Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships 2017/18
Rayen Cupid
- 19.50 % funded
- £ 585.00 pledged
- 0 Days Left
So, who am I?
Well, that is a great question and so I counter it with who am I not?
My name is Rayen (pronounced Ray-yun).
I work hard, love hard and train even harder whilst balancing; motherhood, work and a career of multi-disciplined skills. At the centre of it all, is the desire to inspire the belief that someone ordinary can become extraordinary.
Back Story
It’s been in incredible three years from the very first moment I met my coach and he said to me:
“Do you want to do this properly?”
I replied: “Yes. That’s why I am here.”
Since then I came 2nd in my very first local weightlifting competition and have moved from strength to strength.
I have now been given the opportunity to enter my biggest international competition to date. It has been a long drawn out process, with it being short notice I need financial help from friends, family or anyone that recognises the efforts made to reach one of two important goals.
Working towards this personal goal is a thrill, but weightlifting is also about focus and dedication. I have a real aim to prove to myself and my daughter that no matter whether you are a man or a woman, adult or child, we should not be limited in our goals. To be honest, most of the success for me in weightlifting is internal. All of you with a physical goal will know that getting there is about inner strength, as well as outer strength.
However, I know that achieving my ambition is also down to the support of those wonderful people around me: my amazing coach, my mum, teammates, and my beautiful daughter are always my inspiration.
So now the nitty gritty:
The aim of this fundraiser is to help pay for entry, travel and accommodation for the Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in September 2017 which will enable me to qualify for the Commonwealth games in April 2018.
Here is an approximate of costs:
Accommodation: £140 per night (I will need to be there for 7)
Flights: £600-1000
IWF Registration: £500
New team Kit: £350 (Printing and clothing) (1x athlete, 1x coach, 1 x support)
The games are closer than you might think because there is a long journey to get there! The expense of the flights and accommodation for all the competitions between now and then really does add up. Sponsorship for someone like me is little to non-existent for various reasons; age, awareness of the sport, etc. I have funded myself so far in everything and will, of course, be doing all I can alongside this campaign, but I can’t do it alone.
In addition, if I am lucky enough to have any money left over it will be used to run FREE workshops in schools and colleges around London as a way of saying thank you for all your support.
I have already done this at the Crescent Primary school (Croydon) summer of last year, it was brilliant and I can’t wait to do more workshops like it.
However, most schools do not have the funding to allow students to experience something as a cool as Olympic lifting. The students that I have met have told me that they really benefited from seeing a woman like myself showing them that “anything is possible”.
Please share this page as often as you can if you cannot donate yourself, it is equally helpful.
Any amount is appreciated!
P.S. Special Thanks to Emma for helping me with this write-up and Andrew for the photographs!
+Achievements
English Weightlifting Championships 2017
2nd Place
British Weightlifting Championships 2016
3rd Place
English Championships 2015
3rd
+Thank Yous and Updates
Thank you
Thank you for the support so far, lets keep sharing. Just £1 will make a difference!
British Championships 2017
Hey everyone, The British Weightlifting Championships is just 7 days away at the Ricoh Arena. Keep an eye out for the live stream information on the @GBWeightLifting twitter page. Remember you can follow me on twitter too! Alternatively if you want to see a tanterlizing competition in Coventry where I will be lifting at approximately 2:30pm on Saturday, tickets are available here: http://britishweightlifting.org/schedule-confirmed-british-weightlifting-championships-2017/ Thank you for checking out my story and for all of your donations, keep sharing and keep supporting. Love Raye
Dreams
They are an accumulation of hard work, crazy and passion. There is no room for doubt, just effort and giving your thoughts a platform to flourish. Everyone of your donations is water to a tiny seed. Thank you! Raye
British Weightlifting Championships 2017
What an incredible weekend. There were some highs and lows across the board but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I came 4th but I am happy that after a mixed snatch performance, I came back with a strong matching personal best in the clean and Jerk. A great prep for the championships in little under 8 weeks time, so no rest for me really. I am excited for whats to come. I can only keep getting better. I still need your support to help me to get to Australia this September! Here is link to a snippet of my performance at this weekends competition: https://www.instagram.com/p/BWpQv0vlxQA/?taken-by=solaireraye A massive thank you to Miss Eve and NikJordan for believing in my goals and your pledges last week. Remember if you want to claim your free gift, please send your full name address and size tshirt ( s-xxl) to my trainingwithraye email address as T-Shirts are print on demand. Love always Raye
There is still time
Thank you again to everyone who has pledge on my campaign and shared my link. There is just a couple weeks to go and plenty time to support my campaign. You can learn a little bit more about me here: www.trainingwithraye.co.uk Have a wonderful week!
Another win for my medal collection
Hello everyone! With just two weeks left till the commonwealth Championships I secured a 1st place win in the London series Competition today and 2nd overall in the series based on body weight. But a 1st on points is still good in my books, considering I didn't know I was even a contender for the winning prize. It’s been a much-needed prompt to remind myself how much I love competing and how much the commonwealth championships and games means to me. It has taken a lot of sweat and tears along the way but I wouldn't change much maybe just an influx on money but hey! On a serious note, I genuinely send out my thank you to everyone who has put their hands in their pockets, cheered me on , picked me up when I am down and continue to spread the word about my mini triumphs so far. The campaign ends in 1 day however, you can keep donating on this page right up until the games on 3rd of September! Remember I will be representing Saint Vincent and Grenadines for the first time in over 50 years in the sport. We are going to make history. Love always Raye