Our quarterly catch up with Gorgs Geikie

As readers of this blog will know, Helpful Holidays sponsors Georgina (Gorgs) Geikie, British number one ladies pistol shooter. We have sponsored Gorgs for the past four years, and are continuing to help in her bid for Commonwealth gold next year.

In amongst all that training and competing, Gorgs is busy building her own business. We spoke to Gorgs to find out more…

Since the Olympics I’ve enjoyed a bit of downtime, so have taken the opportunity to rejig a few things so I can focus on fundraising and earning some money to support me through my ongoing training. I set up my own business offering support and mentoring to schools and young people, to help them achieve more and reach their potential.

I give talks and presentations focusing on the psychology behind peak performance and how to handle pressure – a lot of schoolchildren are under pressure to achieve high grades and exam results, so it’s really relevant.

I also talk to them about achieving a good life balance, how to goal-set, how to solve a problem. I do my best to show what has helped me over the years and pass on what I have learned.

I’ve had a really positive reaction to my talks, and the kids have seemed to enjoy hearing my stories of hard work and achievement.  Teachers have commented that my talks have given added meaning to their lesson content, as I’m a real-life example.

I enjoy speaking to young people, and I find the work of teachers especially inspiring, so it’s something I’m really pleased to be doing. Growing up I was always inspired by my teachers, so I have an appreciation for the pressure children are under, and understand where they are at and where they want to be.

I'm very grateful to all at Helpful Holidays for your continued support as I follow my dream to compete at the highest level. I look forward to speaking with you again soon!

To find out more about Gorgs’ company G4G Pursuits Ltd, visit Gorgs’ website or follow her on Twitter.

Playground or Training Ground: How Do You Use Dartmoor?

Dartmoor National Park has long been known as a haven for nature lovers, from walkers to climbers and horse riders. But did you ever think of it as an Olympic training ground?

Olympic pistol shooter Georgina (Gorgs) Geikie, who won a place on Team GB at London 2012 as the first ever British women’s pistol shooter, stars in a new promotional video extolling the virtues of this vast and varied terrain as a natural training ground. She says in the film: “It’s the greatest playground for so many activities and days of adventure.”

We have sponsored Gorgs – a local talent who has grown up with Dartmoor National Park – for several years and we think nothing shows the attraction of this much-loved space better than the variety of ways to enjoy it. Her fitness can, in part, be attributed to the park she has always run, jumped, climbed and walked in. As Gorgs puts it, staring out at the sunset from atop a granite tor at the end of the short promotional video: “Beats running on a treadmill”.

A little of an understatement perhaps, after seeing Gorgs running, climbing, horse riding and geocaching her way through the landscape. Geocaching is the least known of these activities. Based on an old past time of leaving notes in boxes as you reached certain locations, for the next walker to find, the new version involves downloading coordinates and taking your technology with you to map your progress. Gorgs likens it to a treasure hunt.

The Royal Marines train here, it’s the site of many a school trip and adventure holiday and it is home to some of the most important Bronze Age landscape in Western Europe. Dartmoor has also been chosen numerous times to be part of the Tour of Britain, offering challenging rides for experienced riders alongside traffic-free space for more casual cycling. It is perfect for picnicking and kite flying, for those more enticed by the chance to simply enjoy the surroundings.

We recently announced we have signed a new four-year sponsorship deal with Gorgs as she begins the long road to Rio 2016. As the sport can offer no funding to the competitors, Gorgs must self-fund, and she is therefore campaigning rigorously to find sponsorship for the next four years. We have taken on the role of principle platinum sponsor.

Read more about our involvement with Gorgs on our website.

If you head out on Dartmoor, keep an eye out for Gorgs in training mode. You can also follow Gorgs' progress on her website and on Twitter.

To plan you stay in Dartmoor or elsewhere in the West Country, go to http://www.helpfulholidays.com.

From London to Rio - with a little help from Helpful Holidays

As regular readers of this blog will know (see a recent post here), for the past few years we've sponsored local Olympic athlete Georgina (Gorgs) Geikie, who won a place on Team GB at London 2012 as the first ever British women’s pistol shooter.

We're delighted to announce that Gorgs has now signed a new four year sponsorship deal with us as she begins the long road to Rio 2016. As the sport can offer no funding to the competitors, Gorgs must self-fund, and she is therefore campaigning rigorously to find sponsorship for the next four years. We have taken on the role of principle platinum sponsor.

As our PR Manager Helen Hayes says, “We’ve watched Georgina develop as an impressive and committed athlete, and believe she has the talent, determination and ambition to achieve a gold medal for Great Britain in 2016. The West Country can be very proud of her, and at Helpful Holidays, as her principle sponsor for the next four years, we are delighted to be able to help Georgina along the road to Rio.”

