Ride for Ellie

24/06/2019

Hello everybody,

I have been taking time to think about the ride. I would first like to say a big thank you to everyone who supported me along the way and at the finish line, it meant a great deal to me and made the ride a bit more bearable. I didn’t just find the ride physically hard but mentally as well, but all that was in my mind that I was doing for Ellie, and this helped me throughout the ride.

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who donated, everybody was very generous, I am just collecting all the money and then will it will be passed on to the Ellie Soutter Foundation to help athletes continue in their sport, but I am very pleased with how much I have raised and thank you all again.

Every year I would like to run an event in memory of Ellie and keep raising awareness throughout the different sports, if anybody has any ideas for a new challenge I am open to anything.

Again, thank you everybody for all their support and donations.

Olivia.

07/06/2019

Ahhh so end of day 3.... that was pretty tough. 70 miles. Route was pretty difficult at the start and not to mention the weather💨🌧 but we pushed through and finished.

I can’t believe tomorrow is the last day of riding, to Gloucester, I’m pretty happy to get to Cardiff, only another 50 miles to go!!!!

We should be arriving at Gloucester ski slope around lunch time for the dragons club national, let me know who’s there! But the weather isn’t supposed to be great again so we will see with timings throughout the morning!

Thanks for all the support, it’s overwhelming. See you guys tomorrow!

07/06/2019

Hi Everyone,

Olivia has asked me to keep you all updated on her progress. It’s been a long day with some awful weather but they are making good progress.

They are 25 miles away from the Senedd in Cardiff.

Hope to see you there to support her coming into the end of her 3rd day!!

Ella x

06/06/2019

What a day. That was very tough, mentally and physically. To be honest I am dreading getting back on the bike, but only 2 more days left. Thanks for all the support so far, really appreciate it.

05/06/2019

What a day, ride for Ellie day one is complete..... 76 miles later😱 Overall the ride went pretty well, I struggled in bits but onto to day two. During the first part of the ride we were joined by Bernie and Wills. Once we got to betws we were joined by Maisie Potter.
We rode up Bwlch Y Groes which is the 2nd hardest climb in wales and finished up in lake Vyrnwy.

Just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who supported us when setting off and during the ride.

Onto day two tomorrow💪🏼

04/06/2019

So its the day before my ride, I should probably be trying to sleep but I can't. I am beyond nervous for the next 3 days of riding. I have so many thoughts going through my head at the moment.
- what if I can't complete the ride
- what if I let everyone down
There are so many what if's that don't need to be there.

These sorts of things go through my head on a daily basis and its hard to tell anyone. Thats one of my problems, I cannot tell anyone how I am feeling, and it Is the worst feeling out there. I don't want want to bother anyone with my problems or feelings or put any extra stress onto people but thats what needs to change. Everything in your head seems 10 times worse than it is.
I need to tell people how I am feeling to they can help.

I know during this ride I am going to struggle, mentally and physically but I know it will make me a stronger person in the longer run and having my dad riding alongside me is going to help.

Im not sure what I am trying to say, but writing it down seems to make it better for me. I just wanted to tell you how I am feeling some days and about the upcoming days.

I will do a write up about how the first day went tomorrow evening but thats it for now.

Oliva.

03/06/2019

Day one route.

02/06/2019

Not long until the ride (3 days to be exact). We will be starting on Llandudno pier around where the punch and Judy is on Wednesday.

We will be setting off around 8am, so hope to see you all there. Anyone who would like to join us to ride around the Orme, that would be great.

We will be passing through my home town, Betws-Y-Coed at around 9:30/9:45.

Some Information on my finishing day....

Myself and my dad will be finishing at Gloucester ski slope at the Dragons Club National on the Saturday. We are hoping to arrive between 12:30-13:30. We will keep you posted with timings a bit closer to Saturday. Hope to see lots of you there.

I will be posting pictures of the route tomorrow so you know where we are going.

I wold also like to say a huge thank you to everyone that has donated, it means a great deal 🙂

Olivia.

26/05/2019

Hey guys,

So some of you may know my ride will be very soon. My dad and I will be setting off from Llandudno prom on Wednesday 5th of June. We will be cycling through Betws-y-coed and then make our way to Lake Vyrnwy.

