Charities
The Sports Trust in Basingstoke is an award winning charity dedicated to improving the health and well being of the local community. Of particular significance are the programmes designed for vunerable groups such as senior, young people, and those with poor health. Concessionary rates are also available for these groups. Your donation will help us continue with these important programmes.
Cancer Research UK is the world’s leading charity dedicated to beating cancer through research. Over half of all cancer research in the UK is carried out by our scientists. We have discovered new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer that together have saved millions of lives across the world. We have been at the heart of the progress that has already seen survival rates double in the last thirty years. But one in three of us will still get cancer at some point in our lives. Our groundbreaking work, funded entirely by the public, will help ensure that millions more people will survive.
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Basingstoke Squash Club's fundraising page
To raise money for Cancer Research UK & Basingstoke & District Sports Trust members of the Basingstoke Squash Club are currently preparing for the following 2 Guinness World Record attempts:
1 – Worlds Longest Squash Marathon (singles), currently the record stands at 29 hours and 55 minutes. Grant Ward and Michael Sohachevsky plan to take the record to 30 hours and beyond.
2 – Worlds Longest Squash Rally, Guinness World Records approved this as a new record category and is awaiting the claim. Members of the club will pair up into teams of 2 and compete to set this new world record.
The event will take place at Basingstoke Sports Centre. The 30 hour marathon record attempt will start at 9am on Friday 25th of November and finish sometime after 3pm on Saturday 26th of November. The worlds longest rally record attempt will take place on Saturday 26th from 9am.
Spectators are welcome and for those who can’t make it the entire event will be streamed live for details visit www.basingstokesquashclub.co.uk/worldrecords.aspx
Training & Preparation
Aside from regular court time those participating in the worlds longest rally record attempt don’t require any training, however attempting to play squash non stop for 30 hours is no mean feat and therefore requires a significant amount of training!
Grant and Mike have already been training for over 2 months in preparation for the big day. At least once a week they attend spinning classes for 1 or 2 hours at a time, followed immediately by a few hours on the squash court. As well as playing league and team squash matches, once a week they play at full match pace for 4 hours. At weekends when time permits they train at marathon pace for longer periods and recently broke the 12 hour barrier under the guidelines of the world record attempt.
Grant said that the 12 hour session gave them an insight into what to expect on the day such as the fatigue, time management, food management, blisters, aches & pains. He went on to say that although it is going to be seriously tough and painful they feel confident and excited about breaking the current world record.
The Motivation Behind The Record Attempts
There are several great reasons behind attempting these records. It all started a couple of months ago when there was talk of possibly losing 1 of 3 squash courts due to the cost of maintaining them. The club currently has around 100 members as well as a team in the Berkshire leagues and losing a court would kill the club. Grant Ward the chairman of the club suggested, that attempting these squash world records may be a great way promote the sport, the club and also raise money for some great causes.
The club is aiming to raise £10,000 for charity. Most of us know of someone who has suffered due to cancer and one of the clubs members is being treated for cancer so half money raised will be donated to ‘Cancer Research UK’. The other half will be donated to ‘Basingstoke and Deane Sports Trust’ which is the charity that funds the squash courts at the Basingstoke Sports Centre where the club operates.
For further details or to make a donation go to www.basingstokesquashclub.co.uk/worldrecords.aspx
Recent donors
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Saurabh & Era £10.00 (+ £2.50 giftaid) 09.12.11 It was amazing to see the dedication both grant and mike went thru as a preparation and the commitment to break the record !! as a sportsman myself it does take something special to achive something of thism merit. Congratulations to both of you !! |
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The Reseller Network £100.00 09.12.11 Congratulations for smashing the records! Great squash, very inspirational and all for 2 great causes - WELL DONE!! |
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Stephen Grimwood £10.00 (+ £2.50 giftaid) 07.12.11 Well done Grant and Mike. I've not been awake for that long before, to play squash the whole time is unbelievable! - Great achievement. |
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Jigsaw Life Ltd £100.00 (+ £25.00 giftaid) 05.12.11 Job well done |
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Neil Bennett £10.00 (+ £2.50 giftaid) 02.12.11 Congratulations! |
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Henry Jones £10.00 (+ £2.50 giftaid) 01.12.11 |
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danny smith £15.00 (+ £3.75 giftaid) 01.12.11 great job...well done |
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FreeCarTrader £350.00 (+ £87.50 giftaid) 01.12.11 You did it! Better you than me! |
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Anonymous £100.00 (+ £25.00 giftaid) 01.12.11 Well done |