Says Gorgs: “London was a fantastic learning experience. There is no way I could have anticipated the emotional intensity of competing as an Olympic athlete, with the honour of representing my country, in front of a home crowd. I worked for years to prepare for those few seconds of absolute focus and concentration. I will take everything I learned at London forward to Rio, and I know I am capable of winning gold in 2016.”

That means it’s straight back to work for Gorgs with a rigorous training and competition schedule. Join us in wishing her the very best of luck! 

You can follow Gorgs' progress on her website, on Facebook and on Twitter.

Gorgs, the Olympian!

Georgina (Gorgs) Geikie, British number one ladies pistol shooter, has fulfilled her dream of representing Team GB at the Olympics – and we, along with her vast network of supporters, are so very proud of her.

After taking part in the opening ceremony, Gorgs competed in two events: the 10m Pistol on 29th July and the 25m Sport Pistol on 1st August.

A crowd of us from Helpful Holidays went to watch Gorgs compete in her second event at the Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich. The atmosphere was amazing – quite emotional to see someone you know competing.

Competition was incredibly tough on the day with very little separating individual scores. Gorgs didn’t manage to qualify for the finals sadly. Her performance, by her own admission, didn’t match her ability and she found the whole spectacle of competing at the Olympics in front of a home crowd quite overwhelming.

But simply being selected to compete at the Olympics is a massive achievement in itself – Great Britain hasn’t had a pistol shooter at the Olympics in 80 years.

You can begin to appreciate the hard work and dedication required once you take on board that pistol shooters were banned from training in the UK from 1997 and Gorgs had to travel to Switzerland, up until a special Olympic dispensation two years ago when pistol shooting was allowed at a handful of UK ranges. This still meant that Gorgs had to travel from Devon to Dorset or Surrey to train. A definite disadvantage compared to her international competitors who can not only start at a younger age but also train at their local club range.

It was great to have a chance to cheer Gorgs on and speak to her after her event – she is clearly enjoying the whole Olympic experience and already has her sights set on Rio 2016!

Well done, Gorgs!

You can read personal updates from Gorgs on her blog and follow her on Twitter.

Gorgs goes for Gold – just a few weeks to go!

As readers of this blog will know, Helpful Holidays sponsors Georgina (Gorgs) Geikie, British number one ladies pistol shooter. We have sponsored Gorgs for the past three years, and are continuing to help in her bid for Olympic gold – we caught up with her to hear about her final preparations…

HH: What are you doing between now and the Olympics?

GG: I’ll be heading off for two training camps, at Bisley in Surrey and Charmouth Tunnel in Dorset, where my coach and I will fine tune my mental and technical training.

HH: What sort of things will you be doing at the camps?

GG: We’ll be focusing on my awareness and visualisation, creating a flow of routine. At the elite level, shooting is 95% psychological and 5% technique, so this is really important. We had a test event at the Olympic venue in April, so I’ll know what to expect. Nobody in my event has a maximum score – if it was easy, everyone would do it. You can perform brilliantly in training but it all comes down to what you do on the big day, so my mental strength is critical.

HH: How many will be with you in the GB shooting team?

GG: There are 11 in total, shooting a mixture of rifle and shotgun. I’m the only pistol shooter – I was the only one to meet the Olympic qualifying standard.

Gorgs ran the Okehampton leg of the Torch Relay

HH: Will your friends and family be supporting you at the Olympics?

GG: Yes, as well as my coach, my parents, my boyfriend, supporters from Helpful Holidays, they’ll all be there. It will actually be the first time I’ve competed on home territory with supporters present.

HH: Is that something to consider? You can’t let them put you off?

GG: That’s right, and it’s been a big part of my visualisation and awareness training. The support has been amazing though and spurs me on. I had a card from my Uncle, which has been areal inspiration – on the front it said: “If you shoot for the moon, even if you miss you’ll land amongst the stars”.

HH: When should everyone tune in to cheer you on?

GG: Well, I’ll be at the opening ceremony on 27^th July, and then my first event, the 10m Pistol, is on the 29^th July. My second event, the 25m Sport Pistol, is on the 1^st August; this is my priority event, I won my quota place for this one.

HH: So how do you think you’ll do?

GG: Well, I’m aiming for Gold, but I’m keeping my feet firmly on the ground. I just want to make sure I do myself and everyone else justice. If I can achieve a personal best, that would hopefully get me amongst the medals.

HH: Finally, what message do you have for everyone cheering you on?

GG: It’s an absolute privilege to compete in front of my home nation, in front of friends and family. And the support I’ve received from Helpful Holidays is priceless – this has ensured I can train to the highest standard and give myself a real chance.

We’d all like to wish Gorgs the very best of luck. You can follow her progress on her website, on Facebook and on Twitter.