I would be so grateful if anyone would come to our starting point in Llandudno to watching us start our ride and give us a little support on our first step to raising awareness for both Ellie, and the foundation.

We will be setting off at around 8am. I know its early but it would mean a lot.

Please keep donating and sharing.

I will post some more info about the other days soon.

Olivia :)

18/05/2019

So guys, not long to go before we start the ride. Please keep sharing and donating. This week was mental health awareness week. This is obviously something very close to my heart and just wanted to talk about some of the struggles a young athlete might face in their sporting career.

The different things I am writing about is more linked to what I felt as an athlete, but this may not be the case for everyone but is probably linked in many ways.

Stress is huge emotion and can be very over whelming at times. When I was an athlete the smallest things could trigger a huge amount of stress for no reason. One big thing that I struggled with was the money aspect of my sport. You get to a certain age and you realise how much the sport is actually costing your family. This was vey stressful and put a lot of pressure on me. So many things would come into it, for example not having a good race, all I would think about is the money I have just 'wasted', this may have not been the case but this the way I felt and cause me to think about everything else I might be wasting, but nobody should think like that, if you are trying your hardest and making full use of every opportunity you get given it will pay off.

Another factor I wanted to share about was social groups. Being away from home is very hard and especially from such a young age. Don't get me wrong, it was amazing being away and visiting all the different countries and meeting a lot of new people but it is a lot different being at home. You ended up having two different friendship groups with completely different interests and personalities. Coming home from training camps was very hard for me as you miss out on so much being way from your school friends and have no idea what has been going on and you feel very lost and out of the group. In my mind I was thinking maybe I shouldn't be in this group of friends, (this wasn't the case but this is how I thought and was very hard for me to deal with. But as you get older you realise that the friends you might have in School may not be the friends for life, you also realise that you don't have to talk to someone every minute of the day for you to be good friends.

These are just two factors that I found very hard to deal with, but I feel like stuff like this doesn't get talked aoyt enough and thats what I wanted to change. I will be writing some more stuff on how I feel in the next few days.

Also, of anybody wants to join me and my dad on the ride then please message me and we can get it sorted.

Thanks, Olivia.

08/04/2019

Hey guys, this my go fund me page for the ride! any donations would be very grateful :)

Hi all, during 2017 I was privileged to be apart of Team GB at the European Youth Olympic Winter Games, where I met an amazing group of athletes that I am now lucky enough to call my friends. Within the team we were a mixture of winter sports athletes all attending our first major multisport even...

06/04/2019

Hi all, during 2017 I was privileged to be apart of Team GB at the European Youth Olympic Winter Games, where I met an amazing group of athletes that I am now lucky enough to call my friends. Within the team we were a mixture of winter sports athletes all attending our first major multisport event.

Amongst these friends I made a special bond with Ellie Soutter, who went on to take bronze in her boarder cross event. Ellie was a very lively, positive and enthusiastic girl who made a huge impact on me and my sport. For the short time I knew her she helped me during the games and when we parted ways to carry on through our seasons.

In July, I was devastated to hear that Ellie took her own life, this was a huge shock and was very upsetting for me.

Since the passing of Ellie, I have thought deeply about the mental wellbeing of young athletes, from my own experiences, not only snowsports but across all competitive sports and how anybody involved from parents to governing bodies can assist in easing the pressures that are faced as a young athlete and the problems the outside world may not see.


My main aim is to promote the awareness of mental health within young athletes and all sports. I am still unsure of how I will achieve this but I have to start somewhere. During the upcoming winter I will be carrying out my coaching and instructing qualifications, hopefully learning from the best coaches, at the same time assisting young athletes.

At the start of June I will be cycling from North Wales coast to the South Wales coast. This will be to raise awareness of mental health in young athletes and funds for the Ellie Souter Foundation. Over the next few weeks I will have a detailed plan on my route and a ‘Just Giving’ page.

Please assist me with raising awareness by sharing this page and contacting me with any ideas you may have for this or feel free to chat with me during these next few weeks.

If anybody would like to join me for parts of the ride or get involved, please get in touch.

Many thanks,

Olivia.