GRAND WOMEN’S SUMMIT

The Grand Women’s Summit was hosted by BBC presenter Karthi Gnanasegaram and was joined by a guest panel including Alice Plunkett (ITV Racing) and Chrissie Wellington OBE be four-time Ironman World Champion triathlete.

As well as 2022 Ladies Day ambassador Natasha Jonas, who became the first British female boxer to qualify for the Olympics. 

Key Timing's 

• 8.00am – Panel to arrive
• 8.30am – Guest arrival & breakfast
• 9.00am – Introduction by host Karthi Gnanasegaram
• 9.00am – 9.10am – Welcomes by Evie Paterson, Tallulah Lewis of Women in Racing. Winner of The Rose Paterson Community Sportswoman Award to be announced.
• 9.10am – 10.00am – Aintree Grand Women’s Summit
• 10.00am – 10.10am – Q&A with Rachael Blackmore
• 10.15am – 11.30am – Course walk with racing VIPs

Hosted by ITV Racing’s Alice Plunkett and was joined by a stellar panel including:

• Jade Jones – Taekwondo Olympic Gold Medallist

• Tennis coach, Judy Murray
• Three-time Olympic medallist, Pippa Funnell
• Head Physio to the Birmingham Royal Ballet, England Rugby, Eventing team, Kate Davis

The Aintree Grand Women’s Summit is now in its sixth year and is recognised across the industry as the key sports conference on the morning of Ladies Day, at the Randox Grand National Festival.

Aintree's Grand Women’s Summit focused on a discussion on mental health and well-being at summit hosted by Aintree Racecourse and Women in Racing.

The panel discussed the challenges professional sport presents to mental health with this year’s event taking the title: ‘Sport and mental health: A Powerful Relationship’. The key themes throughout the discussion included how professional athletes can look after their mental health, the benefits of sport for our mental state, the role of coaches, organisations and support mechanisms as well as the challenges of the last 12 months and how it’s affected people and athletes from a mental wellbeing perspective.

In addition, this year we saw the launch of a new accolade, the Rose Paterson Award for a Sports Woman in the Community. The late Chairman of Aintree Racecourse passed away in the summer of 2020, and was a the driving factor in launching the Aintree Grand Women’s Summit, as well as the racecourse’s close work within the community. The award will be presented each year to a sportswoman in the local community.