Jessica has been awarded a grant towards her Triathlon training and competition.

Support in competing in South West Triathlon Series with the aim of being selected for South West Team in inter-regional championships. Grant will go towards entry and travel costs and equipment (turbo trainer, footwear, wetsuit, servicing costs of bike). Attend residential training week run by GB coach in order to improve skill and speed in the three disciplines of Triathlon

The funding will assist in allowing Jessica to develop in the sport of Triathlon through having suitable equipment and coaching ensuring she can complete to the best of her abilities. This will be here first year in Triathlon however she has competed for the last two years in feeder series. In Biathlon (Swim – Run) she has been ranked 25th in the country for her age and has competed in the British Biathlon Championships and National Schools Championships. In Biathle (Continous run-swim-run) she finsihed 3rd in the National Schools Champioship and was selected by Pentathlon GB to represent GBR in Italy and Germany in 2014. She was ranked 5th overall by the International Pentathlon Union in the world Tour during 2014.

We are very pleased to have awarded a grant to Oliver to support his training trip.

I have been invited to a one and a life time chance to train with Olympic athletes in Fiji. The Fijian team had picked me out whilst training in Dumfries for the Commonwealth Games.

I feel like this is a one in a life time opportunity. This venture would open many doors in the Athletics world for me. This would allow me to delve into the cultural differences that i would witness. The links which have been made can be made even stronger for future travels. The wisdom passed on to me could be insurpassable to the likes of coaching methods I may acquire in this country, making me a better and more fierce competitor.

Will Rigg has been awarded a grant towards the costs involved in him being selected for a place on the British Orienteering Talent Squad.

After coming 20th in the European Youth Championships Long distance race I am motivated to further my improvement as an Orienteer .I would also like to take the opportunity to attend an annual training camp to Portugal to train and compete in the international event Portugal O Meeting. This will give me priceless experience competing against some of the top international athletes from my age group and an excellent opportunity to train with my Swedish Club mates including the likes of World Champion Gustav Bergman.

As a full time student, I have limited funds to take advantage of the opportunities that are open to me. I hope to be granted a Winning Students Scholarship and although most of this funding is ring fenced for university activity I hope to be able to put some of this towards the cost of my place in the British Orienteering Talent Squad. However, there will still be a substantial shortfall and so I hope to be granted an award from the John Taylor Foundation so that I can continue on the Athlete Development Pathway that lies ahead for me.

Joe Woodley has been awarded a grant towards the costs involved in him being selected for a place on the British Orienteering Talent Squad.

This year my key aim is selection for the Junior World Championships, to be held in Norway. With this competition in mind i have spent time training and racing in Norway for the past two Summers and intend to train there again prior to the competition.
In 2016 The Junior World Orienteering Championships is being held in Switzerland and I aspire to a top 15 placing.

I am currently unable to self fund all of my training, racing and travelling even with parental support. I have raised money by holding cake stalls at local orienteering events, and intend to do so again.

Tom Thomas has been awarded a grant towards kit for the upcoming season. We wish him well.

I have always been a fellrunner, from being a junior to a senior. I was never that talented, I definitely came under the banner of an enthusiastic try-hard anorak; I would know every race record, but also know I wasn’t going to finish anywhere near it. I became an under 23 in 2011 and started really running well, having views to do the U/23 English and British Championships. Unfortunately, about a week after the Long Mynd race I turned my ankle, despite going over to Ireland to do the Mournes and a jaunt round the Coniston race, it pretty much ended my running for 3 years. The diagnosis – I’d basically done in Peroneal tendons, if I ran, I couldn’t walk the next day so eventually after a year of trying, I just stopped running and threw in the towel because it was getting me down.

Fast forward to last summer, I had finished uni, had no job, suffered from pretty bad depression due to personal issues and I discovered running again….I tentatively tried my ankle and it seemed fine. I could run two days in a row, and even though it’s a case of management I managed to train well and finish 24th at the Scafell Pike race and I was running better than ever off significantly less mileage. So I’ve decided to finish my unfinished business and go all out to try and medal in the U/23 British championships this year. I do think long term I can be a race winner, I train hard, I eat well and I love the sport. For now I’d be content with a good showing in the British champs and take it from there.

I’m working, but shifts and money have been hard to come by and I got job scammed recently which was really great given the circumstances. I’ve earned £200 in the last 2 months and that doesn’t really cover 3 weeks living costs and now I’m at the point where my shoes are causing me injuries. I will be working to contribute to my aims but I don’t have any savings or anything other than what I earn….hopefully there will be some improvement here.

Dominic Allen has been awarded a grant towards his costs for the upcoming season.

I have been going to Exeter Harriers since the age of 11. Although I have tried many events, javelin is what I feel more passionate about javelin. Javelins are extremely expensive to purchase and can vary greatly. On average they cost about £1,000 each and when I need at least 2 this can become very expensive. I was really delighted to come 3rd in the UK Championships earlier this year as it has been a difficult year for training for me. Exeter Harriers track has been closed for most of the season (March –August) for refurbishment. This has meant that I have had to travel to Taunton, Tavistock or Yeovil which takes about an hour travelling time. This meant that I did not always have a coach for the training session. Obviously not ideal training. I have also been studying hard for my GCSE’s which I now have the results for and am quite proud of achieving 10 A –C grades.

I am hoping to have a much better season this year with the hope one day of competing at the Olympics.

Kae has been awarded a grant for equipment for her athletics training.

