The Darren Holloway Young Athlete Fund.
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| Darren Holloway. August 10th 1970 - October 7th 2012. |
Darren Holloway (Daz) was Neil's cousin, he died in October 2012, at the age of 42, as a result of a Left Ventricular Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy - A type of heart attack known to occur in very fit athlete's.
He was a very accomplished Fell Runner and was aiming high in the 2012 English Championships at Vet40 level, and was doing remarkably well. He collapsed whilst competing in a leg of The Ian Hodgson Fell Relays on the Fairfield Horseshoe in the English Lake District
Darren was one of the most likeable and decent people you could wish to know. His love of the outdoors and Fell Running was matched only by his passion for Cycling; and it was to his great joy that he was able to follow the 2012 Tour de France and see it claimed for the first time by a British rider. He loved that.
Darren was also a passionate supporter of Women's Cycling and always considered it a travesty that it didn't receive the support and sponsorship currently afforded to the Men's discipline.
It was with that thought in mind that I decided to help sponsor, in Darren's memory, a young Nepali rider in The 2013 North Face Yak Attack, mountain bike stage race, in Nepal.
It was made all the more special by the fact that it was an up & coming young female rider:
Laxmi Magar.
I think that Darren would have approved.
The Yak Attack is a tremendous platform for these young riders to showcase their amazing talent to the world, but without international support many of them simply do not have the means to enter (even with the generous support of Phil Evans and his team).
Every penny goes directly to helping them, none of it is wasted on administration.
Anyone who donates will also have the heart warming satisfaction of knowing that they have helped someone less fortunate than themselves.
I know that times are still tough, and especially so straight after Christmas, and if you can't afford to help that's OK, sharing this page will still help to spread the word and It might lead to someone who can spare a few pounds.
Directly contributing to the assistance of a potential world class athlete is as worthy a cause as any other, and in years to come you might find yourselves cheering them on when they get the chance to take part in an Olympic Games. And your name will be on the blog page forever, showing just what a decent person you really are. Now that's value for money!
For the 2014 race I would like to do this again.
The Yak Attack is a tremendous platform for these young riders to showcase their amazing talent to the world, but without international support many of them simply do not have the means to enter (even with the generous support of Phil Evans and his team).
Every penny goes directly to helping them, none of it is wasted on administration.
Anyone who donates will also have the heart warming satisfaction of knowing that they have helped someone less fortunate than themselves.
I know that times are still tough, and especially so straight after Christmas, and if you can't afford to help that's OK, sharing this page will still help to spread the word and It might lead to someone who can spare a few pounds.
Directly contributing to the assistance of a potential world class athlete is as worthy a cause as any other, and in years to come you might find yourselves cheering them on when they get the chance to take part in an Olympic Games. And your name will be on the blog page forever, showing just what a decent person you really are. Now that's value for money!
If anyone is interested in donating please contact me via this page or through these links to my Twitter and Facebook pages.
Any amount will be gratefully received, be it £1, £5, £10 or whatever you can afford. I will personally put in a minimum of £50 to get the ball rolling and I will also make up any shortfall to ensure that Laxmi receives the full support required.
The Yak Attack provides a huge opportunity to help Nepali mountain bikers to compete against an International standard field, and it has an ultimate goal of assisting with their potential qualification to the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.
Any amount will be gratefully received, be it £1, £5, £10 or whatever you can afford. I will personally put in a minimum of £50 to get the ball rolling and I will also make up any shortfall to ensure that Laxmi receives the full support required.
The Yak Attack provides a huge opportunity to help Nepali mountain bikers to compete against an International standard field, and it has an ultimate goal of assisting with their potential qualification to the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.
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| Laxmi Magar |
The cost of fully supporting a Nepali rider in the Yak Attack is £500/US$800
Individual pledges will ideally be £25.00 (or more if you wish) but any amount will be gratefully received.
If any businesses would like to pledge please contact me via this page or through our Twitter or Facebook links. For your support I will add links to your websites along with a business profile on this site; plus links via Twitter and Facebook.
Donations received so far:
Norman, Sandra, Amanda & Josh Holloway. Ilkeston. UK. £100.00
Debbie Slater. Belper. UK. £10.00
Mae & Chris Stenson. Burton upon Trent. UK. £25.00
Zoltan Keller (Yak Attack 2013). Hungary. £30.00
Tamara Day. Canada. £50.00
Helen & Shavka Parkar. Isle of Wight. UK. (Discontinued Designs) £50.00
Anneke Corsie. Zwolle. NL. £30.00
Anita Barley. Denby. UK. £20.00
Andy Jackson. Denby. UK. £20.00
Paul Crooks. Burton upon Trent. UK. £30.00
Mitchell Bryan & Family. Belper. UK. £50.00
Keith Harrison & family. Burton upon Trent. UK. £20.00
David Lamb & family. Leabrooks. UK. £10.00
Margaret Gibson. South Normanton. UK. £5.00
Neil Cottam. Chase The Rainbow. UK. £50.00
Running total = £500.00
My friend Wilco Voulon from Zwolle in The Netherlands and his organisation Empower (Formerly Autisme Sportief) will be donating 50% towards a rider sponsorship - £250
I am hoping to be able to match this with generous donations to enable another rider to benefit fully.
We can now fully support Laxmi's entry in to the race! Thank you everyone for your kindness. Just a little more means we will be able to support an additional Nepali entrant.
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2013
My very special thanks go to:
Amanda, Josh, Norman & Sandra Holloway. Ilkeston. England (Eagle Manufacturing). £250.00
Bob & Margaret Cottam. Denby. England. £25.00
Keith Harrison. Burton upon Trent. England. £30.00
Paul Crooks. Burton upon Trent. England. £25.00
David Whewell. Burton upon Trent. England. £30.00
David Slater (Our very own!) . Selston. England. £25.00
Helen & Shavka Parkar. IOW, England. (Discontinued Designs) £50.
Helen & Shavka Parkar. IOW, England. (Discontinued Designs) £50.
Chase The Rainbow contributed the remaining amount required.
Target achieved: £500
Thank you to everyone for donating towards this very special goal and giving Laxmi the chance to race in The Yak Attack.
You will be able to track our progress through the race here:
Website: Yak Attack
Facebook: Yak Attack
Twitter: Yak Attack Nepal
You will be able to track our progress through the race here:
Website: Yak Attack
Facebook: Yak Attack
Twitter: Yak Attack Nepal
You can view the Yak Attack Sponsor page from this link:
To Amanda, Josh, Uncle Norman and Auntie Sandra; I offer my utmost gratitude for their kind permission to do this in Darren's memory. I love you all more than I can ever express.
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