The Welsh Sports Association recognises that ground breaking overseas expeditions play an important part in the development of outdoor activities in Wales and each year invites organisers of eligible overseas expeditions to apply for grant aid.

Succesful applications usually come from mountaineering, cave diving, canoeing, rowing and paragliding expeditions, and applicants are likely to be succesful if the applicants can demonstrate that the planned expedition is ground-breaking and likely to enhance the development of the activity. All applications are considered on merit and must be supported by the approproate national governing body - in the case of mountaineering expeditions this is the BMC Cymru/Wales Area.

Previous succesful applications include the Welsh Unclimbed Towers Expeditions to Mali in North Africa, expeditions to Kyrgyzstan, Greenland and Baffin as well as John Sylvester's epic paragliding expedition to the Karakorum.

To be eligible the majority of expedition members must be Welsh, and only Welsh team members of the expedition will be eligible for funding. To qualify for funding team members must have been born in Wales, or have permanently lived in Wales for at least two years, or have a parent or grandparent who was born in Wales. Any grant awarded will usually be limited to a maximum of 50% of the estimated costs of travel within the UK and abroad and a maximum of 50% of the estimated cost of safety equipment and any other additional essential equipment required for the expedition

Further information and application forms are available from the Welsh Sports Association and the deadline for expeditions wanting support in 2012/13 is 14 January 2012.
 

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