My Story

I am back again to take on this incredible challenge - The Great Racing Welfare Cycle.  

Two years ago in Cheltenham I have never felt so exhausted as I did at 12 noon on the Sunday but also immensely proud that we managed to raise over £100,000 for a charity that I wholeheartedly believe makes a tremendous difference to lives of not only those it helps, but their colleagues, employers and loved ones.

We support over 2,000 people a year.  There are 20,000 people working in horseracing so that is a significant proportion of the industry.  A lot of our time is spent supporting people who are in crisis, but also we do a huge amount of preventative work to try and stop people getting into crisis in the first place.  

I have seen firsthand the importance of "being there" when I was called to help a trainer I know, who that morning had tragically found one of his staff had taken his own life.  Employers aren’t trained to know what do to in a crisis like this......but we are.  We were in the yard within 10 minutes and did, and will continue to, support all those effected in the days, months and probably years after this traumatic event.

Racing Welfare provide essential services to the racing industry, we are relied upon by all of the key bodies that support racing and yet we aren’t funded by any of them.  Most people who I meet believe that they are in some way paying for the work we do through some kind of deduction to their salary, or some kind of levy.  They aren't.  Currently that does not exist and each year we have to find £3m to provide the breadth and depth of services that we know are essential to the health of our industry.

The Cycle is our key fundraising event of the year which is why, despite me not being even close to fit enough and having barely enough time to catch a breath most days I am going to cycle again this year joining by some incredible people who have also given up their time to train and take part.  One such person is my friend Simon Mitchell who is one of the most well-known and well liked members of the racing community, particularly in Newmarket.  He owns a digital marketing company called IMP Graphics and works closely with many businesses across the industry.  Simon has been integral in getting the cycle challenge up and running in Newmarket this year and I can't thank him enough for his support and also for agreeing to cycle. 

On 20-21 July, we’ll be joining a host of other cyclists on the Rowley Mile to take on the ultimate test of stamina endurance, the 24 hour Great Racing Welfare Cycle. Starting at 12pm on Saturday 20th July, two members of the team will need to be cycling on the course at all times, until the challenge comes to a close at 12pm on Sunday 21st July. 

So please please, if you can, donate to this amazing cause and give Simon and I, and the rest of our wonderful team mates, the incentive to keep cycling through day and night for a very worthy cause.

The Racing Welfare Team: Gemma Waterhouse, Simon Mitchell, Aimee Hockley Righton, Alex Cairns, Mike Gummerson