The Dave Aitchison Awards which support talented young triathletes in London and the South East were announced today. The awards, named in memory of Dave Aitchison, a rising star of British triathlon who died suddenly in 2007, supported 17 triathletes in 2010 and in 2011 will go on to help another 14 of the sport’s brightest prospects. As with all SportsAid awards, each athlete is nominated for their award by their sport’s national governing body (the British Triathlon Federation), which Emmanuel Blanchard, SportsAid’s awards manager, points to as the scheme’s strength.

“This is a classic example of a genuine partnership between the national governing body, the funder and SportsAid,” he says. “In just 12 months, the Dave Aitchison award has demonstrated the immense difference that money that is well managed and well channelled can make to a sport’s rising stars. We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to its success.”

With four of the award’s recipients - Lucy Chittenden, James Davis, Sky Draper & Ellie Walton - now progressing on to either Lottery funding or the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme, which SportsAid is also responsible for, the difference is clear. This represents a remarkable 23% success rate for funding promotion, compared with SportsAid’s average across all sports of 15%.

The awards in 2011 amount to £1,250 for successful candidates achieving gold standard and £750 for those on silver standard. The award recipients are as follows:

 
Gold standard: Daniel Barraclough (age 15), Bradley Hales (age 21), Patrick Hough (age 16), Jago Leckie (age 17), Matt Rawbin (age 16)
Silver standard: James Allan (age 15), Armanni Antoine-Chagar (age 15), Cheyenne Antoine-Chagar (age 14), Rory Atkins (age 15), Lewis Hawkins (age 14), Emily McLoughlin (age 18), Luke Penney (age 15), Sophia Saller (age 16), Kieran Wye (age 15)

The award’s supporters raise money by doing triathlon, cycling, and other fundraising events. The main fund raising event is the annual Surrey Legs of Steel sportive organised by Ful-On Tri Club - an 81km ride with over 1,600 metres of climbing along the way, ending on the Box Hill section of the recently-announced Olmpic road cycling course.  If you would like to help more SportsAid triathletes benefit from this award scheme, you can raise money for the Dave Aitchison Fund by going to the award's fundraising page.