ANNUAL REPORT 2015 Annual Report 2015 Foreword 3 Canoe Discipline Reports 5 Great Britain Olympic and Paralympic Preparation 8 Membership 11 Coaching & Education 12 Development & Participation 15 Waterways & Environment 19 Facilities 21 Marketing & Communications 23 International Results 26 The Accounts 29 The Board of Directors 30 Thanks & Acknowledgements 32 2 President & Chairman’s Foreword 014/15 was a good year too in the development of paddlers to the sport; by the end for British Canoeing. canoeing. More than 31,000 of 2015, a total of 701 people had Internationally, athletes people were introduced to attended the Foundation Paddle- 2representing Great Britain canoeing during the year through Ability module. from across the disciplines, the ‘Go Canoeing’ programme, won an impressive total of 99 some 2,000 candidates The 2015 Volunteer Recognition medals in World and European successfully completed their Awards were a major success Championships, including 9 World Level 1 coaching qualifications, with 180 guests attending the Championship winners (see pages 800 candidates completed at event which also commemorated 26 to 28). level 2 and 30 at Level 3. the 150th Anniversary of John MacGregor’s first journey in his In September 2015, we successfully British Canoeing’s Capital Rob Roy Canoe. hosted the International Canoe Investment Programme Federation (ICF) Canoe Slalom supported 11 exciting projects British Canoeing’s membership World Championships at Lee Valley, during the year with capital numbers declined slightly to which were enjoyed by more than grants totalling £428,000; each 32,092 and plans were put in 10,000 spectators and culminated development will have a positive place during the year to halt this in a Gold medal for David Florence, impact on canoeing in that area. decline and also to increase the and a bronze for Ryan Westley commercial revenue coming into in the C1 event. David’s success Great work continued also in British Canoeing. is worthy of special mention as improving access to waterways he became World Champion for and developing canoe trails, Financially, 2014/15 was a very a third time. Also, the GB Canoe with a particular focus on new challenging year for British Slalom team were awarded the canoe trails in the London and Canoeing, with a year end deficit trophy as the number one nation Yorkshire areas. of £260,339 reported. This overall. included exceptional costs, but Paddle-Ability continued to build the underlying trend has been There were successes to celebrate capacity to attract more disabled recognised and addressed. 3 The organisation has a reasonable level of reserves and has planned a break even budget in 2015/16. On behalf of the board and the executive team, we would like to record our thanks to the many talented and committed volunteers who work within national, regional and club committees, and who are so crucial to the development of our sport. We want to place on record our thanks to UK Sport and the Home Country Sports Councils for their significant and continued support of canoeing throughout the UK. We are also pleased to record our thanks to the growing number of centres and commercial partners who are working with the governing bodies and clubs throughout the UK, and are making a valuable contribution to the development of our sport. Together we are definitely stronger. 2015 has been a good year. The Board and Executive Team within British Canoeing look forward to working with you all to make 2016 an even more successful year. Albert Woods OBE Mohamed Elsarky President Chairman 4 Canoe Discipline Reports ritish Canoeing Great Britain also hosted the Canoe Marathon continued to 2015 ICF Canoe Slalom World In 2015 the Marathon excel within the Championship at Lee Valley National Championships were Bcompetition disciplines during September 2015, where dominated by Norwich Canoe internationally; during 2015 David Florence was crowned Club who won both the senior Great Britain’s athletes gained World Champion and Great and the junior team prizes as 66 medals at World and Britain were ranked the World they hosted the event on their European Championships, Number One Nation. home waters at Whitlingham. including 17 individual or team, There were around 1,000 World or European titles. The following is a snap-shot of competitors, from paddlers information of key events and aged from eight to over 64, who Preparations within this highlights from some of our travelled from all parts of Great Olympic cycle continue various disciplines. Following Britain to take part in two days to strengthen with our on from this, we have also of racing as they gathered not Paracanoe team dominating provided further information only to compete for National both the World and European and detail from our Olympic titles, but also for the prize Championships; Jeanette disciplines of Canoe Slalom, of GB selection for the World Chippington and Emma Wiggs Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe. Championships in Hungary. secured titles at both of these This can be found on pages 8 Races varied in distance from events. to 10. 