As part of Scottish Women and Girls in Sport Week, we are highlighting the exciting progress being made in the world of C1W.

Tokyo 2021 was a very special Olympiad for many reasons. For the canoe slalom community it was the first Olympics to have gender equity across the four disciplines with C1 Women (C1W) finally making its debut after 49 years of not featuring on the Olympic agenda. Driving off this momentous milestone and the silver accolade won by Great Britain’s Mallory Franklin, Slalom Inspires are launching another project; The Scottish C1W Academy. 

This project is being led by SCA apprentice performance coach Maddy Jennings and Slalom Inspires founder Eilidh Gibson. The Scottish C1W Academy will strive to grow the participation and competition of C1W across Scotland by breaking the barriers to participation and providing a river of opportunities to try C1 and develop skills to progress within the sport. The timing of the Olympic celebrations with the easing of lockdowns has produced the perfect climate to kickstart this project and introduce girls in canoeing to the artistic slalom discipline of C1. 

Throughout the summer months the Scottish C1W Academy have been hosting training days specifically for C1W. After 5 training days at Alva, Pinkston, Edinburgh and Aberfeldy respectively, participation has increased by an estimated 275% in total, and we feel like we are only scratching the surface!! 

Breadalbane CC paddler Taliesin Mclean attended the first event and shares a little piece of her story with us: 

“I've been paddling for 5 years. I had always paddled K1. I had been making progress and having fun. Obviously, there have been challenges. Amongst these was the lack of girls paddling. With the foundation of Slalom Inspires it gave me an opportunity to meet fellow female paddlers from around the UK. Just before lockdown, I had started to paddle in C1, encouraged and supported by Eilidh Gibson. Covid then hit and I had a “C1 wobble”, I wasn’t sure I wanted to carry on. I was then invited by Maddy, to spend the day at Alva with other girls in C1s. Maddy had invited Ailsa Gourlay and Isla Campbell (Scottish and former Junior GB Team C1W Athletes) to speak about their experiences in C1. Their stories of their adventures in Canoe captivated me. The day was fab, I had so much fun learning new skills and recognising I really enjoyed it and wanted to make it part of my paddling. I haven’t looked back, now competing in both K1 and C1 and really enjoying them both. All the recent hard work has paid off, winning not only K1, but also C1 Scottish J14 Championship.”

The dream for the Scottish C1W Academy is to become a lasting thread of legacy from the Tokyo Olympic games which have been so empowering for C1W across the world. The Academy is already working in collaboration with all the slalom clubs in Scotland to run regular C1 specific training sessions at local venues; a historical first we hope to develop further with an emphasis for learning and mentoring with existing and aspiring coaches. The summer training days were just the start with loads of exciting plans and opportunities for C1W in the making. Watch this space! 

#SheCanSheWill