This entry was posted on Monday, November 19th, 2012at 12:22 pm by Active Nation

Support Darren In His Quest For GB Gold!

You might not know Darren Greenfield, but he’s a pretty amazing guy that is certainly worthy of our Local Heroes title.

Recently Darren had some fantastic news, when he was selected for the Great Britain Paracanoe team!

As a former Wheelchair Basketball player for Great Britain you might think it’s an unusual change of sport, but when Darren was approached by a friend to meet a GB coach for Paracanoeing at Nottingham Pier point four months ago, he thought it sounded interesting, so was happy to give it a go.

With good upper body strength the coaches were keen for Darren to take part in a try-out. The trial went great, and since then he’s had a GB selection trial on the 13th October 2012. This trial put him through his paces to complete a 200m sprint within a 66 seconds time limit! Sounds tough, but amazingly he did it in 61 seconds, which was only 2 seconds behind a bronze medal time in the world championships this year! Not bad for his first go! Then following that in the ‘ergo’ trial he was the fastest in his class. Definitely sounding like a future champion!

Darren’s main focus now is to maintain his incredible start, and ensure that he is the fastest in his class, which will guarantee selection to represent Great Britain in the European and World Championships next year. Great news!

But unfortunately, there’s a downside. Darren doesn’t currently have his own boat, and to make the best of this opportunity he needs to have the same standard of kit as his competitors. Darren’s currently competing in an older, heavier boat than his rivals, something that makes the task more difficult, especially when he has to share this boat with others.

To help make sure Darren has the best kit and equipment he needs to pursue his chance to get into the GB squad, we need help to raise the £3000 a new boat would cost.

We would love it if you could support Darren. If you have ideas for fundraising, know of any events that might help to raise his fundraising profile, or maybe have some spare cash in your pocket that you might like to donate!? Please give us a call on 01283 216269 and let’s have a conversation!