UP-and-coming athletes in Ealing are to gain much-needed support as part of a sports talent development programme.

Everyone Active’s Sporting Champions scheme, now in its eighth year, has helped more than 5,000 athletes to achieve their potential by providing free access to Everyone Active’s 230-plus leisure sites.

They include Acton Centre, Brent Valley Golf Course and Fitness Centre, Dormers Wells Leisure Centre, Reynolds Sports Centre, Elthorne Sports Centre, Greenford Sports Centre, Northolt Leisure Centre, Perivale Park Athletics Track, Swift Road Outdoor Sports Centre and Twyford Sports Centre.

Among the athletes accepted on the scheme in Ealing this year are: 

  • Damar Thomas, boxing, a full-time podium athlete training with Team GB Boxing. He is third in the UK in the amateur heavyweight rankings and won the 2023 Ealing Adult Sports Person of the Year award.
  • Alex Down, Swimming and Open Water Swimming, who is currently the Open Water Regional Champion. Last year, she swam the English Channel as part of a relay for charity, raising nearly £7,000.
  • Jude Bright-Davies, Athletics Triple Jump, currently ranked No.1 in the UK for his discipline. Jude is also an England Outdoor champion and British Outdoor silver medallist.

Sporting Champions will also receive valuable mentoring and guidance from an impressive panel of elite athletes.

They include Jennifer and Jessica Gadirova, Lutalo Muhammad, Richard Kilty, Lauren Steadman and Maisie Summers-Newton, while new to the panel for 2024 is GB sprint star Harry Aikines-Aryeetey.

Phil Edwards, Everyone Active’s contract manager, said: “As a leisure provider working in partnership with Ealing Council, we feel it is important to cater for all sections of the community.”

www.easportingchampions.com