If you fancy watching Gorgs whilst relaxing on holiday, browse our Dorset and East Devon cottages with availability during the Olympics.

Gorgs’ golden ambition…

Moray & Gorgs outside our offices in Chagford

As readers of this blog will know, Helpful Holidays sponsors Georgina (Gorgs) Geikie, British number one ladies pistol shooter. We have sponsored Gorgs for the past three years, and are continuing to help in her bid for Olympic gold next year.

Gorgs has a great chance – she was selected for the recent European Cartridge Championships held in Belgrade, where she achieved third place.

With only 10 months left before London 2012, Gorgs is now pushing her training schedule harder than ever. But last week she managed to take some time out to visit us here at Helpful Holidays to collect a sponsorship cheque from our General Manager Moray Bowater and to meet the team.

As Moray says, as soon as we heard Gorgs was going for Olympic gold, we were right behind her. She’s a great example of someone who is putting everything into reaching her goal and we’re delighted to support her.

A message from Gorgs: “I'm over the moon that Helpful Holidays has agreed to continue supporting me towards the London Olympics! I have a training and competition plan in place for this new 2011-12 season and Helpful Holidays’ sponsorship will make my first international competition this season, in Luxembourg, possible.”

We’d all like to wish Gorgs the very best of luck in her training, and hope to be able to write a future blog post celebrating her gold medal!

You can follow Gorgs on her website, on Facebook and on Twitter.

Interview with Gorgs Geikie – Part 2

Helpful Holidays has been sponsoring the British number one Lady Pistol Shooter Georgina ‘Gorgs’ Geikie for the past year – here’s part two of our interview with this young Olympic hopeful.

We were interested to get an insight into Gorgs’ training regime: “I do 3 or 4 hours a day of fitness training, which could be a mixture of working out in the gym, running and even horseriding. I shoot for 1.5 hours per day. But there’s a lot more to it than that – shooting is 95% psychology. You have to train your body and mind to react under pressure exactly as you want them to – to simply fire a shot. To do that you have to be completely in the moment, keep it as simple as possible. That’s not as easy as it sounds – when the pressure’s on, and noise is all around, absolute clarity and concentration is so important.”

After winning a bronze medal in Delhi, Gorgs’ sights are understandably firmly set on our home Olympics in 2012. “If I could win one tournament it would be the London 2012 Olympics. First I need to qualify for the GBR Team in order to be able to compete in World Cup competitions next year. Qualifying for the Olympics will be really hard - final selections are made at the start of 2012 and there’s only space for one from my event. But I can do it – and what’s more, I can win gold.”

Gorgs’ task has been made tougher with the news that funding has been reduced, meaning she has to rely heavily on sponsors to pay for her travel and training costs. “Sponsorship enables me to continue training and competing nationally and internationally. The first event next year is in Australia, so costs for that are quite high. All help is really gratefully received – without it I wouldn’t be able to continue competing.”

Helpful Holidays has been proud to be a sponsor of such an exciting and dedicated young talent – we wish Gorgs the very best for 2011 – and of course 2012!

Find out more about Gorgs by visiting her website: http://www.gorgs4gold.com. You can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

Interview with Gorgs Geikie – Part 1

Helpful Holidays has been sponsoring the British number one Lady Pistol Shooter Georgina ‘Gorgs’ Geikie for the past year – and what a year it has been. Gorgs was part of an extremely successful shooting team at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, bringing home a coveted bronze medal – the second of her career. We caught up with Gorgs last week to get an insight into the life of a young Olympic hopeful.

“India was a great experience, the conditions and facilities were much better than had been reported before the Games. The opening ceremony was very special – the Indians put on an amazing show, with lots of fantastic colours everywhere. We sneaked a big St George’s flag into the stadium, and ended up on the cover of the next day’s Hindu Times!”

The 22 strong English Shooting Team were extremely successful in Delhi, bringing back 19 medals between them. “Team spirit was fantastic, thanks to our team manager Peter Underhill, who held regular team meetings with us to keep morale high. Conditions were very hot and humid, but there was an area with air conditioning to cool down. In any case we had already held a test event in Delhi in February so we knew what to expect.”

Georgina’s bronze medal in Delhi was won in the women’s 25m sport pistol pairs alongside her partner Julia Lydall – who was the first to congratulate her: “I had fired my last shot, and put my gun down, still in the zone. Next thing, Julia runs up to me, and points above my head – I didn’t know what she was pointing at! She shouted ‘look, look, England bronze!’ and showed me the scoreboard. I was so excited and we both jumped up and down for several minutes!”

We’ll post some more from Gorgs later this week, including some insights into her training regime and her plans for the future.

Find out more about Gorgs by visiting her website: http://www.gorgs4gold.com. You can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.