Press release -
SportsAid chosen as 2015 BNY Mellon Boat Races charity partner
BNY Mellon and Newton have chosen SportsAid as the official charity partner of this year’s BNY Mellon Boat Races in a new partnership that will support 30 SportsAid athletes this year thanks to a £50,000 donation that was presented to the charity in London last night.
Michael Cole-Fontayn, BNY Mellon's EMEA Chairman, said, “We are absolutely thrilled to announce our new partnership with SportsAid, through which we will support 30 young athletes from a range of sporting disciplines over the next 12 months.”
The athletes compete in 25 sports and are among the best in the country for their age, including junior British BMX champion Tian Isidore and junior world taekwondo champion Abigail Stones. Last night each athlete was paired with a ‘buddy’ from BNY Mellon and Newton who will provide extra support this year at special workshops on topics like media skills, health and nutrition.
Former Olympic champion rower Mark Hunter MBE believes that the buddies may also learn a few things themselves.
“Once the athletes bring people into their world they are going to understand how tough it is every day to work hard and persevere in sport,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a real eye opener and I’m really looking forward to the success of the programme. There’s a nice mix of athletes from different sports and different backgrounds and they all just want to go out and compete and keep improving and you can see that killer instinct in all of them.”
Asked about this year’s boat race Mark added, “It’s a very special year for the boat race being the first time the women have raced on the tideway. The last couple of years it’s been going to Oxford so I think I’m going to go with Oxford again this year.”
Twenty-two-year-old rower Matilda Horn – who is one of the athletes who will benefit from the new partnership – agreed saying, “I think it will be Oxford for both the men’s and women’s races this year.”
She added, “Tonight has been really useful and I’ve really enjoyed meeting everybody. I’ve just met my buddy who is also a rower.
“It’s all really inspiring and great to see how invested everyone is in what we are doing. The support is massively helpful because of the company and what they do with rowing and also because of the financial support that will be helping me throughout the year whilst I go into the development squad for GB, so it’s a really big help…Financial support is probably one of the most helpful things anyone can give.”
Welcoming the news, SportsAid’s chief executive Tim Lawler said, “These athletes are some of our brightest prospects and will find this support from BNY Mellon and Newton absolutely invaluable. They already give everything to sport so the extra training, recognition and funding will be a massive confidence boost that could make a lifelong impact on them. If everyone watching the boat races this year gets behind the next generation with SportsAid, British sport will be in great shape for the future.”
This year’s boat races will see the men’s and women’s crews from Oxford and Cambridge competing on the same course on the same day for the very first time. SportsAid will be fundraising throughout the event to ensure more of Britain’s best young athletes get the support they need.
To donate to SportsAid text ‘NEXT01 £5’, ‘NEXT01 £10’ or as much as you can give to 70070. To keep up with all the boat race news and action, visit theboatraces.org.
Topics
- Sport
Categories
- newton
- bny mellon boat races
- bny mellon
- mark hunter mbe
- abigail stones
- tian isidore
- matilda horn
- michael cole-fontayn
- sportsaid
- tim lawler
- i will be brilliant
- rowing
Interviews and information on SportsAid
Call Simon Worsfold at SportsAid on 020 7273 1978 or email simon@sportsaid.org.uk.
Athletes
The 30 SportsAid athletes who will benefit from today’s announcement are:
- Aadam Hussain (boxing) from High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire
- Abigail Stones (taekwondo) from Liverpool
- Alexandra Macdonald (cricket) from Frodsham in Cheshire
- Anna Patten (football) from Harpenden in Hertfordshire
- Ashley Greening (wheelchair basketball) from Teddington in Middlesex
- Charlie Strickland (golf) from Littlehampton in West Sussex
- Christianna Vitanova (gymnastics) from Chigwell in Essex
- Dale Smith (disability football) from Hulme in Lancashire
- Denise Payet (table tennis) from Enfield in Middlesex
- Emile Hudd (tennis) from London
- Emma Allen (golf) from Southampton
- Jacob Iwowo (basketball) from London
- Joe Cokanasiga (rugby union) from Watford in Hertfordshire
- Jonathan Tate (archery) from Aingers Green in Essex
- Kamal Minott (fencing) from Rainham in Essex
- Katrina Feklistova (fencing) from London
- Leah Peploe (triathlon) from Bolton
- Leo McCrea (para swimming) from Poole in Dorset
- Madison Rowlands (skiing) from Chatham in Kent
- Matilda Horn (rowing) from London
- Matt Hignett (wheelchair rugby) from Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire
- Molly Harvey (judo) from Chatham in Kent
- Nicholas Hunt (athletics) from Bournemouth in Dorset
- Nicholas Petrou (athletics) from Leeds
- Rhys Smith (hockey) from London
- Sam Mostowfi (gymnastics) from Maidstone in Kent
- Sophie Alden (triathlon) from Norwich
- Thomas Head (athletics) from Grays in Essex
- Tian Isidore (cycling) from London
- Tom Digby (rowing) from Henley on Thames in Oxfordshire
SportsAid
SportsAid helps young sports people to overcome the financial challenges they face in their bid to become Britain’s next generation of Olympians and Paralympians. The charity’s patron is Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge. Some of the best known SportsAid recipients are Sir Chris Hoy, David Weir CBE, Mo Farah CBE, Dame Sarah Storey, Jessica Ennis-Hill CBE, Ellie Simmonds OBE, Sir Bradley Wiggins, Baroness Grey-Thompson DBE, Sir Ben Ainslie, Jonnie Peacock MBE, Tom Daley, Ade Adepitan MBE and Sir Steve Redgrave. In the last three years the charity has helped 5,000 of the UK’s brightest prospects who hope to follow in their footsteps.
BNY Mellon
BNY Mellon is a global investments company dedicated to helping its clients manage and service their financial assets throughout the investment lifecycle. Whether providing financial services for institutions, corporations or individual investors, BNY Mellon delivers informed investment management and investment services in 35 countries and more than 100 markets. As of Dec. 31, 2014, BNY Mellon had $28.5 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and $1.7 trillion in assets under management. BNY Mellon can act as a single point of contact for clients looking to create, trade, hold, manage, service, distribute or restructure investments. BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK). Additional information is available on www.bnymellon.com, or follow us on Twitter @BNYMellon.
Newton
Newton is a London-based global investment management subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation. With assets under management of £50.7 billion (as at 31 December 2014), including assets managed by Newton Investment Management Limited as dual officers of Newton Capital Management Limited and The Bank of New York Mellon, Newton's group of affiliated companies provides investment products and services to a wide range of clients, including pension funds, charities, corporations and (via BNY Mellon) individuals. News and other information about Newton is available at www.newton.co.uk and via Twitter: @NewtonIM
