CANOE FOCUS Tokyo 2020: An athlete’s life in lockdown Page 16 Plan your progression! An interview with Our Chris Brain Community Page 12 Heroes Page 21 Late Spring 2020 In partnership with And it’s closer than you think. Let our experience inspire yours and discover expert adventure on your doorstep. ADVERT 20% discount for British Canoeing members. Shop online using code: AF-BCAN-M1 Trusted by our partners since 1974 cotswoldoutdoor.com Full T&Cs apply. Please see online for details. Offer expires 31.05.20 3 Contents WELCOME FEATURE Welcome note from Plan your progression 12 Chief Executive David Joy 4 NEWS AWARDS Volunteer and Recognition Catch up on the latest news 14 Awards 2019 from British Canoeing 5 FEATURE WELCOME FEATURE Life in lockdown - an 16 British Canoeing maintains 6 athlete perspective paddling access on the Cam FEATURE Canoeist swaps paddles for CLEAR ACCESS, CLEAR WATERS 20 patients in Coronavirus pandemic Our places to paddle 8 Community Heroes 21 Canoe Focus Late Spring 2020 Canoe Focus COACHING & LEADERSHIP Five ideas for your learning and 11 development during social distancing ACTIVITY Make your own teeny tiny raft 23 4 Welcome As I write this at the end of April, we are five I hope you have seen some of the great content weeks into the Coronavirus lockdown and it is we have provided over the last few weeks. clear that we are still a few weeks away from any relaxation of the situation. Government We were thrilled to bring you the incredible advice is still to stay at home other than for 45 paddling films to watch during lockdown, essential reasons. share our elearning centre with you and to promote our coaching podcast series. These are The lockdown is impacting on all aspects of promoted within this edition of Canoe Focus our lives including our paddling and our paddle and can be found in our new Paddler’s Portal. sport community. Thousands of people have Head to the British Canoeing home page to see been unable to paddle, clubs and commercial more. centres remain closed, hundreds of self- employed providers have had their businesses No one had ever envisaged that something as WELCOME disrupted and paddle sport trade and retail big as the Olympic and Paralympic Games could companies have also been seriously affected. be postponed, but once the Games in Tokyo were rearranged to 2021 due to COVID 19, we At British Canoeing, our staff have been working had to consider whether the athletes already from home and we have had to cancel many selected for the Games would remain selected. of the events planned for the summer. We are It wasn’t an easy decision to confirm their projecting our income from non grant sources selections and you can find out how they are will halve in 2020. The impact has been similar getting on, on page 16. across all sport and leisure activities in the UK. I want you to be assured that we are engaging I would like to take this opportunity to thank with government agencies to explore how the thousands of members who have supported and when people can start to paddle again. us by renewing their membership in the last We believe there is a strong case for socially few weeks, despite being unable to paddle. This responsible paddling, as soon as the restrictions has made a huge difference to our organisation on sport and recreation are relaxed a little and has allowed us to keep working hard, to and when participation in activities other than develop new products and services which we running walking and cycling are encouraged. have shared with you recently or which will be We will of course keep you informed of launched later this year. the latest developments through all of our channels. www.britishcanoeing.org.uk British Canoeing is a membership organisation, created by and run for the benefit of members. Stay safe and I really hope it won’t be too Thanks for showing this solidarity when we far in the future before we can once again need it most. enjoy happy paddling. David Joy CEO British Canoeing 4 Welcome NEWS 55 Receive regular updates plus exclusive discounts for our Five Ways to Stay Happy and partner products with a British Canoeing membership. Healthy When You’re Off the This is a big year in so many ways: it is Olympic One thing we are assured of in our community is the www.britishcanoeing.org.uk/membership/join-us-online-here Water and Paralympic Year, we are hosting the European discovery of extraordinary people doing extraordinary www.britishcanoeing.org.uk/news Slalom Championships at Lee Valley, hosting the things and it is always a delight to showcase them in Life can be pretty frustrating when you’re a Freestyle World Cup in Nottingham and beginning Canoe Focus. This