The final Athlete Futures Roadshow of 2018 is being staged at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester today (24 October) to help athletes explore career options after retirement from elite sport.
The event in Manchester has over 70 elite athletes in attendance from multiple sports including cycling, canoe and taekwondo for an afternoon of activity that will involve an athlete panel, workshops and a careers fair.
In addition, over 20 high profile organisations including adidas, BlackRock and the British Army will attend to provide potential career opportunities to athletes.
The final Athlete Futures event in Manchester follows on from Roadshows earlier this year at Bisham Abbey, Loughborough University and University of Bath.
Major Athlete Futures events were held following the Olympic and Paralympic Games at London 2012 and Rio 2016 with the next major event schedule following the conclusion of Tokyo 2020.
UK Sport Chair Dame Katherine Grainger said: “Retiring from high performance sport can be a daunting prospect for any athlete and we know it is something that provides real challenges.
“Athlete Futures is a fantastic initiative because it helps athletes think about what they might want to do alongside their training and prepare them for a life after sport.
“It also provides a chance for athletes to showcase their skills to prospective employers who recognise the incredible value elite athletes can provide to the workplace.
“I’ve really enjoyed attending all four Athlete Futures Roadshows this year and I hope the shows have helped the athletes in attendance to have more confidence and excitement in whatever the future might hold for them.”
Five-time Paralympic Champion Hannah Cockroft MBE, who attended the Athlete Futures event in Manchester, said: “Athlete Futures is a great event for athletes to come together and think about different options when retiring from elite sport.
“As elite athletes, we are obviously very focused on training and competition but Athlete Futures is a reminder that it is important to think ahead.
“The more you plan for the transition period out of elite sport, the easier it can become and Athlete Futures is very important in helping with that.”
The Roadshow events are hosted by UK Sport’s Athlete Futures Network which is run in partnership with the English Institute of Sport (EIS) and supported by the British Olympic Association (BOA) and British Paralympic Association (BPA).
For more information on Athletes Futures and the work being done, click here.