South Gloucestershire Council

Published: 04/04/2013

Nineteen year-old Ryan Hutchings and fifteen year-old Adelaide Baker have both won boxing titles while training at the pavilion with the Downend Boxing Club.

Ryan recently won the British University & College Sport (BUCS) Boxing Championships, while Adelaide was awarded the National Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABAE) Female Championships title in December 2012.

She will now go on to attend a selection day on 11 May, where fighters will be chosen to represent England.

The pavilion, in Mangotsfield, was opened in 2011 with funding from South Gloucestershire Council and the Football Foundation and is home to the Pomphrey Hill Community Sports Association, plus five established local sports clubs who use the facilities for football, cricket and boxing. The pavilion is also regularly used for community activities and by several fitness and dance groups.

Amateur boxer Ryan, who fights with the Downend Boxing Club at Pomphrey Hill Pavillion, won the British University & College Sport (BUCS) Boxing Championships at the Don Valley stadium in Sheffield on 23 February. The final saw Ryan take a majority points decision over Portsmouth’s Seesun Gurung in an all action contest to secure the title.

Ryan’s national title is the second won by the Mangotsfield based sports venue this season, with Mangotsfield Secondary School pupil Adelaide Baker taking the National Amateur Boxing Association of England (ABAE) Female Championships last December. Adelaide beat Coventry’s Lauren Hall in a thrilling final in Cannock, Staffordshire. Her victory was even more satisfying, given that Adelaide had tried and failed to lift the title on two previous occasions.

Craig Turner, coach at Downend Boxing Club, said: “Ryan is a success story on two counts. The fact that Ryan has achieved great academic standards and high standards of athleticism bares testament to the discipline of the sport and how effective sport based teaching is.

“It was a case of third time lucky for Adelaide. She reached the semi-final two years ago, made it to the final but lost last year, and finally got herself over the finish line at the third time of asking. This is the first time I’ve managed to train a national champion after a few near misses, and we are chuffed to bits. Adelaide first joined us at Downend Boxing Club when she was 12 and has shown what can be achieved by sheer hard work.”

Adelaide is currently studying for her GCSE exams, but plans to join the Amateur Boxing Association excellence scheme at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College later this year.