Shire club hopes to make splash
Talented members of Breadalbane Canoe Club are hoping to make waves in the sports once again this year after a highly-successful 2016.
The growing club, which is based in Aberfeldy but has members drawn from communities round the entire River Tay catchment are, boasts a roll of more than 100 members.
In addition to scores of members who practise at a local level, Breadalbane CC has 31 members who compete in canoe slalom and a further two who test themselves reguarly on the wild water racing circuit.
These include reigning Paert and Kinross Junior Sports Person of the Year Victoria Murray, who finsihed the season ranked as the number one Scottish Junior in the sport and number two in the UK.
Madelaine Jennings, meanwhile, was selected for the 2016 British Junior team, and competed in the European Championships in August in Solkan, Slovenia.
Maddy is currently training in Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia with another Breadalbane paddler and fellow 2017 Scottish Canoe Association (SCA) performance teammate, Duncan Edwards.
She will be competing in April next year at Lee Valley in London – a venue used during the 2012 Olympic Games – for the opportunity to represent Britain again.
Maddy was also the recipient of the George Mortimer Sports’ Bursary.
Both girls have also had the honour of standing on the podium at a British Premier Race this year in the bronze position.
Elsewhere Eddie McDiarmid –currently studying civil engineering at Edinburgh University – achieved selection as a K1 Man on the Junior GB team and partnered as a C2 on the Senior GB team in Wild Water Racing.
Teammate Louise Revell was also selected to the U23 and Senior British team.
Louise, a student at Strathclyde Uni, won the bronze medal at the European U23 Wild Water Championships in the classic event at Murau, Austria.
Looking ahead, a spokesperson for Breadalbane CC said: “With more and more success for Britain in canoe slalom, both in the Olympics and at European and World Breadalbane CC’s Victoria Murray Championships, the club has recognised the necessity to train more on artificial courses.
“Breadalbane paddlers have had more sessions than ever on Scotland’s only artificial course in Glasgow, Pinkston Watersports.
“Older paddlers have had the first-ever Breadalbane Canoe Club training camp on the Olympic course at Lee Valley in London before both the April junior selection races and the British Open in September.
All this bodes well for more success to come in 2017 for these dedicated paddlers.”
The success continued with the club’s younger members.
Padraig Cowan won the Simon Fletcher Memorial trophy at the Aberfeldy Division Three race in April, ensuring his promotion to Division Two.
He has quickly moved up the ranks, and is currently ranked twelfth in Britain in this division.
Oscar Wyllie is the Scottish Junior 10 Champion in K1 men and Breagh MacPherson is the Scottish Junior 16 Champion in C1 women.
As far as the sport at school level is concerned, Pitlochry Primary School won the top primary school trophy at the Scottish Schools competition in June with a team comprising four paddlers.
The spokesperson added: “Looking to follow on from all the above success, Breadalbane has three eight-year-olds who have chosen to begin canoe slalom. These three are Breadalbane’s youngest paddlers to date.”
The club representative continued: “Four S4 Breadalbane paddlers who attend Breadalbane Academy were not content to just train about eight times a week.
They also decided that their club should be considered as a worthy charity in the Youth Philanthropy Initiative (YPI). Their stellar presentation raised £3000 for the club.”