Impact - 2023 to 2025

Our 24 hour cycle event has now been running since 2023 and as we enter our 4th year and as we follow a record breaking year fundraising wise we felt it sensible to highlight the impact that this has made.

The cycle has generated funds to provide cricket free of charge to 216 young people. Our fundamental aim at the outset of this initiative was to enable the playing of a sport that has obvious issues in terms of barriers to entry financially.

14% of those having received access to cricket through our camps have been female - which has supported and dovetailed nicely with the uptick in female participants at Sarisbury Athletic Cricket Club. This has culminated in our first girls side at junior level in 2025 as we continue this development with a 5 year plan for female cricket at SACC.

As of 2026 we will see two alumni of the camps play senior cricket for the club, but this is heavily impacted by the minimum age needed to do so. We expect that number to rise both for Sarisbury Athletic and potentially other local clubs in future.

The money raised in 2025 allowed us to retain 30% to ensure that we can run the camps for one year beyond our fundraising campaign. This has been set aside as we know that we cannot do this forever. We are reliant on the generosity of our donors at present and we will continue to diversify our funding sources to make these activities happen.

At the time of writing we have been unsuccessful with our grant applications but we will go again and continue to demonstrate the impact and benefit this program has for our local young people.

Beyond the payment to facilitate the camps themselves with IDPE we were also able to invest in equipment to facilitate those camps (balls, stumps and other training kit) as well as net purchases to enable larger numbers of young people to train side by side safely.

To finish we will relay the words used by the Hampshire Cricket Board:

Congratulations to the Sarisbury Athletic Cycle 2025 for winning the Connecting Communities award!

The Sarisbury Athletic Cycle 2025 saw 72 riders pedal non-stop for 24 hours, covering over 1,300 miles and symbolically ‘visiting’ all 18 first-class county grounds, raising an incredible £7,000 to fund free Summer Cricket Camps for local children. Led by Rob and Martyn, the event embodies the spirit of using cricket to bring people together, break down barriers, and provide life-changing opportunities for young players.