Help My Daughter Defend her European title

[Luckypants]

Hi Guys

This is a pretty shameless plug, but in July this year my daughter is going to Spain to defend her title as European Freestyle Kayak Champion. There is no money in competitive kayaking unless you are American. Representing our country costs each athlete a lot of money every year, often in excess of £4000. Very little is subsidised and there is very little (if any) national funding available for freestyle kayaking as it is not an Olympic Sport.

I am not expecting you all to dig into your pockets and immediately take pity (there are far greater causes in the World) but please take a moment to read this post on my daughter's blog for more details on how you could help! In particular any leads on gaining corporate or charitable sponsorship to assist with costs would be appreciated.

http://www.lowridavies.co.uk/?p=348

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[xXBADGERXx]

I`ll chuck ya some money when we meet up for NW3.5 mate . It`ll probably be enough to buy her a Dr Pepper and a Twix at the airport , but it all helps I suppose :D

[Speedy Claire]

I know when I last spoke to Lowri we discussed the lack of grants and I know she`s tried just about every avenue she can think of. Is such a shame that her success, dedication and ambition doesn`t get the recognition it deserves. Fingers crossed somebody here will come up with an idea for grants or sponsorship.

[timwilky]

I used to compete in a minority sport at national level. It was assumed by governing bodies that you did it for the love of the sport, not as a career. Even though you had England on your back, you had to fund your own equipment/travel and hope you had a supportive employer.

I do feel strongly that the uk sports councils etc. Lack the guts to demand that the country (government) adequately supports its athletes in all disciplines instead of wasting billions on showcase projects that benefit a small percentage of the nations sportsmen. A roots up approach instead of supporting the elitist few. Maybe it would encourage more kids off their backsides if good facilities/coaching etc existed in all communities

[Luckypants]

Hear hear Tim! elite athlete funding for Olympic sports is pretty good, they can afford to train pretty much full time. However, if your sport is not an Olympic event, forget it! This is one reason why tennis and rugby were so keen to get their sports into the Olympics as soon as possible after the professional sports were allowed to compete, it allows access to Lottery funding for the new talent to feed the professional ranks.

Of course the big bucks will always be with a big name sponsor who gets a good return from using your name and Lowri won't make any money from competing, but if we can find a way to make this more affordable for her this would be great.

[malks]

has she considered approaching some of the energy drinks companies?? redbull, rockstar, relentless.... surely she may be good advertising for them, freestyle is a bit more extreme the type of event they like to sponsor. or try for companies that are more likely to be interested in her type of sport like outdoor companies/ extreme sports

i used to compete in slalom (with graemeapaterson) and there is more funding availible as its an olympic sport, but trying to get any form of personal sponsorship is very hard. especially ones with decent financial contributions.

i dont know what its like in wales but in scotland we have brilliant area institutes of sport. these work one level below the scottish institute with a decent bit of crossover. up here they select young athletes to support and help progress in their sport. for example they used to help provide us with access to gyms, physio, coaches etc... for free. i think some other sports were able to get funding to organise trips/travel to events. now being european champ i'm pretty sure lowri should at least be taken into consideration for these sort of things.

[Luckypants]

Yes that has been looked at. Redbull are a problem as they sponsor the Dagger Pro Team - Lowri paddles a Jackson All-Star (sponsored by Square Rock the UK importer). Also these companies seem to prefer to sponsor events rather than an individual in the UK. Will double check to see if any of these companies might be a way forward though, many thanks.

WRT access to facilities, the WCA, Lowri's Uni and Ceredigion CC have been very helpful. Basically it's the cash to get out to Spain and train on the feature for a couple of weeks before the event that she is desperate for. When she won the title she trained at HPP for three weeks before the event and so was fully prepared for pretty much any water conditions. She lived on beans etc and camped by the course for that time supported by sponsorship from her mum's firm, the bank of mum and dad and money she had made as a raft guide. Unfortunately the bank of mum and dad are not able to support her quite so much these days and previous sponsorship deals have run out (but under negotiation).

[G]

Sponsorships are a real pain in the **** to get, although I'm suprised Lowri is struggling to get some high profile ones given her profile :(.

