Almost 200 young athletes receive cash boost from athletics charity despite pandemic-related fundraising problems

Amy Hunt, Keely Hodgkinson, Lucy-Jane Matthews and Lewis Byng are among the latest wave of up-and-coming athletes to benefit from grants from the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund.

Over the past 30 years the RPMF has supported talented British athletes to the tune of more than £2 million with this year’s grants totalling nearly £30,000.

The RPMF says that the charity was almost unable to help athletes this year due to the pandemic but money raised by its ‘Ronners’ in the virtual London Marathon has enabled it to continue giving grants in 2021.

READ MORE: Ronners shine in virtual marathon

“At one point in 2020,” the RPMF says in a statement, “due to the impact of the Covid pandemic on our fundraising activities, the RPMF was not only concerned that it would not be able to support any athletes in 2021, but for its very survival.”

After sifting through 450 applications during a nine-hour online video meeting, the RPMF Trustees eventually settled on helping 196 athletes across all event disciplines and from 100 different clubs.

These include sprint prodigy Hunt, plus sprint hurdler Matthews, shot put record-breaker Byng and British 800m champion Hodgkinson.

READ MORE: Amy Hunt looks forward to a delayed Olympics

Others include sprinter Charlie Dobson, middle-distance runners Isobel Boffey, George Mills, Oliver Dustin and Ben Pattison (the latter two pictured above), hammer thrower Charlotte Payne, long jumper Reynold Banigo, high jumpers Kelechi Aguocha and Sam Brereton, heptathlete Holly Mills and para athletes Gavin Drysdale and Kayleigh Haggo.

For a full list of recipients – click here.

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