Athletics has always been a significant part of my life and I desperately wish to continue it at university. I will be studying French and Politics at the University of Bath, I chose Bath as it great for my academic studies and they also have amazing facilities with great coaches where I can continue to do my main event hurdles whilst studying. Unfortunately, last year I was unable to effectively study and train at the same time. I had to travel across London (from North Finchley to Mile End/Newham Leisure Centre) on public transport to get to training, meaning I was tired all the time and I could not focus very well. To make matters worse I had a freak accident with the hurdles and found myself in crutches, injured and unable to finish the season. I could focus on studying for my a-levels and I received great results, an A* in Politics, an A in French and a B in English Literature.

I am now over my injury and I am desperate to get back on track this winter season. I find that doing athletics is a great stress reliever, running is one thing that I can always count on to make me happy. However, yet again I am in another awkward situation as my maintenance grant only gives me £33 p/w to live on after my student accommodation is taken away. This is not enough to buy the new equipment that I will need. I was selected to take the AASE (Achieving Academic and Sporting Excellence) programme funded by British Athletics. I have learned so much about my sport, including nutrition which I now know is indispensable to performance. Though, healthier food is generally more expensive, I have learned some tricks from the course on how to have a good nutritional regime. I expect to see both physical and mental health benefits from continuing my pursuit in hurdles.

In 2012, at 16 I was 3rd in the country for 80m Hurdles at the end of the year. I was the Southern champion and a bronze medalist in the AAAs (national championships). I know that I am talented as my coaches John Herbert, Lloyd Cowan and Tony Jarrett have told me. I plan to really work on myself as an athlete this year and define who I am. I will work my way back up the British rankings and show people that I will be capable of representing in Great Britain in the foreseeable future.

I have been working throughout the summer at festivals. This has raised some money but the majority of it has gone towards sustaining life at university such as buying pots, pans, and kitchen utensils etc.

I know that my mother will try her best to give me some money to support me but considering all the costs of books and other university costs, I cannot expect her to provide everything for me when they do not earn enough to do so.

I am not currently receiving any money in terms of university scholarships, bursaries or grants. So, I am looking for a part-time job whilst at university but have been unsuccessful at this time.

Emile has been awarded a grant towards equipment and travel expenses for the next season.

In order to progress with my running development to national level I will need new training shoes and clothes and funding for staying in hotels overnight at races in various parts of the country. My main achievements to date are: 3 Yorkshire Championships (2 track titles and 1 cross country title); 3 x Northern medalist (2 track (1 gold); 1 cross country ( Sainsbury’s School Games silver medalist (3000m).
I ‘m going to compete in the Nationals at parliament Hill this year; the Northern XC, the McCane Cross Country races ( Birmingham, Cardiff, Liverpool, Milton Keynes); I have been chosen to take part in the Training Camp in Twickenham after coming in the first 10 in the mini marathon recently. Accommodation is provided but I have to find travel costs. I need to compete in the English Schools, Northern track and the Inter counties events as well as run for my club in the YDL events (transport provided for this) and Senior League matches (no transport).

I need this funding due to living in a single parent household. My mum says she hopes I’ve stopped growing now and that she won’t have to keep replacing track and training shoes and running kit but I would like to give her some support and if I receive a grant that would go towards helping.

Adam Potter has been awarded a grant to help towards the athlete funding for the British Orienteering Talent Development Squad.

I have been selected for the British Orienteering talent development squad, this is a national squad which aims to develop promising junior athletes into senior elite orienteers.

In joining the talent development squad it will help to benefit my aims for the future massively, so far I have been to the Junior world Orienteering championships in 2013 and 2014 with my best result being 48th in the sprint in 2014, I have recently returned for the Junior European Cup in Belgium where I managed to come 26th in the sprint. I believe that the talent development squad will help to give me the edge to aim higher and achieve my dream of a top 6 finish in the Junior World Championships sprint in 2015, it will do this through giving me opportunities to better both my physical and technical skills and will play a major part in my future successes.

Lauren Munro-Bennett has been awarded a grant towards her trip to the European Triathlon Championships in Geneva in 2015.

I have qualified to compete in the 2015 Geneva ETU Standard Distance Triathlon European Championships for the first time. This will be an amazing experience for me, which may be once in a lifetime due to the expensiveness of the event.

I started competing in triathlons this year, through the University, and have only competed in a few triathlons since then. One of which was the British Triathlon Championships held in Liverpool where I came National Under 20 Champion. This was such a big achievement for me, of which I am very proud of. This race gained me qualification to the European Age Groups in 2015.

The race in Geneva will enable me to compete against other triathletes across Europe, and will give me invaluable race experience which I can carry through to all my future races.

Concerning my aims for the future, in the short term, I want to place in the top 5 in BUCS Standard Distance Triathlon in 2015 (University race), and qualify for an elite triathlon race next season.

More long term, I am aiming to become an elite triathlete. With my dedication to training, and determination to push myself to the limits I think this is achievable in the upcoming years. Alongside this, I take part in fell/mountain running, and I am aiming to qualify to run for GBR in 2015/2016 in mountain running, to go alongside my previous England selections within mountain running. The mountain running side of things compliments triathlons well.

I have just received your letter and cheque in the post, and wanted to thank the John Taylor Foundation for supporting my triathlon successes. I am so grateful for your aid, because otherwise I would not be able to take part in the Europeans in Geneva 2015. I really think this experience will help me develop as an athlete in this sport, and hopefully be the start of future successes.

I am excited to let you know how I do!

Thanks so much again,

Lauren Munro-Bennett