28 talented athletes from York to benefit from over £18,000 worth of support as the GLL Sport Foundation announces its’ 2025/2026 cohort. 

28 talented athletes from York to benefit from over £18,000 worth of support as the GLL Sport Foundation announces its’ 2025/2026 cohort. 
 
Charitable social enterprise and worker-owned co-op GLL have announced 28 athletes from York will benefit from the 2025 intake of its GLL Sport Foundation (GSF) – the largest independent athlete award programme in the UK.  
Now in its 17th year the GLL Sport Foundation (GSF) has so far contributed over £17m worth of athlete funding and support and distributed over 30,000 awards to young and talented athletes in 70 areas of the UK where GLL operate and across 117 different sports.  
 
The York 2025 GLL Sport Foundation athletes were celebrated at the annual awards evening held last night at the York Stadium Leisure Complex. The evening was a celebration of the great sporting talent in the City of York and to recognise all the athletes and their successes. The presentation was delivered by Peter Bundey, Chief Executive of GLL and Chair of the GLL Sports Foundation; Paul Bickle, York Partnership Manager; and Natalie Thomas, York Community Sports Manager. 
The event was well attended with 61 attendees and the athletes and family members were joined by partners from City of York Council and our special guests The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of York Councillor Martin Rowley BEM, the Lord Mayor’s Consort Mr Elliot Rowley, the Sheriff of York Mr Paul Doughty, and the Sheriff’s Consort Mr David Smith. All in attendance were treated to an enjoyable night of awards and a 2 course meal. Conversation was flowing between athletes and Better York staff and many commented on how great it was to hear more about the GSF programme and to be able to meet other athletes and talk with the staff. 
 
This year the programme has had its’ best ever year with 28 athletes being supported, with a lot of new applicants. The GSF supports athletes through financial bursaries, access to physical rehabilitation and mental wellbeing support and all athletes are also given access to over 250 sport and leisure facilities across the UK operated by GLL under its "BETTER" brand. This includes the four centres operated by Better in York. 

In total the York programme represents over £18k of investment, and this is just a small percentage of investment supported by GLL with the programme running in 78 other areas of the UK. 86% of our athletes in York are not receiving any other support which highlights the difficult position athletes face to continue to put all their efforts into training and how our core objective to supporting athletes that genuinely need it is being delivered.  We want to ensure athletes are not stopping sport based on support and finance. In York 20 of the athletes are aged under 21, 10 of which are under 16, and we are supporting 11 sports including Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games sports.  
 
The following awards have been received by athletes this year: 
Achievement Award: 
Kate Hambleton – Karate and Taekwondo.  
 
Talent Award:  
Katie Robertson - Closed circuit and Track Cycling.  
Eve Parkin – Swimming (Backstroke) 
Dylan Parsons – Indoor and Beach Volleyball 
 
Top Up Award:  
Evie Wilkinson – Modern Pentathlon 
 
Training Award: 
Becky Penty – Athletics (Endurance) 
Finlay Lorimer – Boxing 
Alice McHaffie - Wheelchair Basketball 
Ursula Catton – Ski Mountaineering Racing 
Philip Suddes – Swimming (Freestyle) 
Emma Wills – Swimming (Masters) 
Arthur Sleightholm – Road and Track Cycling 
Lily Craske – Athletics (Sprinting) 
John Moreland – Athletics (Discus) 
Helen Wilkinson – Athletics 
Imogen Bind – Athletics 
Zoe Bind – Athletics 
Lilly Wilkinson – Modern Pentathlon 
Ava Turner – Swimming (Backstroke) 
Raya Harrand – Swimming (Backstroke) 
Megan Mills – Swimming (Breaststroke) 
Lucy Hurn – Triathlon 
Mark Harney – Triathlon 
Matthew Eastwood – Triathlon 
Aidan Hughes – Ultimate Frisbee 
Naomi Bond – Ultimate Frisbee 
Luke Smith – Volleyball (Beach and Indoor) 
Alex Tew – Swimming (Freestyle) 
 
Thank you to City of York Council, the supporting partners and National Governing Bodies of sport.  On behalf of GLL and the GLL Sport Foundation congratulations again to our 2025 athletes. Your successes are truly motivating and inspiring to us and we look forward to supporting your athlete journeys for years to come.   
 
For more information on the GLL Sports Foundation and how to apply next year please visit https://www.gllsportfoundation.org/