edition is no exception with Alex paddler who can’t paddle. Luckily we’re here to put together our next set of milestones and Hill’s amazing (almost disastrous) paddle in Africa with some top tips to keep you happy and targets as we refresh our Strategic Plan. It is also leading to a wonderful educational legacy. The way healthy until you can get back on the water. the year of opportunity for our Clear Access, Clear Alex turned adversity into positive action is a lesson Waters campaign to get real traction and action. to us all. Another extraordinary person featured Athletes confirmed https://www.britishcanoeing.org. uk/news/2020/5-ways-to-stay- here is Kimberley Woods – a fine ambassador for our for the Tokyo 2020 happy-and-healthy-when-youre- The countdown to Tokyo has well and truly begun. sport and a genuine medal prospect for Tokyo. So Olympic Games off-the-water For those selected, their winter training camps and often and in so many ways extraordinary paddlers do hard work has been focused to ensure that everyone extraordinary things so if you have a story - let us hear it. is in the best shape possible. With all boats qualified The British Olympic Association for Slalom, most Paracanoe boats qualified and Liam To continue to serve our members well and to provide (BOA) and British Canoeing Heath assured for Sprint, there is a lot to play for early and extend opportunities we need to ensure that we have confirmed that the in the season as we seek to secure final and further are clear in our ambition and efficient in our execution. five canoeing athletes already nominated for 45 Films to watch whilst sprint boats. I am confident of further success with We want to be ‘best in class’ at serving our diverse the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will remain as you’re off the water NEWS our paddlers’ dedication deserving of reward. membership and we need to assure ourselves that what selected to represent Team GB at the rescheduled Tokyo Olympic Games in July - August 2021. we are seeking to do is what you value. As we refresh Travel the world on all manner We are well on track for the events we are hosting our plans and look to build upon current achievements of paddlecraft by diving into our https://www.britishcanoeing.org.uk/news/2020/ and what an exciting spectacle there is in store. we hope that as many members as possible will attend british-olympic-association-and-british-canoeing- selection of the 45 best paddling We would love to have as many of our members the ‘roadshows’ listed during March and April. We have joint-statement-on-athletes-selected-for-the-tokyo- films to watch. supporting our paddlers so please get your tickets tried to ensure a geographical spread to make it as easy 2020-olympic-games early and come along to support our team in full as possible for people to attend. Please come along – https://www.britishcanoeing.org. voice. The World Cup Freestyle in Nottingham is your voice is vital to help us shape the future you want. Fundraising appeal launched uk/news/2020/forty-five-paddling- films-watch a precursor to the World Championships in 2021. for urgent repairs to land at the We shall host those World Championships on River Dart the 35th anniversary of the White Water course This is an exciting year in prospect – opening in 1986. It will be something special. make sure you are fully part of it. British Canoeing volunteers and the South West Regional Development team have set up a Good paddling, fundraising campaign in order to raise money for urgent reinforcement work required at the River Professor John Coyne CBE Dart near to Holne Bridge. Chair British Canoeing Pulling their weight for the NHS The bank erosion which was also impacted by the recent floods has become a serious problem. Can JCB sponsored athlete Adam Burgess Late Spring 2020 Canoe Focus you help us to save this popular piece of water? attempted to lift the equivalent weight of Early Spring 2020 Canoe Focus a JCB 220X digger, weighing 22 tonnes, in www.britishcanoeing.org.uk https://www.britishcanoeing.org.uk/news/2020 /fundraising-appeal-launched-urgent-repairs- pull ups to raise funds for the NHS. to-land-at-river-dart The Canoe Slalom athlete was joined by British Athletics’ Ben Williams (also sponsored by JCB) who completed the challenge by doing squats and deadlifts. Paddler’s Portal Together they have raised over £2300 for the NHS. www.britishcanoeingawarding. Check out our new Paddler’s Portal, providing Watch Adamorg.uk/resource/british- in action here British Canoeing members and the paddle sport canoeing-coaching-podcast/ community with a range of free digital resources, webinars, podcasts and content.