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Rob Perry £25.00 29.11.11 Great effort, well done. |
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ClaimsJustice £300.00 (+ £75.00 giftaid) 29.11.11 Well done! |
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Ryan £20.00 (+ £5.00 giftaid) 28.11.11 As promised, doubling up because you made the record! |
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Lorraine Roth (Aunt to Michael) £20.00 (+ £5.00 giftaid) 28.11.11 Well done. A very worthy cause |
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Andy Passey £10.00 (+ £2.50 giftaid) 28.11.11 Congratulations Grant and Chris. I hope the blisters heal quickly! |
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Blair Steel £20.00 (+ £5.00 giftaid) 27.11.11 squash 'em |
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Lynn Ward £5.00 (+ £1.25 giftaid) 27.11.11 RECORD BREAKERS!! So proud, I never doubted that you could both do it. Well done!! |
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Tracey Singlehurst-Ward £32.00 (+ £8.00 giftaid) 27.11.11 Legedary. I'd type more but I'm still too knackered myself- how you did it I do not know, but it was incredible. Well done Grant and Mike!! |
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LondonIrish RFC afficionados £10.00 26.11.11 S-m-m-m-a-a-a-a-s-h ! That was the sound of the record being broken! |
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Alan Mowat £5.00 (+ £1.25 giftaid) 26.11.11 Great achievement, well done |
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LondonIrish RFC afficionados £10.00 26.11.11 Great Work Folks! Sleep well for the next 2 months. |
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Sheena Sayer £5.00 (+ £1.25 giftaid) 26.11.11 Well done .... almost there only a few hours left!! Sheena |
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Christian Geldard £20.00 (+ £5.00 giftaid) 26.11.11 Keep going guys! Well done to you both. Christian. |
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Gavin Mansbridge £10.00 (+ £2.50 giftaid) 26.11.11 Fantastic effort guys! |
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Peter Borrett £5.00 (+ £1.25 giftaid) 25.11.11 9 hours down, looking good guys & only another 21 to go ;) Good luck! You can do it! Cheers, Peter |
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Anonymous £10.00 (+ £2.50 giftaid) 25.11.11 |
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Paul Singlehurst-Ward £10.00 (+ £2.50 giftaid) 25.11.11 Forgot to add Mike's name to my earlier donation! GO MIKE, GO! Great effort! |
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Mark Jones £10.00 (+ £2.50 giftaid) 25.11.11 GO ON LADS! |
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Matt Kenny £10.00 (+ £2.50 giftaid) 25.11.11 Good effort in a good cause - good luck. |
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Steve Smith £10.00 (+ £2.50 giftaid) 25.11.11 |
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Ben Neve £20.00 (+ £5.00 giftaid) 25.11.11 |
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Jon Howells £30.00 (+ £7.50 giftaid) 25.11.11 Good luck mate, i'm sure the 30 hours will fly by!! Cheers Jon |
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Roland £50.00 (+ £12.50 giftaid) 25.11.11 |
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Jacky £50.00 (+ £12.50 giftaid) 25.11.11 Good luck! |
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Ryan+Laura £20.00 (+ £5.00 giftaid) 24.11.11 Go for it! |
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Maureen Barnett £20.00 (+ £5.00 giftaid) 24.11.11 Good luck Grant and Mike mo |
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Abigail McLaughlin £10.00 (+ £2.50 giftaid) 24.11.11 Good luck guys!! xx |
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FreeCarTrader £250.00 (+ £62.50 giftaid) 24.11.11 Good Luck |
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mr & mrs sohachevsky £20.00 (+ £5.00 giftaid) 24.11.11 We are proud of our son michael and is mate grant,for competing for such worthy cause. susan and sam. |
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Victor Dennis £10.00 (+ £2.50 giftaid) 24.11.11 Good Luck |
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Hanif Khan £20.00 (+ £5.00 giftaid) 23.11.11 Proud to have known such brave souls. Best of luck Grant & Mike.. |
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Dave Firmin £55.00 (+ £13.75 giftaid) 23.11.11 Good Luck guys! Great effort in the organising and training, just one final hurdle...the event! |
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Anonymous £20.00 (+ £5.00 giftaid) 22.11.11 |
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Jon Holman £20.00 (+ £5.00 giftaid) 22.11.11 good luck guys!! dont forget the plasters :) |
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Neil Witcombe £10.00 (+ £2.50 giftaid) 22.11.11 Good luck guys just remember 30 hours isn't very long, oh hold on a minute yes it is never mind. Good luck. |
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Noam, Jemima and Lila x £50.00 (+ £12.50 giftaid) 21.11.11 Mike, book the court for an extra half hour and I'll give you a game right after!! |
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Iain £20.00 (+ £5.00 giftaid) 20.11.11 Remember what your GF always says nice and steady no rushing =) |
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Nick Moss £20.00 (+ £5.00 giftaid) 20.11.11 Go Boys! |
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Anonymous £10.00 (+ £2.50 giftaid) 20.11.11 Good luck |
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Sophie and Joshua £10.00 20.11.11 Good luck Daddy and Grant! love Kathryn, Sophie and Joshua |
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Nicola £10.00 (+ £2.50 giftaid) 20.11.11 Good luck Grant and Mike! |
