Dad inspires friends to take on the world’s biggest long-distance triathlon

JAMES Hatchley, from Hampshire, has inspired Team Hatch, a dedicated group of friends and fundraisers aged 23 – 54 to come together to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity (GOSH Charity) in memory of his daughter, Emma Rose Hatchley.

Team Hatch is supporting GOSH Charity to say thank you for the dedicated care and support the hospital provided to James and his family. After spending over 100 days in the intensive care unit at GOSH, James’ daughter Emma sadly passed away four years ago from a very rare condition called Churg Strauss which affected her heart.  Since then, many people have come together to complete amazing fundraising challenges in Emma’s memory.

As the team has grown, James has pulled in a number of people who are already doing Triathlons on a regular basis and competing in events. Challenge Roth in Bavaria will see eight members of Team Hatch, many of whom have been supporting James since 2014, take on the world’s biggest long-distance triathlon on the 1^st July which will involve a 3.8km swim and 180km bike followed by an epic 42.2km run. None of the team taking part in Challenge Roth have ever taken on a long-distance race before.

Led by James, the team has taken on multiple marathons, half marathons and long-distance cycle events to prepare for a number of gruelling challenges, including a recent half distance triathlon in Portugal, Challenge Lisbon. Team Hatch is aiming to raise an incredible £200,000 for GOSH. As well as the intense training programme, averaging over 12 hours per week, they’ve also hosted a range of creative fundraising events including secret running tours of London, pub quizzes, cycle rides, yoga nights and much more.

James Hatchley said: “As a family, we spent over four months at Great Ormond Street Hospital. It’s incredibly tough dealing with a life changing event like losing a child but the focus of doing these events and coming together as a team is just one way to try and cope with such a loss and to give something back to the hospital and remember Emma.  The compassion, skill, love and friendship extended to Emma and our family by the staff of GOSH was humbling and the work they do is truly inspirational.

“I’m so thankful to all our amazing team members for making such a large commitment to train for such a gruelling event and to really focus on raising funds for GOSH. It’s wonderful for Emma to have this legacy and for people to come together in her name to raise money for such a wonderful cause.

Laura Savory, Head of Community Fundraising at Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, told Charity Today: “We’re so grateful to James and Team Hatch for all their amazing fundraising efforts, the team’s commitment and passion is truly inspiring. On behalf of everyone at GOSH Charity, we’re wishing them lots of luck for Challenge Roth, their upcoming Triathlon in Germany. The money they are raising will make a real difference to children and families at the hospital.”

Money raised by Team Hatch will go towards the hospital’s most urgent fundraising needs. These include pioneering research to find treatments for the most complex childhood illnesses, providing advanced equipment and supporting the refurbishment of the hospital to provide state-of-the-art facilities to match the hospital’s world-class care.

To sponsor Team Hatch please visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/success-stories/team-hatch

You can follow the team’s journey on Instagram on: @team_hatch or #ForEmma

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