JK are now sponsoring Hannah Cockroft, MBE!
Just Kampers are thrilled to announce that we are now proud sponsors of British Paralympian Hannah Cockroft MBE.
Hannah is a wheelchair racer who won three Gold medals at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, to add to the two she won at London 2012. Hannah is also current World Champion and world record holder of all four distances she races.
With the support of our customers and the JK Team we’ve raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charities over the years, primarily for Cancer Research UK.
We’re always looking for ways to expand on this, and were looking for inspirational people to support when we saw a series of Channel 4 short stories called Dare to Believe. Hannah starred in one of these, and it showed her out training with her dad, Graham, who has been a JK customer for the last twelve years, in their 1972 Bay.
Hannah suffered two cardiac arrests just 48 hours after being born. This left her with damage to two different parts of her brain, and subsequently caused deformities to her legs and feet, as well as weakened hips.
When she was at Secondary School, Hannah was invited to a UK Athletics Talent ID Day at Loughborough University, and it was there that she met Dr Ian Thompson, the husband of Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, one of the UK’s most famous disabled athletes. Ian lent Hannah a racing chair, and that was it – Hannah was hooked on wheelchair racing!
Within five years, she went from novice to professional athlete, and in June 2010 broke seven World Records in eight days. What an achievement!
To support Hannah, we’ve given her £5,000 to help with the cost of her travel expenses, we’re also giving her dad a year of free insurance from Just Kampers Insurance as well as access to our staff discount on any parts for their 1972 T2 Bay.
Their Bay, whose name is Gizmo, has been in the family for about 15 years. While Hannah was growing up she enjoyed countless holidays travelling all over the UK with her family in the Camper. Hannah’s racing chair fits perfectly inside the Type 2, and as a family they take any excuse to go out in it. Hannah told us that her dad, Graham, drives it every day, and it also makes it easy to direct people to the house, as a bright yellow Bay on the driveway is hard to miss!
As we got to know Hannah it came to light that her family has had VW Campers for a long time. Graham’s first Camper had originally belonged to his father, Hannah’s grandfather, who had been incredibly attached to it. That passion got passed on to Graham and as a skilled welder, Graham has been able to do a lot of work to Gizmo over the years and this experience became invaluable when it came to modifying Hannah’s first racing chair.
At just 24, Hannah has achieved an incredible amount in her life. We really recommend looking up the Channel 4 show about her, as her story is truly inspirational. We’re sure her zest for life and infectious smile will warm your heart, as it did ours.
We’re really happy to be supporting Hannah, and are eager to see what the next year holds as she prepares for the World ParaAthletics Championships in London 2017. We’ll keep you updated with her progress as she continues towards her ultimate goal: to become unbeatable!