Lancashire Youth Challenge wins Sport England Project of the Year

By Victoria Hazael
Friday, 24 October 2014
Lancaster Youth Challenge pedal to success
The Lancaster Youth Challenge(LYC), a sports and arts programme delivered by The Dukes, Marsh Community Centre, Fylde YMCA and the national cycle charity CTC, received the Sportivate (Sport England) Project of the Year Award at a ceremony in the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday.

Lancaster Youth Challenge is an annual sports and creativity challenge for young people who live in the Lancaster district. It is a CTC partnership project.

The award was in recognition of LYC’s project in 2013, which involved a group of young people and youth workers cycling from Lancaster to Edinburgh over three days. The young people, aged 16-21 were not in education, employment or training, and lived mainly in the the Ryelands, Skerton and Marsh areas of Lancaster.

 “We are thrilled to have won this award."
Guy Christiansen
Creative Learning Director at The Dukes

Creative Learning Director at The Dukes, Guy Christiansen, who took part in LYC, said: “We are thrilled to have won this award and we hope the profile and support we have received will enable Lancaster Youth Challenge to become an annual programme for local young people.”

As well as being a major physical and emotional challenge for the young people, the ride also provided an opportunity for them to prove to themselves and their community that they could achieve great things and do something positive for others. Their marathon effort raised funds for Unique Kidz and Co, a charity founded locally by two mums of disabled children who developed childcare and social activities for people in the same boat.

Next year’s LYC will be Coast to Coast – by any means; it will include another marathon cycle ride and walking the 3 Peaks in Yorkshire. It will be supported by Lancaster University as part of its Cultural Partnership with The Dukes.

The national award included £750 to help finance Coast to Coast and a glass trophy. Competition was fierce, with LYC beating more than 140 other projects from across the UK. 

The ceremony was hosted by Lancaster and Fleetwood MP, Eric Ollerenshaw. 

Congratulations to everyone at Lancaster Youth Challenge on winning the Gold Award from Sport England, this is fantastic news."
Eric Ollerenshaw
MP for Lancaster & Fleetwood

Mr Ollerenshaw said: “It was great to be with the LYC team in Parliament to hear about the good work they do to help disadvantaged young people and enjoy the moment with them as it was announced they had come out top in the country.

“It’s a fantastic advert for Lancaster and for what can be achieved by such an enthusiastic group of individuals working together across their different organisations.”

 

Disabled and non-standard cycling Cycling UK in England Community Cycle Clubs