Horsham children's charity raises over £230k at star-studded event.Horsham children's charity raises over £230k at star-studded event.
Horsham children's charity raises over £230k at star-studded event.

Cycling celebs raise £230k for charity

A Horsham children’s charity raised £230,000 at the 11th annual Champions of CycleSport Dinner on Thursday, November 18.

The biggest names in cycling helped to raise more than £230,000 to help save and change children’s lives at Action Medical Research’s star-studded fundraiser held at London’s Hurlingham Club.

Surprise guest, Scottish cyclist Danny MacAskill, helped kick off proceedings at the high-profile event, sponsored by Garmin and supported by accountancy and business advisory firm BDO.

Heading the guest list were double Olympic champion Katie Archibald MBE, Alex Dowsett – fresh from his UCI Hour Record attempt – and newly retired Dan Martin.

They were joined by two-time national champion and Grand Tour stage winner Nico Roche, world and European champion Ethan Hayter and his rising star brother Leo, Connor Swift of UCI ProTeam Arkéa–Samsic and Sean Kelly, known as one of the finest classics riders of all time.

Olympic silver medallist Neah Evans and Pfeiffer Georgi, women’s national road race champion, were joined by Rochelle Gilmore, the voice of women’s cycling.

Off-road superstar Gee Atherton, three-times national derny champion Hannah Walker and Commonwealth Games Silver medalist Jon Mould, also walked the red carpet to show their support for the fight for little lives.

Action Medical Research is a UK-wide children’s charity which funds desperately needed research to tackle the diseases that devastate the lives of so many children.

It has been funding medical breakthroughs since it began in 1952 including helping to introduce the first polio vaccines in the UK, developing the use of ultrasound in pregnancy and testing the rubella vaccine.

It is now driving forward children’s research in the fight against Covid-19 as well as funding research into conditions including asthma, prematurity, meningitis, cerebral palsy, brain cancer and some rare and distressing conditions.

Supporters Jenny and James Halse spoke about their son Elijah, who was born extremely prematurely at 25 weeks and lived for just 37 days after developing NEC (necrotising enterocolitis).

“Elijah led a very traumatic little life. He died sleeping on my chest in the small hours – that’s when I joined the fight to stop premature birth. We hope that through fundraising for Action Medical Research, we can make a small difference in the care for other babies in a similar situation in the future.”

Theo Axford, head of marketing for Garmin UK and Ireland, said: “We’re so proud to again support Action Medical Research’s Champions of CycleSport.”

The event once again brought together some of the best names in cycling, all to support Action’s life-changing work with children, making it both an incredible industry event and one that makes a real difference.”

Chris Grove, partner at BDO LLP, said: “We’re delighted to be sponsoring the Champions of CycleSport Dinner and the amazing work that Action Medical Research do for a sixth year.

“Their fantastic cycling events tie in with our networking group, BDOVelo, but most importantly we’re honoured to play a small part in supporting the success of their efforts to save and change children’s lives through medical research.”

An auction included the Tour of Britain Points jersey worn by Ethan Hayter and the special edition suit Dan Martin wore during his stage-winning Giro performance.

To find out more, visit https://action.org.uk

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