Day at the races with a difference

Dale Ferrari’s celebrate their success at the race day

Young people from communities across the borough enjoyed a go-kart challenge recently in a bid to develop team links and community cohesion.

The day out was organised by Sports For All (SFA) and the challenge took place at Manchester’s Daytona racing.

Hanief Mohammed, the communications officer of SFA, who organised the event said: "This was a major success.

"Everyone thoroughly enjoyed racing out there. We formed teams with people who didn’t know each other and these teams had to work together to achieve their goal.

"This is a first-class example of using sports to break down barriers and progress unity."

One of the participants, Bill Singer who’s team, Dale Ferrari’s, won the event, said: "I’ve become very interested in motor racing of late, especially with Lewis Hamilton doing so well. To meet up with young people from other communities and enjoy a day out at the races was terrific. To win was a bonus, very satisfying and enjoyable.

"Lewis Hamilton initially raced go-karts, so maybe I can emulate him to F1 success."

Tahseen Ali of Smallbridge added: "It was amazing; I never knew you could go so fast in a go-kart.

"My team worked well and it was a pleasure to be in the same team as Bill and Asad. I’ve been able to meet so many new people today, and have made friends with people from different walks of life. I hope to stay in touch with them in the future."

The event was won by Bill’s Allstars, with Link4Life coming in second followed by a team from Sports For All finishing third.

Asif Rafiq the Chair of SFA said: "We are pleased to see community champions like Dean Sorah from Link 4 Life being able to join us. He and his colleagues are the unsung heroes who give up so much of their own time away from work, helping young people develop team building skills. It was really our way to thank him and his team for all their hard work they put in day in day out."

Mr Rafiq concluded: "We must thank Daytona for all their support to ensure this event went well. The race manager was excellent."