Goodwood golfers enjoy date with Kate Middleton

Golf at Goodwood’s promising England internationals Marco Penge and Emma Allen were among young athletes who enjoyed a royal audience.
By The Newsroom
Published 25th Nov 2014, 08:00 BST
The Duchess of Cambridge sees Marco Penge put through his paces Picture by Nathan Gallagher / SportsaidThe Duchess of Cambridge sees Marco Penge put through his paces Picture by Nathan Gallagher / Sportsaid
The Duchess of Cambridge sees Marco Penge put through his paces Picture by Nathan Gallagher / Sportsaid

They were invited by SportsAid to attend a high-performance workshop to help them in their ambitions to compete in the 2020 Olympics.

Penge and Allen were the only two golfers at the GSK Human Performance Lab in West London and were delighted to meet the Duchess of Cambridge, patron of SportsAid.

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The Duchess watched them as they took part in scientific assessments on respiration, temperature, power, cognition and body composition.

Allen, 17, the reigning Hampshire girls’ champion, was pedalling on a bike and wearing a face mask when the Duchess started chatting.

“She was asking if I was okay because I’d been pedalling for a long time and she was genuinely very interested.”

Penge, who earlier in the year joined Justin Rose on the first tee at Goodwood for an exhibition afternoon, met the Duchess as he ran on a treadmill in a chamber set to the heat and humidity of 2020 Games host city Tokyo.

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“She asked me about my sport and we had a chat about my golf – I explained that you don’t really run in golf but that stamina is important at the end of a tournament,” said Penge.

“She was really nice, everyone had said beforehand that she was very sporty and really relaxed and that was what she was like.”

Related topics:DuchessGoodwoodEngland