the local sporting talent and the support offered by the GLL Sports Foundation. In South Oxfordshire 31 athletes are benefiting from £20,950 worth of funding with 57% of the athletes not receiving any other central funding and in the Vale of White Horse 30 athletes are supported valuing £18,100 with 80% not receiving any other central funding. The support covers over 20 different sports in the region and has a high uptake from younger athletes with 53% being aged under 21 in South Oxfordshire and 70% in the Vale.

Medals and certificates were presented to young athletes from disciplines as diverse as modern pentathlon, archery and climbing and the evening ended with a Q&A from local athletes Graeme Thomas and Carine Muir who kept the crowd entertained hearing about their sporting experiences.

Guests from South Oxfordshire Council included Maggie Filipova-Rivers (Cabinet member for community wellbeing) and Debra Dewhurst (Cabinet member for leisure centres and community buildings) alongside a number of GLL executives such as Gary Starkey, Kevin Williams and Luke Askew.

The event was particularly special as the GSF celebrated its 15th year and continues to be the largest independent athlete support programme in the UK. This year it is supporting 25,890 athletes nationally to the value of £14,090,630 across 117 sports.

The evening was a great success with feedback from athletes and their families including –

“Thank you for inviting us to the event, we had a lovely and interesting evening. The medal and certificates have been given pride of place in our house and as said before the award as well as an honour , is a godsend to us financially, especially at the moment.”

We wish the athletes all the best on their sporting journeys this year.