Award-winning sports presenter Clare Balding has revealed the TV quiz show she would most like to go on.
The 51-year-old was in Telford this week to celebrate the winners at the Youth Sport Trust 2025 Conference Awards.
She wants to keep raising awareness and vital funds for the charity and believes testing her knowledge on one of the country’s most popular teatime hits could be the way to do it.
“I am going to make a pledge here now, the next quiz show I go on, I am doing it for the Youth Sport Trust,” she said.
“I might not win, but I really want to go on The Chase, if anyone has any contacts for The Chase, that is what I would like to do.
“And you can win a lot of money!”
Balding spoke about a range of topics during the evening and believes sport has the power to transform the lives of children if they are involved from an early age.
“The power of sport is about how much it means to someone to not be laughed at when they say, 'I want a career in football, or cricket',” she said.
“They never laughed at boys, but they laughed at girls when I was younger because there were no pathways. But now, girls can be professional footballers, cricketers and rugby union players. Rugby league still has a way to go, though.
“There are so many options within the business of sport, the coaching of sport, the physio side, there is so much that sport is, and as adults we understand it and know we can be a part of it.
“But if you are not told as a child about all the possibilities within sport, you are never going to go that way. Everyone here has the power that I might have on telly, to get children when they are most impressionable.
“There is nowhere I would have rather been this evening than with the people who are actively changing the world for the better.”
On the same night, Balding won the Royal Television Society Sports Presenter, Pundit or Commentator award alongside Rose Ayling-Ellis for their coverage of the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
She continued: "I recorded my acceptance speech before I came and I started it by saying where I was and that I am with the people who will direct the future of what we cover, in the sense they will be bringing through the people who will make a big difference.
“And I am not just talking about elite performers, although they are what we cover. It is about everyone who is involved at every level, and it is about understanding that sport matters."
Balding has been involved with sports broadcasting for over three decades, and has reported from multiple Olympic, Winter Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games during her iconic career, as well as fronting coverage for the Grand National, The men’s and women’s Boat Race and Crufts.
And the former leading amateur flat jockey hopes that more people care about sport because of an interest in it, rather than for financial gain.
"I don't want people to care about sports because they have had a bet, I want them to care because they actually understand something about the competitors, what it means to them to win and about who has contributed for them to be there,” she added.
The Youth Sport Trust Annual Conference Awards, sponsored by Sports Directory and The LEGO Group, celebrate schools, settings, trusts, and individuals who, working alongside Youth Sport Trust, have made a real and impactful change to the lives of young people. Find out how the Youth Sport Trust is building brighter futures for children through sport and play: https://www.youthsporttrust.org/
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