Olympic Swimmer Guest Speaker at Fundraising Business Lunch

Olympian and businesswoman Karen Pickering MBE, Britain’s most decorated swimmer of all time, will be guest speaker at a business networking event to raise money to support Suffolk’s Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls of the future.

The Suffolk SportsAid Foundation Lunch takes place at Ickworth West Wing on Wednesday 11 May. It will be one of three such events with a business and sport theme taking place this year in Bury St Edmunds to raise money to support Suffolk’s talented sportsmen and women to achieve their sporting goals. The Foundation has so far made 81 grants to young athletes from across Suffolk with £67,500 of financial support.

Karen represented her country at a senior level for 20 years during which time she won more major championship medals for Britain than any other female swimmer and won the most Commonwealth medals for England of any female athlete in any sport. She was also the first British female swimmer to win a World Championship title when she took gold in the 200m freestyle in 1993.

Karen made her international debut in 1986 and went on to win an incredible 73 titles on the national and international stages. She was four times World Champion, won 14 European Championship medals, 38 British Championship titles and 13 Commonwealth Games medals (four gold). The 2002 Commonwealth Games saw Karen gain two gold and a silver medal in front of her home crowd, a career highlight which was crowned when she was given the honour of carrying the English flag at the Closing Ceremony.

Organised by Haverhill Chamber of Commerce members Simply PR and The Time Finder Agency, the theme of the lunch on May 11 will be ‘How to Make Your Business Fitter and Stronger - Learn from the Discipline of a World Class Athlete’. Karen, who retired from international swimming in 2005, set up her own business  Karen Pickering SWIM. The company caters for all age groups and abilities as well as offering a consultancy service to teams and athletes in other sports who want to improve their cross training, recovery or injury rehabilitation work.

She said: “I’m really looking forward to speaking with businesses in West Suffolk about how they can use what we learn as athletes to make their businesses stronger and fitter for the future. Times are hard right now and athletes like businesses sometimes have to learn to pick themselves up, reassess their goals and continue to work towards their aims. What I have learnt as an athlete has helped me in business and I want to pass that on to others.

“I am so pleased to be helping Suffolk SportsAid Foundation with their goal of supporting young Olympic hopefuls of the future achieve their goals on the national and international stage.”

Suffolk SportsAid Foundation has been established to support local athletes that have been inspired by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Adam Baker said: “We are delighted Karen has agreed to be our guest speaker for our first business networking lunch in Bury St Edmunds. Karen’s inspirational story is one of determination and triumph over adversity.  What makes Karen’s achievements all the more remarkable, is that many of her successes were gained despite the fact that in 1996 Karen broke her back in a car accident which could have ended her career and turned her life upside down. The three years following the accident saw her fight to get back to world level competition and ultimately succeed in her goal. As an Olympic swimmer and businesswoman she has had to use the motivation and discipline she has as an athlete to succeed.”

Tickets for the lunch on Wednesday 11 May from 12 noon to 2.30pm, priced at £35, are available from http://suffolksportsaidfoundationlunch.eventbrite.com