Scottish Hockey's Business and Finance Manager Ruth Crawford ditched her hockey stick for a bike last week as she cycled from Edinburgh to London for sporting charity Right to Play. The ride, launched by Tour de France star Mark Cavendish, covered 534 miles across six stages with stop-offs including the Universities of Newcastle, Leeds, Nottingham and Oxford.
Scottish Hockey, which uses a membership management system based on Sage CRM, is a highly regarded sporting body and long-term, valued customer of Concentrix. The event generated a great deal of interest, and Concentrix is pleased to be among the sponsors.
What started off as a personal challenge for Ruth grew in to an opportunity for Scottish Hockey to continue its partnership with British Universities & College Sports [BUCS], while raising money for charity Right to Play.
“I have lived in both capital cities most of my adult life and this seemed an ideal opportunity”, said Ruth. “I had actually considered doing it independently, but with the timing and the key partners involved, it seemed an ideal opportunity to combine it with my professional life and promote the growing levels of partnership with university hockey in all its guises.”
Right to Play are charity partners of BUCS, the official hosts of the first World University Hockey Championships, which will be held at the National Hockey Academy, Peffermill, in September 2010. The event will be delivered through a Local Organising Committee comprising BUCSs and its partners the University of Edinburgh, Scottish Universities Sport, TASS [Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme] as well as Scottish and Great Britain Hockey.
Charity Right To Play uses sport and play programmes to improve health and develop life skills for children and communities in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the world, under the guiding principles of inclusion and sustainability – principles also inherent in Scottish Hockey’s development activity.
“Having played university sport, led clubs and committees and run university sports leagues in London in the past, I am delighted to be working more closely with the university and colleges sports sector through Scottish Hockey. In delivering this exciting event, Scottish Hockey is part of an organisation committed to the development of university hockey – not just the players of all levels, but also technical officials, umpires, and event staff of now and the future.”
The next steps for the committee are to generate global awareness of the event, with the aim of attracting top quality participants, and the additional buy-in and investment to make this an excellent tournament, showcasing GB hockey, and Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh as an international city and sporting venue of choice.
On completing the ride, Ruth commented “What a journey, got to share the pain and adrenaline with some fantastic people... who will no doubt get me into doing something else"
Even though Ruth has successfully completed the event, you can still sponsor her charity Right To Play, at www.justgiving.com/right-to-play-ruth-crawford....”
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