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A 48-hour Kent Coast Multi-Sports Challenge takes place this weekend – aimed at spreading the word of the county’s lesser-known sports.
Liu Batchelor and Georgina White have set themselves the challenge to travel along the Kent coast from Dartford to Dungeness on Saturday and Sunday while taking in as many different sports as possible.
They’ll be popping into sports clubs and organisations to try out a range of sports, ranging from wheelchair rugby and skateboarding to sailing and surfing – as well as clay pigeon shooting and surf lifesaving.
Scroll down to hear from Liu Batchelor
White said: “We talked about wanting to do a new challenge and it escalated to how many sports we can do in 24 hours, then a distance with as many sports as possible.”
Batchelor added: “It didn’t feel quite right to do an endurance thing. We wanted to try something new and a mix of different stuff.
“That’s where it evolved – what would we enjoy and what can we share that’s a bit different for other people.
“We’ve got wheelchair sports, American football which we’re both excited about, sailing, surfing, roller derby, skateboarding.”
The duo will be travelling between venues mainly by cycling and White added that they’ll be relying on the clubs to get them through the two days.
“They’ve got the knowledge and expertise,” she added. “It’s going to be nice to get the motivation from them of them being excited about sharing their sport.
“Everyone has something they love and are passionate about and we get to experience that with them.
“I think I’m looking forward to the roller derby particularly. A lot of the water sports I’m looking forward to and if the weather’s nice, that will be really nice.”
As well as promoting the various sports on offer around Kent, the duo are also raising money to provide sports facilities in Uganda.
Batchelor added: “The charity is called Alongside Africa. They’ve put together a specific project that this challenge is solely fundraising for which is to build a multi-sports arena in Uganda for under privileged street kids.
“£1,500 will build us an arena and kit it out so that’s our main aim. But also £50 a month would sponsor a coach out there so that’s an amazing goal to keep it ongoing.”
Sporting challenges are nothing new to Batchelor who completed 100 sports in 100 days to raise money for Sports Relief in 2016.
For more details and to follow the duo’s progress, visit the website at www.alongsideafrica.org/conquerthekentcoast