British para-athletes named on ‘Futures’ programme

The programme supports the next generation of Great Britain’s athletic talents. 19 Nov 2015
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Georgina Hermitage of Great Britain celebrates winning the Women's 400m T37 race and breaking the world record at the 2015 IPC Athletics Grand Prix Final.

Georgina Hermitage of Great Britain celebrates winning the Women's 400m T37 race and breaking the world record at the 2015 IPC Athletics Grand Prix Final.

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By British Athletics

British Athletics’ have announced that 34 athletes have been invited to join the 2015-2016 British Athletics Futures Programme incorporating Para-Futures. “Futures” is a British Athletics support programme for athletes and their coaches which underpins the World Class Performance Programme (WCPP). The 2015-16 programme runs from 1 December 2015 to 30 November 2016 and will continue British Athletics’ drive toward more targeted support for athletes and their coaches.

Para-Futures is incorporated into the programme and will assist a sextet of athletes, including three 2015 IWAS World Games medallists. Molly Kingsbury and James Arnott (coach: Ryan Freckleton) won gold medals in the long jump T37 and 200m T46 respectively, as well as silvers in the 100m. Nathan Maguire (Steven Hoskins) won double bronze in the 400m and 800m T54 to earn his place on the 2015-2016 programme.

Ten athletes graduated from last year’s programme onto WCPP for 2015-2016 including world 4x400m bronze medallist Seren Bundy-Davies (Stephen Ball) and double IPC Athletics World Champion Georgie Hermitage (Paul MacGregor). They join 28 additional Futures graduates who are now supported by WCPP.

European Junior champions supported for the following year include Bobby Clay (Rob Denmark) (1500m), Alex George (Paul de Camps) (5000m), Cheriece Hylton (John Blackie) (4x400m relay), Josh Kerr (Joe Franklin) (1500m), Charlotte McLennaghan (David Hourd) (4x100m relay) and Tommy Ramdhan (Freckleton) (200m). There are 11 medallists from the Championships in Eskilstuna within this year’s crop of athletes.

The three bronze medallists from the IAAF World Youth Championships George Evans (Colin McCulloch) (discus), Rechmial Miller (Freckleton) (100m) and Catherine Reid (Di Shimell) (400m) also join the cohort of pairings supported by the programme. European under-23 200m silver medallist Leon Reid (James Hillier) is an additional name to the list.

British Athletics’ Development Manager Jo Summers said:

“The Futures Programme seeks to support the next generation of champions and their coaches. We are delighted to be assisting the 34 athlete-coach pairings with their development plans and aid their future success.

“With 38 graduates of the Futures programme now on the WCPP, we aim to support the current cohort of athletes and coaches with financial assistance and medical support which can help towards following in the footsteps of athletes such as Dina Asher-Smith, Georgie Hermitage and Matthew Hudson-Smith.

“2016 is a key year in the development of these athletes as they aim to make the step up with London 2017 [IAAF and IPC Athletics World Championships] and Tokyo 2020 [Olympic and Paralympic Games] on the horizon. By supporting athlete-coach pairs, it allows for flexibility and individual discretion around distribution of resources, which will benefit the sport in these future years.”