Local sports star nominated for Sporting Champions Awards

Alfie Penfold and Courtney Palmer-Jones are up for the Community Champion of the Year Award at Everyone Active’s Sporting Champions Awards, which are due to be held at Porchester Hall in Bayswater, London on Wednesday, October 30.

The event will be hosted by Great Britain’s double world 110m hurdles champion and former world record holder Colin Jackson.

Everyone Active runs more than 230 leisure and cultural centres across the country, including K2 Crawley, in partnership with Crawley Borough Council.

The company’s Sporting Champions scheme is a sports talent development programme which supports 1,400 athletes.

Now in its eighth year, the initiative has helped thousands of athletes to achieve their sporting potential by providing free access to Everyone Active’s leisure facilities nationwide.

Sporting Champions athletes won an incredible 23 medals at this year’s Olympics and Paralympics – nine gold, six silver and eight bronze – while 14 athletes competed at their first Olympics or Paralympics in Paris.

Both Alfie Penfold and Courtney Palmer-Jones regularly train at K2 Crawley. Alfie is an aspiring para swimmer, who represented Team GB at the World Para Series 2024 and swam for the first time in the visually impaired 4 x 100 freestyle.

British Olympic hopeful Courtney has an array of sporting achievements under her belt including Pairs Bronze at the Welsh Championships, Individual Gold and Silver at the Surrey Championships, Individual Gold at the Scout National Championships and Individual Gold in the NSRA Summer Postal Competition.

Award winners will include those who have had career successes or who have engaged with the Sporting Champions scheme and their local Everyone Active centre. Everyone Active will also celebrate those who have helped to inspire other up-and-coming sportsmen and women.

The awards ceremony will be preceded by a mentoring workshop, led by the scheme’s team of Elite athletes. Richard Kilty, Maisie Summers-Newton and Lauren Steadman starred on the Paris 2024 stage, and they will be joined by Olympians Lutalo Muhammad and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey to share their insights and experiences and help guide the Sporting Champions athletes in their own careers.

Jon Hodgson, Everyone Active’s contract manager, said: “We are really looking forward to celebrating the fantastic achievements of all the Sporting Champions athletes at Porchester Hall, including Alfie Penfold and Courtney Palmer-Jones.

“Alfie, for example, recently gave a hugely inspirational speech to open the Sussex Parallel Youth Games event, hosted at K2 Crawley in May, so it is great to see him getting acknowledged for his success and engagement with the Sporting Champions scheme.

“The scheme has been very successful in providing exceptional support to emerging talent and we are delighted to be showcasing this.

“It’s fantastic to see how the scheme has expanded over the years, now providing more than 1,400 athletes nationwide with access to top-quality training facilities and support.

“As a leisure provider, we feel it is important to cater for all sections of the community, and we hope to continue making a real difference to our athletes’ success.”

To find out more about the Everyone Active’s Sporting Champions scheme, visit www.easportingchampions.com or follow @easportingchamps on Instagram. For further information on Everyone Active, visit www.everyoneactive.com