RGK Wheelchairs partners with top GB wheelchair athletes to raise money for Spinal Research
Sports wheelchair manufacturer RGK Wheelchairs has been joined by Team GB wheelchair basketball players Anastasia Blease and Ben Leitch, rising star Alice McHaffie, and wheelchair racer Hilmy Shawwal in a fundraising fitness challenge for Spinal Research.
The athletes are ambassadors of the Staffordshire-based company, that manufactures made-to-measure sport and daily wheelchairs, and will be logging their activity on Strava, a service for tracking physical exercise which incorporates social network features, during July to support RGK Wheelchairs’ fundraising push.
Dorian Benjamin, Sales and Marketing Director at RGK Wheelchairs, said: “We create the lightest chairs on the market that are uniquely made to match the requirements and individuality of every user to strive and unlock their unstoppable ambition.
“We’re also all about encouraging health and fitness among our customers and staff and the July Strava Fitness Challenge brings all this together to help Spinal Research in their unstoppable ambition to improve the lives of people paralysed after a spinal cord injury.”
Spinal Research is a charity funding medical research to develop life-changing treatments for the millions around the world living with a spinal cord injury and to ultimately cure paralysis.
Louisa McGinn, Chief Executive at Spinal Research, said: “We’re delighted that some of our best wheelchair athletes are coming together in such a positive way to help raise vital funds to bring our vision of curing paralysis a step closer.
“We’re in touching distance of function restoring treatments and there is real hope that curing paralysis will be the medical breakthrough of the 21st century.”
Alice, from York, plays for newly promoted Women’s Premier League Basketball team Tees Valley Mohawks. She said: “I want to raise as much money for and awareness of Spinal Research.
“This is an amazing cause that looks into spinal cord injuries and the medical research around them. As someone with a spinal cord disability I think there is so much research to be done. As a wheelchair basketball player I love a fitness challenge and hope as many people as possible can join in or share the challenge.”
Maxwell McKnight recently took on a massive challenge to ascend Mount Snowdon in a powerchair with support from staff at mobility retailer Lifestyle & Mobility and mobility equipment supplier Sunrise Medical.
