Pave the way with Stacey Copeland
With a huge boxing fight in Africa that not only saw an incredible 117 million viewers, but also bagged her a Commonwealth title win in the process, our community ambassador Stacey Copeland has had a very busy month and has kindly shared with us a little look into her life over the past few weeks.
Read more below…
Hi everyone!
I didn’t manage to write a blog in July as it was a pretty jam-packed month! Mid July I went over to Zimbabwe as part of a UK vs Africa team and what an incredible experience it was. We visited schools where we did some demos on the pads with our coaches for the school children and they absolutely loved it, some of the kids also taught me how to play the wooden xylophone which was great fun; we visited a children’s home and an animal sanctuary, so it really was great to find out more about Harare and its people.
In terms of the fight it was by far the biggest of my pro career so far, covered by Kwese sports (the African equivalent of sky sports) 117 million viewers watched across Africa and many at home in the UK here too as it was live streamed. I won the fight by points decision over 10 rounds against South African fighter, Mapule Ngubane, this meant that I became the first ever British woman to win the Commonwealth title.
Less than 48 hours after winning the title I was back at Parrs Wood High School where I work, and the following week I was off to Geneva to give a talk at a sports conference at the UN European headquarters, so there has been little time to relax yet but hopefully the chance will come soon!
As I write, I am currently watching the athletics at the European Championships on TV, and I am watching with plenty of enthusiasm to see our GB athletes perform so well, with huge pride to see how amazing our female athletes are doing and how fantastic they look in full flow doing their thing on the track and field, and with great excitement for my own sporting dreams which now lay ahead.
One of the things I love about sport is how it can inspire, how it impacts peoples lives whether they are an elite athlete or somebody who takes up sport to improve their wellbeing, set themselves a personal goal, or raise money and awareness for a cause they believe in. Whatever your level, whatever your goal, sport has the power to change lives, and it does!
I know that many of you who are reading this will be the types who need constant goals to work towards, or maybe you are new to setting challenges for yourself, either way, I know that lots of you have signed up to run the Salford 10k which is now just a few weeks away!
Long before my association with Sports Tours International, I first ran the Salford 10k in 2015 along with a group of colleagues from my school, and some fellow boxers from my club. I’d never done a race which started and finished in the same place before and that was one of the things I loved about it. Having friends and family supporting the runners was great as they were able to wave them off and then without having to somehow dash 6.2 miles across the city they could stay put and be right there to cheer them over the finish line!
This centralised location lent itself to a great community atmosphere, whether that was the running community, families, friends, or groups who were running together for a cause. It was cool to see all the stalls set up and kids playing in Media City square, a great environment for children of all ages to start associating physical activity with fun and positive experiences!
The race itself was an interesting course as it wound its way around the quays and over the bridges with some great views of media city and the surrounding buildings, (and of course after the race there are plenty of dining options to enjoy a well-earned feast!)
I’m really looking forward to the Salford 10k this year, I’ve been to it the last 3 years either as a runner or to cheer my friends on and I’ve loved it (see photos on this blog!) so to be there as an ambassador for Sports Tours will be really exciting! I hope preparation is going well and good luck to those who’ve signed up already! To those who have yet to sign up it’s not too late and you can use my code STACEY5 for £5 off the entry fee… whether you are running or supporting please come and say hi, it’ll be great to meet you….see you there!
Enter the UKFast City of Salford 10k here >
Stacey #pavetheway
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