- Sport England awards £3.5 million to successful sports
- Olympic Champions Ed Clancy and Tim Brabants confident of
strong sporting legacy.
Successful sports governing bodies are to receive extra
investment from Sport England to boost their grassroots programmes
and deliver a lasting sporting legacy beyond the London 2012
Olympic and Paralympic Games.
A total of £3.5 million has been awarded to help drive up
participation numbers in netball, cycling, running, canoeing and
lacrosse.
Sport England Chief Executive, Jennie Price, said: “Cycling,
running and netball are three success stories for community sport.
They show how it can be done. We are recognising their success
through this extra investment.”
Minister for Sport and the Olympics, Hugh Robertson MP, said:
“These sports bodies have delivered on our key objective of driving
up participation. The £3.5 million of additional funding for these
sports is so that they can continue this work, capitalise on the
added interest that comes with hosting the Olympic Games and help
create a real sporting legacy.”
British Cycling is to receive an additional
£1,058,000 million in National Lottery funding to
recruit a further 12,000 weekly cyclists – news that was welcomed
by Olympic Champion Ed Clancy. “I am delighted that British Cycling
has been granted additional funding to develop its participation
programmes,” he said. “London 2012 is not only about athletes
contesting Olympic and Paralympic medals, it is also about getting
the nation active and leaving a lasting sport legacy for future
generations.
“We have been particularly successful in getting people on their
bikes through programmes like Sky Ride, Breeze, Go-Ride and our
growing events calendar. I would love to see even more people get
inspired by the Games to take up cycling as their new sport.”
British Cycling will persuade thousands of occasional cyclists
to get on their bikes every week by expanding its programme of
local, friendly led rides, ‘Sky Ride Local’. Registrations for
these rides were over-capacity this year, so the governing body
knows there’s a big appetite out there both from road bikers and
mountain bikers.
England Netball has successfully bid for more
than £1 million in additional Lottery investment
to extend its popular Back to Netball programme and improve the way
it recruits women to play the sport and keeps them involved. As a
result of the extra funding, England Netball aims to increase the
number of adults playing the sport every week by 8,500. Armed with
a clear understanding of the informal netball market and what women
want from the sport, England Netball has already increased the
number of people playing once a week from 118,800 to 140,600 in the
past two-and-a-half years.
England Netball Chief Executive, Paul Clark, said: “We are
absolutely delighted to receive this additional funding. The Back
to Netball initiative has encouraged women aged 16+ from a variety
of economic, social and ethnic backgrounds to get back in to sport
using netball as a gentle introduction. We are fully aware of what
netballers want once they do come back to us, and we now have
sustainable activities for every participant to continue with us
and stay in the game”.
There is strong evidence of running’s appeal to people
considering getting back into sport, and a Lottery investment of
£1 million will seek to increase the number of
people involved in regular informal running by at least 30,000.
Sport England will invest the funding in county sports
partnerships, who will work with England Athletics
to boost the number of trained running leaders and local running
groups across the country.
Richard Saunders, Chair of the County Sports Partnership
Network, said: “The county sports partnerships are committed to
helping sports governing bodies to grow their sports. This exciting
initiative will strengthen our partnership with England Athletics
and utilise the local networks that CSPs coordinate to establish
hundreds of new running groups across the country in the lead up to
the 2012 Games and beyond.”
Canoe England will receive an extra
£207,700 through the British Canoe Union, for Go
Canoeing, a new project to boost the informal canoeing market. More
and more people are trying out canoeing, often during holidays, and
Go Canoeing will give them the knowledge and opportunities they
need to take part more regularly. This project aims to increase the
number of people canoeing regularly.
Olympic gold medal-winning kayaker, Dr Tim Brabants MBE, said:
“This additional investment demonstrates the confidence and health
of canoeing in this country. The funding will help us continue to
grow the sport and get more people enjoying canoeing on a regular
basis, with the many positive benefits that brings. Go Canoeing is
an exciting project; the tours, trails and series of events,
delivered in a consumer-focused way, will broaden the appeal of
canoeing, to a wider market. I am particularly pleased that as we
go into 2012, canoeing will be in a strong position to take
advantage of the huge excitement next summer will generate.”
The English Lacrosse Association will receive
an additional £199,250. This small but growing
sport has made big strides in the past two years in both the
traditional and informal versions of the game, with a particular
focus on university students. But some people who have taken up the
sport at university are struggling to find opportunities to play
after graduation. With the additional funding, the sports body will
take its INTO lacrosse programme to 15 new communities, providing
high-quality recreational lacrosse.
English Lacrosse Association Chief Executive, David Shuttleworth
said: “I am delighted Sport England have recognised the
achievements made by English Lacrosse. The additional investment in
the INTO lacrosse programme over the next 18 months will develop
social and recreational lacrosse in schools, universities and
community clubs. Exciting times lie ahead for lacrosse as we expand
our programmes to attract new participants and grow the sport.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Sport England
Sport England is focused on the delivery of a mass participation
legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We invest
National Lottery and Exchequer funding in organisations and
projects that will grow and sustain participation in grassroots
sport and create opportunities for people to excel at their chosen
sport.
The additional investments announced today were made possible by
a reduction in the funding available to four national governing
bodies of sport in the light of disappointing participation figures
shown in the Active People Survey, as well as strong National
Lottery sales, which have led to more funding for good causes.
Places People Play is the £135 million legacy programme that is
bringing the inspiration and magic of a home Olympic and Paralympic
Games into the heart of local communities, encouraging more people
to get involved in sport.
British Cycling
The British Cycling 2009 - 2013 Whole Sport Plan award is
£22,698,250 (excluding the investment announced today)
England Netball
The England Netball 2009 - 2013 Whole Sport Plan award is
£17,590,616 (excluding the investment announced today).
British Canoe Union
The British Canoe Union 2009 - 2013 Whole Sport Plan award is
£8,101,077 (excluding the investment announced today).
English Lacrosse Association
The English Lacrosse Association 2009 - 2013 Whole Sport Plan
award is £2,210,993 (excluding the investment announced today). The
once-a-month participation target for lacrosse will increase by
1,500.
County sports partnerships
Sport England has supported the development of the network of
county sports partnerships across England as a cost-effective local
delivery network for sport, through which we can deliver national
policy in local ways. Sport England currently invests in CSPs to
provide support services for national governing bodies of sport and
to deliver elements of the Places People Play programme to create a
lasting mass participation legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and
Paralympic Games.