We are delighted to announce our first guest speaker for our 50th Anniversary of Co-Education Gala Dinner will be Head of Olympic & Paralympic Prorgammes for British Cycling, Former Olympian and Team GB cyclist, and Old Verlucian – Sara Symington.

Sara works at British Cycling in a senior leadership role – Head of Olympic & Paralympic Programmes. Previously she was British Athletics Performance Director where she oversaw the Olympic, Paralympic & non-Olympic high performance programmes leading into both Tokyo’21.

Other career junctures include over five and half years at England Netball where she led the England Roses to a historic gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games; six years as Performance Director at Archery GB; three years at UK Sport as a Performance Advisor, two years as a Business Manager in the City and three years as a police officer working in Nottingham inner city. Presently she sits on Manchester City Football Club Technical Advisory Board and on SkateBoarding GB Board as a Non Exec Director (NED). Her education includes a B.Sc in Sports Science & Social Science & a M.Sc in Sport Science (physiology bias).

Most notable sporting achievements include representing GBR at both triathlon and cycling – the latter involved two Olympic Games and two Commonwealth Games in road cycling, & multiple world championships (road & track). Sara was the first female to podium at World Cup level for GBR in 1998 and continues to challenge herself outside work (when time allows!) in endurance based sports ranging from half ironmans to adventure races & individualised coaching.

Head of Development & Alumni, Laura Gibson said “We are thrilled that Sara is returning to join us in celebrating this historic milestone in the School’s history. Her achievements within the world of sport are phenomenal, and she is such an inspiration to our whole school community. I can’t wait to hear her speak at the event and share more of her incredible journey with us. There are a few tickets remaining and can be booked via Trybooking.”

The last few tickets for the Gala Dinner on Saturday 23rd September can be booked here.