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Bolton Sailing Club receive Volvo RYA Champion Club status

by Nicky Moore 12 Nov 2009 13:07 GMT 11 November 2009

On Wednesday 11th November Bolton Sailing Club were awarded the esteemed Volvo RYA Champion Club status as recognition of their commitment to youth sailing.

Chris Blackburn, the Royal Yachting Association’s (RYA) High Performance Manager for the North and West of England, presented the prestigious award, along with Mike Cosgriff from local Volvo dealership, Hatfields Volvo.

Bolton Sailing Club, based on Belmont Reservoir is recognised as one of the leading sailing clubs in the North of England, and offers a wide range of activities for its members including high level training and a busy racing programme.

The club, which received the RYA North West Top Club award in 2008, is also part of the RYA Onboard scheme which aims to introduce sailing and windsurfing as a sport to 500,000 young people across the UK . They also have their own Sailability Foundation Club offering facilities for disabled members.

Keith Roberts, Vice-Commodore at Bolton Sailing Club, said on receiving the reward, “It is fantastic to see our efforts in developing Youth Sailing recognised. The support given by Volvo and the RYA in training our young sailors will be very much appreciated”.

Now that Bolton Sailing Club has achieved Volvo RYA Champion Club status the young sailors will see increased levels of advice and professional coaching, including support from the RYA and their local High Performance Manager Chris Blackburn. On presenting the award, Chris said, “The volunteers at Bolton SC have put a lot of hard work into developing the Junior training and Racing at the club into a vibrant active and fun environment for the young sailors to learn to race. The award of the Volvo Champion Club status recognises this, and I look forward to continue working with the club developing the next generation of talented young sailors.”

Mike Cosgriff, from Hatfields Volvo in Bury who presented the award alongside Chris Blackburn, said: “We are delighted to be presenting this award in recognition of the great work that Bolton Sailing Club has done to help young sailors to develop their racing skills. Following the success of British sailors at the Beijing Olympics last summer, and with the 2012 Olympics fast approaching, we may well be training future Olympians here in Bolton!”

The Volvo RYA Champion Club Programme recognises sailing clubs with a commitment to youth sailing and race coaching in the UK. It aims to encourage young sailors and windsurfers at grassroots level to stay in the sport and learn to compete, while encouraging clubs to introduce youngsters to the sport and help develop their skills. The key challenge for the programme is to encourage more young people to start participating in sailing and then progress with their racing careers.

For more information on Volvo RYA Champion Clubs visit www.rya.org.uk/programmes/volvoryachampionclubs

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