Commonwealth gold medallist Daniel Awde has turned to the Talent Backer fund-raising programme in an attempt to help him pay for warm weather training in the spring as looks to find success this summer in Beijing.
The former Olympic decathlete, who was part of the Commonwealth Games 4x400m team that won gold in Glasgow this summer, has decided to take this route after seeing a tweet from Talent Backer on social media.
“I decided to give Talent Backer a go following a message it had put out on Twitter, which someone had then retweeted,” the Chris Zah coached athlete explained.
“It seemed like a really good way to help me raise enough money to help me travel to either Florida or California next year with the GB squad. At the moment I’m not on any funding so I have to pay for any overseas trips myself, plus all my equipment, and this looked like a great way to help me do it.”
Talent Backer aims to help sports people, musicians and artists achieve their aims by giving them a platform where they can look for public support to crowd-fund their projects. A number of up and coming athletes have used it to successfully raise enough money to travel to competitions, train overseas or pay for specialist equipment. Anyone using it also gets social media support, additional promotion and regular emails letting them know how they’re progressing.
Awde’s goal is to raise £2,500 for his warm-weather training as his he is finding it difficult to find flexible enough employment to fit in with his training schedule, and his daily tube fares to and from training are also putting a strain on his finances.
He is also hoping the funds will ultimately help with his dream to compete at the iconic Bird’s Nest Stadium in China for the third time at the 2015 IAAF World Championshops and on the road to Rio Olympics in 2016.
“I’ve been to the Bird’s Nest twice before and loved it. I went to the World Juniors in 2006 and then to the Olympics in 2008 and believe if I can get there again, I can really do something special.
“Warm weather training is essential to an athlete as it reduces injuries and the conditions are so perfect over there, your performances are always really good.”
Awde is hopeful of being selected for funding by UK Sport for next year and believes he can reach his target before his time period is up.
“I’m sure I’ll raise the money I need as it’s not a huge sum. I’ve currently got 2,932 Twitter followers so if they all donated £1, I’d reach it in no time! The local paper where I live has got on board on too and has printed an article about it.”
You can donate to Awde’s Talent Backer page here: www.talentbacker.com/talents/view/daniel-awde