24K for the senior men to 5 3.5K for the Under 10s – all Canoe Slalom especially as these provide attracting huge crowds of 2015 has had some exceptional opportunities for the lower spectators. high points, such as Great divisions and new entrants into Britain hosting the World Canoe Slalom. Canoe Polo Championships at Lee Valley. The Canoe Polo Committee Many members of the Slalom Investments such as the pumped run over 250 events annually community volunteered course at Pinkston and the including a National League their time, and in doing so, reconfiguration of Cardington compromising nine open contributed to the success of the are welcome developments, and divisions and three ladies event. Post event feedback has congratulations are extended divisions with 87 open teams and been extremely positive with to all those involved in bringing 22 ladies teams. There are four many competitors saying it was these developments to fruition. English regional leagues, a Welsh the best Worlds they had been league and a Scottish league to. This clearly demonstrates Wildwater Canoeing with 189 competing teams. In the capability that exists The various different formats addition, there are eight major within the Slalom community for regional and development weekend ‘international class’ in this country. It is also very racing have continued to tournaments held across the encouraging that race sites such capture people’s imaginations, UK. Competitive participation in as Symonds Yat are regularly and regional participation has Canoe Polo has increased by 27% back on the calendar alongside continued to increase. This is over the last four years. new sites such as Dulverton; great news and a tribute to 6 the dedication of the growing network of volunteers, race organisers and clubs that are pushing the sport forward. In Summary 2015 has continued to see growth within the participation levels and competition disciplines, as people seek the opportunities to participate and get involved in the competition side of our activities. We are able to meet this demand, mainly due to the strength and commitment of our volunteer community (event organisers and officials) and our supporting clubs and regional teams. 7 Great Britain Olympic and Paralympic Preparation Canoe Slalom here have been many At the European Championships, White Water Centre. The event success stories for the Kimberley Woods won gold in C1, was a huge success with over 350 Canoe Slalom Olympic sharing the podium with silver of the world’s best competing for TProgramme this past medallist Mallory Franklin, and Olympic qualification in front of year as we strive towards our a further four team medals were 9,000 spectators. David Florence vision to be the Number One achieved. won gold in C1 becoming a World Olympic Canoeing nation. These Champion for the third time in include impressive results, the Throughout the World Cup series, his career, and was joined on the World Championships at Lee a total of 13 medals were won, podium by bronze medallist, Ryan Valley and a successful Olympic and Adam Burgess claimed gold Westley. Medals were also won in Qualification and Selection for at the Junior and U23 World three team events. the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Championships, becoming British Canoeing’s first U23 C1 World The successful results at this Our Podium and Podium Champion. competition meant that Britain Potential athletes have qualified the maximum number performed well this year with The Canoe Slalom Senior World of boats possible for the 2016 Rio strong results and an impressive Championships this year was Olympic Games. It is important to medal haul. hosted at our very own Lee Valley acknowledge the work of the 8 volunteers and those involved across the wider organisation that made this event such a great success. Having qualified all of our boats at the World Championships, just five weeks later, the GB Slalom Team underwent Olympic selection. The purpose of selecting the Olympic team early is to optimise the time spent on the Rio course, which opened in November 2015, to make it as much like our home course as possible. We go into 2016 with a strong Olympic Team; David Florence (C1&C2), Richard Hounslow (C2), Fiona Pennie (K1) and Joe Clarke (K1). World Championships in Across the World Cup series, Canoe Sprint Milan. Medals were won and 11 medals were won, including he year for Sprint these senior competitions three gold, two silver and six began with the opening served as great inspiration bronze medals. Whilst at the of a brand new High to the developing junior and Baku European Games, London Performance Centre U23 athletes that competed. 2012 K1 Olympic Champion, Ed T Noteably, Deborah Kerr took McKeever, won bronze in the K1 (HPC) at Eton Dorney and a focus on qualifying the home double bronze at the Junior 200m, while Lani Belcher took maximum number of Olympic & U23 World Championships, home the silver medal in the K1 quota places for the Rio 2016 when she placed third in both K1 5000m.