Kentish Express Ashford & District
Winter aiming for world title
Kayaking
Ashford’s Jim Winter is hoping to become a world champion later this month. The 43-year-old is heading to Port Rush in Northern Ireland for the World Surf Kayak Championships from October 20-28. Winter, who entered his first competition back in 2007, has won several competitions and has been ranked in the top-10 nationally for the last five years. He represented England in the Home Internationals last year but competing against the world’s best marks a new high for Winter. He said: “I can’t wait. It’s going to be a great trip. “We’ve got a strong England team and our main competitors are the Basque team from Spain and Portugal. We came second to them in the last World Championship so fingers crossed we can beat them this time.” Winter’s training has been going well but he admitted: “Doing it around the South East, we don’t get a great deal of surf. “It’s very much dependent on the gales coming through if I’m going to get any training around here or it’s going down to Cornwall or Devon.” The cost of that travelling adds up and with surf kayaking being a minor sport, Winter and his teammates receive no funding from Sport England or Canoe England. He said: “It’s quite a large obstacle. All in all, it’ll be about £2,000 not including equipment, just for getting out there and entering the competition and accommodation. “To enter a team is £600 on its own and entering individual categories is £150 each. It costs a fortune but it’s something I enjoy.”