I started off writing to local businesses and included local/national press cuttings which included a sponsors bit thanking current sponsors etc. I used to get about £1750 a year from several companies normally contributing £250 - £500 each.

I then had a main sponsor which was YAK when they were a big well known brand (although they still are to be fair but more commonly known as Crewsaver in sailing), they used to provide me with about £5k's worth of equipment, some of which was useful, but some of it was so heavy duty it was useless for slalom so they just wanted a picture of me in it then I could sell it on.

Try the smaller, lesser known drink brands like Relentless or even bigger ones like VK etc......several slalom paddlers now have sponsorship through car manufacturer, granted not brilliant ones (Skoda, Proton, etc) but thats another route to try, but for vans Maybe?

Fortunately with slalom having olympic status, grants and lottery money came in all over the place as well through Sport England and World Class Performance :(.

[stewie]

Ill sort you out with some dosh at the NW3.5 Mike, has she been in touch with sportsbank ? if not Ill get me missus to get you the details, our first grant with then was for £9000, for this lot http://www.cheshirecadets.org/. you never know your luck, but its not an overnight thing and could take months.

[stewie]

Sorry its actually called sponsorbank not sportsbank

[Luckypants]

I started off writing to local businesses and included local/national press cuttings which included a sponsors bit thanking current sponsors etc. I used to get about ?1750 a year from several companies normally contributing ?250 - ?500 each.

Wales = no sponsors. Well not exactly, we have tried this route in the past, but with little success. Perhaps you could dig out one of your letters that was successful and send it over for a butchers? Maybe we are just getting the wording wrong.

I then had a main sponsor which was YAK when they were big well known brand (although they still are to be fair), they used to provide me with about ?5k's worth of equipment, some of which was of useful, some of was so heavy duty for slalom so they just wanted a picture of me in then I could sell it on.

She has this. Boat sponsored by Square Rock, clothing by Palm. She has good sponsorship from the kayaking industry, but as you say, with her profile in the sport she is good value for the brands. How many Jackson All-Stars do you see the ladies paddling? :cool:

Try the smaller, lesser known drink brands like Relentless or even bigger ones like VK etc......several slalom paddlers now have sponsorship through car manufacturer, granted not brilliant ones (Skoda, Proton, etc) but thats another route to try, but for vans Maybe?

Indeed more long term this would be an excellent idea. A sponsored van would be an awesome advantage.

Fortunately with slalom having olympic status, grant and lottery money came in all over the place as well through Sport England and World Class Performance. Yeah this is the problem, she needs money! Do you realise that all the BCU / WCA pay for is her entry fee to the competition? She has to fund the travel. living expenses and accommodation herself.

She has the talent, the attitude, the fitness, the equipment to win this. With the worry of how to pay for a winning campaign lifted from her shoulders she will do very well.

[G]

I'll try and look out a letter, my dad will likely have them somewhere, I have to give it to my dad he was the machine behind me getting all my sponsors because I was young at the time :(. I have him to thank for all his hard work.

[missyburd]

How about a bit of a fundraiser at the uni? Assuming Lowri has contacts in the uni clubs associated with the watersports, maybe something to involve both students and locals? Or has this already been done :confused:

[Lissa]

I don't know whether her registering on this site will do any good, but it couldn't hurt I don't think.

http://www.catchsport.com/fencing/catchsports.nsf/

[Luckypants]

I don't know whether her registering on this site will do any good, but it couldn't hurt I don't think.

http://www.catchsport.com/fencing/catchsports.nsf/

good call lissa, she is already on there and we have fingers crossed right now.

[Luckypants]

BUMP :D


Some good suggestions so far, but keep them coming!

Latest news is Lowri has got a grant from her Uni for £150, which covers the flight out there. Another grant from Ceredigion council for a similar amount covers getting home again.

[malks]

i'd try the welsh institute of sport. as i said the scottish version and smaller area institutes were brilliant for me(the scottish team) they used to help provide lots of stuff that we needed. she's got to be of the standard to get selected for it and they will have access to funds to help support trips!

also for future though, car sponsors seem to be pretty good. a few car manufacturers seem to use paddling/climing/skiing/snowbaording etc now and a marketing tool. surely a fairly high profile athlete would be good for them. skiing is sponsored by land rover. try a few local garages and stuff.

