Cloud over the canoe club with a silver lining

Published on Monday 18 August 2008 08:36

WHEN Olympic silver medallist David Florence first discovered his talent for canoeing, he found a welcome home at the Forth Canoe Club.

Back in the late nineties, the club had a thriving set-up at the Lochrin Basin on the Union Canal. Around 80 canoeists would join David on the water during club nights as he learned the skills that would lead him to Olympic glory.

However, the club that nurtured his young talent is now warning that its chances of producing future Olympians have plummeted since they were forced into cramped facilities by the redevelopment of the Lochrin Basin.

Expecting a flood of interest in the wake of Mr Florence's success, the club now plans to launch a campaign to find better facilities.

When Lochrin Basin was scheduled to be transformed into a chic waterside area in 1999, the group was moved out of its club hut by British Waterways, which said it needed the land for redevelopment.

But, almost ten years on, the site remains undeveloped, and membership has dropped as people struggle to squeeze their kit into a small shed down the canal.

Member Stewart Pitt, 40, who competed at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, said: "We'd been using the old site every single day for over 20 years. The rationale for moving us was to get more public use of that stretch of canal, but all they did was demolish the huts and the site is still empty."

The current hut has no toilets or showers, and the club membership, which once stood at 150, plummeted after the move. It has now risen again to 100, but there is no room for further expansion because there is no room to store more boats.

Mr Pitt, now a property agent in Trinity, said that even a small drop in the number of participants had a huge effect on the club's potential to produce future medallists.

He said: "You've got a pyramid of performance. If you start with 100 people, over a number of years some of them will give up, others will be happy to be recreational canoeists. If you've got 20 that are talented and very determined, one or two of those might make the Olympics and one might medal.

Club commodore Kelso Riddell, 60, added: "It would be an awful lot easier if we had better facilities. It's very difficult to coach people with such minimal facilities. We do the best that we can, but we're absolutely flat out on the canal."

The club now plans to approach both Edinburgh City Council and British Waterways Scotland in the hope of finding a location for a larger club hut.

Richard Millar of British Waterways Scotland said: "The Forth Canoe Club was based at Lochrin Basin but, with the development of Edinburgh Quay and continuing regeneration of the area, this location was no longer suitable. We worked closely with the Club to find them an alternative with which they were very happy. We have never been made aware of any issues with this provision.

"The club's new facility, funded by British Waterways Scotland at Harrison Park, is a more suitable location with easier access to the water at a wider part of the canal.

"A secure facility to store training equipment was also provided. The canoeists are able to use the Union Canal in either direction from this location."