Kingspan gifts Christmas cheer to local athlete Laragh

Laragh O’Grady, a dressage rider from Newry, was a recipient of the Kingspan Kickstart Sports Fund

Eight amateur athletes and two sports clubs based in County Down have each received a £850 uplift ahead of the festive period courtesy of Kingspan, a global leader in high-performance insulation and building envelope solutions.

The Kingspan Kickstart Sports Fund launched earlier this year, with support from Irish professional golfer, Shane Lowry, to provide support for grassroots level athletes and community sports clubs, and has already awarded a total of £76,500 to successful applicants across Ireland.

As part of the fund, athletes from across Northern Ireland including Newry’s dressage rider Laragh O’Grady, have been awarded £850 each. The Fund will help to provide sporting equipment, training and other necessary resources, alongside offering assistance with any campaigns that are currently underway.

Speaking about the Fund, Hannah Fidgeon, Kickstart Marketing Manager at Kingspan said: “We are a long-standing supporter of Irish sports through our sponsorship of Ulster Rugby and Cavan GAA, so establishing the Kingspan Kickstart Sports Fund was an important initiative for us.

“Professional level sport is largely well bolstered, however if it’s to continue to progress and thrive, support for grassroots level athletes, sports clubs and facilities is essential. It’s well known that competing at an amateur level can be extremely tough, especially in terms of finances, and we hope that this Fund will help to make a huge difference to clubs, facilities and athletes in their sporting journey.

“We have an immense amount of home-grown sporting talent here in Ireland. If our rich sporting culture is to continue to evolve and develop, we must do all we can to support the grassroots levels, which hopefully the Kingspan Kickstart Sports Fund will help to achieve.

“Congratulations to all the recipients. We’re looking forward to seeing how your clubs and athletes grow in the near future.”

To apply for the Kingspan Kickstart Sports Fund, you must be an amateur athlete, sports club or a community sports facility open to all and based on the island of Ireland.

Applications for the next round of funding will open in 2024.