[Luckypants]

Cheers Malks. I think we have been down this road before and the problem was that Freestyle was not recognised by the Sports Council for Wales, so did not qualify for funding. There is a re-organisation of funding going on and Elite Cymru will now support only NON-Olympic sports, so that is looking more hopeful.

[missyburd]

Guess who came into Matalan this evening!











Lowri :D I was a bit too shy to say hello properly though, other than in the professional manner lol. Small world though eh?


Ok, just Aber :p

[Speedy Claire]

Awww... you should`ve said hi lol I was in Matalan too today but not the Aberystwyth branch!

Thats good news bout her latest grant Mike, hope there`s a lot more funding to follow

[600+]

Mike - have spoken to a couple of people and I have to make a couple of calls tomorrow.......which I'll do as soon as I wake up :)

It was also suggested trying Sports England? Not sure though if this is the same as Sports Wales which you have already tried.

Ping me on msn or txt me if you get anywhere through the other routes we discussed.

[Luckypants]

Guess who came into Matalan this evening!











Lowri :D I was a bit too shy to say hello properly though, other than in the professional manner lol. Small world though eh?


Ok, just Aber :p

Shoulda said hi, she knows there is someone off her in Aber. Quite impressed you recognised her!

[Luckypants]

Mike - have spoken to a couple of people and I have to make a couple of calls tomorrow.......which I'll do as soon as I wake up :)

It was also suggested trying Sports England? Not sure though if this is the same as Sports Wales which you have already tried.

Ping me on msn or txt me if you get anywhere through the other routes we discussed.

Thanks a lot mate, you are a star!

[missyburd]

Awww... you should`ve said hi lol I was in Matalan too today but not the Aberystwyth branch!

Thats good news bout her latest grant Mike, hope there`s a lot more funding to follow

Shoulda said hi, she knows there is someone off her in Aber. Quite impressed you recognised her!

I remember her from that time we went white water rafting :cool: and you never see someone just the once in Aber :-D

She'll know who I was, the doofus on the fitting rooms, let her take 8 items in instead of the usual 4, mainly cos I couldn't be bothered to count up lmao.

Women and shopping eh. :lol:

[yorkie_chris]

and you never see someone just the once in Aber :-D


Can anyone else hear faint banjo music?

[Luckypants]

OI! Stop derailing my thread :smt075 (and blatant bump)

[Lowri_Luckypants]

Hi,

I must be the illusive daughter then!

Just wanna say: wow, thanks for the responce so far. You guys have been ten times more useful than any kayakers ever are!

There were a few confusions in some of the info in this thread that I'll attempt to clear up:


I am sponsored for my kit by Palm and get cost price boats from SquareRock / Jackson (that's right I still have to pay out for boats)
I do not qualify for anything from UK Sport because freestyle is not Olympic
I do not qualify for anything from Sport England because I do not live in England!
When I called Elite Cymru they told me that they only support those doing Olympic disciplines who have potential to make GB Team etc but are not there yet (so generally juniors). I was both too old and too good, but not Olympic. Their website seems to contradict this.
I have tried writing to all sorts of companies, including VW and other van manufacturers with no joy, but admittedly have not tried the car companies in the past 12 months.
The WCA (Welsh Canoeing Association) have so far been unable to find me funding, despite being the sole Welsh representative at the Europeans this year
A fundraiser at Uni is hopeless. The students can't afford to be giving me money (nor do I feel that I deserve *their* money) and the watersports clubs are generally poor aswell so if they did fundraising they'd want a cut (as a canoe club committee member I would definitely have misgivings about a fundraiser being organised for me while the club that benefits the grass roots was so badly funded). Our Union is generally uninterested in stuff that isn't a field sport although are getting better at recognising other stuff (hense the small grant).
I am registered on catchsport and they *might* have found be a sponsor, fingers crossed.
I don't often go shopping, so when I do I have to make the most of it... thanks for letting me take in an obscene number of items and sorry to them only purchase one of them (hurrah for ?6 shorts).But this is the killer...

Sponsorships are a real pain in the **** to get, although I'm suprised Lowri is struggling to get some high profile ones given her profile

It seems that I slip through all the gaps for funding (with everyone being surprised that someone else is not funding me).

It's hard to find the time to write all of these letters, knowing that most of them will be knocked back or ignored, while trying to study for a masters degree, train, compete, run a canoe club and work enough to pay my way. So having tip offs about companies that are more likely to help is very useful - helps to target my efforts.

Thanks for the support so far and please let us know if you have any more ideas!

[Luckypants]

Wow! Croeso bychan! :cool:

[Speedy Claire]

Hi Lowri and welcome..... very best of luck with this, will keep my fingers crossed for you

[missyburd]

'ello Lowri :smt006 will keep my fingers crossed for you too (and toes ;))

hope you're enjoying the nice Aber weather we're having :cool:

[Luckypants]

UPDATE

Heats started this morning. Lowri made it into the semi-final in 3rd spot, despite an early flush on run 2. Britain's Jenny Chrimes in First and Flea Jarvie in 7th. Go UK Ladies!

Have no news on UK mens results as yet, although I expect us to have some representation in the semi's.

Semi-finals on Friday 25th.

[G]

:cool: good stuff

Is jenny chrimes, richards sister or just a coincidence :confused: I didnt even realise he had one.

[Luckypants]

Yeah Jen is Dickie's little sister. Paddling style is not unlike Dickie's, lots of low scoring moves to rack up the points, rather than any trophy moves.

[stewie]

Well done Lowri, any word on any sponshorship yet Mike ?

[Luckypants]

Well done Lowri, any word on any sponshorship yet Mike ?

no cash :(. New clothing sponsor. New equipment sponsors all of which save her a packet, but no hard cash.

Let's see what happens after the championships. :)

[stewie]

Well good luck to her Mike :smt023

[Filipe M.]

Boa sorte! :cool:

[Speedy Claire]

Fantastic news... chuffed for her and for you hun. Best of luck for the semi finals x

[Lissa]

Well done, Lowri:D

Wishing her all the best for the semi's:thumbsup:

[northwind]

Ooh, good going, best of luck!

[Quedos]

Fingers crossed - i'm sure she'll be great!

[stuntpilot]

PM me. We'd like to talk further about possible sponsorship.

I'm 50% of the management of an IT startup. :) (That means we're not massively wealthy of course.)

[Devil Biccy]

Good Luck in the semi's for your daughter

[Luckypants]

FINAL UPDATE

Sorry been away over the weekend so not been able to get to a computer.

Lowri made the final in third place. Flea Jarvie also made the final but unfortunately Jenny Chrimes did not make the cut.

The finals did not go so well for Lowri, she caught an edge (low-sided :D) and flushed off the wave after only 10 seconds of her 45 second ride, so she was knocked out and placed 5th overall. Here is what she had to say about it. (http://www.lowridavies.co.uk/)

HOWEVER..... Congratulations to Flea Jarvie, the new European Champion! ACE! Another UK paddler wins. :cool:

[Speedy Claire]

Well done Lowri for making it as far as she did... what a major achievement and congrats to her x

[northwind]

Aw, unlucky. Still, quite an achievement!

[chris8886]

great effort still!!

my cousin won the world (i think, it's possible it was just the europeans) junior champs a few years back. he still does the sport and also still struggles with funding.

[Luckypants]

my cousin won the world (i think, it's possible it was just the europeans) junior champs a few years back. he still does the sport and also still struggles with funding.

Who is your cousin? I probably know him (or of him via my daughter)

[chris8886]

name's alan ward.

[Luckypants]

2005 junior world champ. Top lad.

He made the semi's in these Europeans in the senior men's comp, but not sure where he finished.

[chris8886]

2005 junior world champ. Top lad.

He made the semi's in these Europeans in the senior men's comp, but not sure where he finished.

thouhgt so. glad to hear it, small world ain't it!! in australia was it not?

i'm afraid i don't know the result as we don't see eachother very much :(

[Lowri_Luckypants]

Hey Guys

Thanks for all the support.

Alan was 8th this time in the senior mens, the highest placed British K1 man. So good on him.

The Brits put in a performance to be proud of all round and took home 7 medals, 3 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze!

Cheers,

Lowri

[anna]

fantastic performance well done!!!

[Tara]

thats brilliant well done