Our coaches and Club Member Successes

Coaches

The club are very fortunate to have some exceedingly good and committed coaches. Our regular coaches are :

Johnny Brown, Davy Dickson, Janet Peck, Paul Kelly, Wojciech Sekula, Jock Young, Morna Campbell, Michael Brown and Andy Douglas.

Coach – Johnny Brown

Here is our club founder and Johnny Brown coaching with the British Team at Krakow in 2015, being presented with the British Canoeing, Ed Ecclestone Award for 2015 and resting between paddlers whilst coaching at Lee Valley.

The Ed Ecclestone award is presented each year to a volunteer who is, without fuss, quietly getting on with their role in slalom and putting a lot into the sport. Well Done Johnny your efforts have shown through the many successful athletes you have created.

Coach – Janet Peck

Our club coach, Janet Peck winning coaching awards at the 2018 and 2019 Clackmannanshire Sports Awards.

Coach – Paul Kelly

Paul has been coaching with Strathallan and CR CATS since his children started paddling over 10 years ago. He hadn’t coached slalom until then but got involved, worked with the existing coaches and his support has been invaluable over the years.

Coach – Wojciech Sekula

Wojciech started coaching with CR CATS when he returned to Scotland in July 2019. He is proving to be very popular with our paddlers. He is coaching at Alva on Tuesday nights and Pinkston on Thursday nights.

Coach – Neil Caffrey

Neil has coached CR CATS paddlers for 9 years now. Here he is in his racing days and with his daughter Iona.

Club member Successes

We are very proud of the hard work and success of all of our paddlers and our club.

Many of our paddlers have won Scottish titles, British Titles and represented GB at Junior, Under 23 and Senior Championships as well as the Olympics.

Our GB athlete – Fiona Pennie

Fiona started paddling with her mum at a few months old and was in her own boat aged 5. She took at 1 star course at Stirling university when she was 9 and a slalom taster session at Alva later that year. She won 1st J15 and still has the trophy amongst her many notable trophies in her cabinet. She excelled at many sports but decided Slalom Canoeing was for her. Fiona won the Gold medal at the 2013 European Champs and Silver medal at the 2014 World Champs. She has represented GB at 2 Olympics and is still racing at GB level at 37. She trains full time in Lee Valley, home of GB Canoeing.

The right hand photo is from Fiona competing at the 2016 Olympics where she finished 6th.

Our GB athlete – Sophie Ogilvie

Sophie started canoeing aged 10 as part of a “come and try it” at Denny High School. She showed huge commitment and potential from the start. Here is Sophie Ogilvie aged 19 racing at 2018 Lee Valley selection, aged 11 with a Scottish Schools prize and with Rebecca Ogilvie after Lee Valley race in 2018 . Sophie moved to Lee Valley in 2017 to train full time.

Sophie represented GB for 3 years as a Junior and last year as an Under 23 and Senior. Sophie won a Gold medal at the European Senior Champs in 2019.

Our GB athlete – Jonny Dickson

Jonny Dickson started canoeing aged 6. He has raced for GB as an Under 23 K1M at the European champs in 2017 and 2018. He has now moved to Lee Valley to train full time.

Jonny won Silver at the 2021 World Under 23 Champs in Slovenia. Previous achievements were finishing 7th at the 2019 European Junior Champs and 4th at the 2019 World Junior Champs.

Jonny’s dad, Davy has written the following

“Thanks to everyone for the support they have shown for Jonny’s first Premier race win at the weekend – it’s much appreciated ! I wanted to try and share some knowledge that we have gained on Jonny’s journey in canoe slalom so far. Hopefully this will help our younger paddlers and parents along the way on their journey’s.

While winning a Premier race as a junior may seem an incredible achievement – it is important to remember that Jonny did his first slalom race at our club site Alva 11 years ago when he was only 7 years old. It has been a very challenging and turbulent journey so far and he is still just really at the start of his racing career.

Canoe slalom is an incredibly challenging sport – physically, technically and mentally. Perhaps the biggest challenge young paddlers face is overcoming the fear of the white water – whether it’s the horse shoe fall at Fairnilee, Pinkston on 3 pumps, the top fall at Tully or the muncher and plug at HPP – everyone who takes on the challenge of the sport , at some stage has been terrified of these features and has had to step out their comfort zone and rise to these challenges. Eventually they master them and end up wondering what all the fuss was about. Some may learn quicker than others but if you stick at it – you will get there.

Success and learning is not a linear process, the journey is turbulent and full of highs and lows. It’s incredibly difficult for young athletes but also for their parents who just want their kids to be happy and achieve their goals. Be patient – the sport is incredibly technical and there is an awful lot to learn. Youngsters grow physically and mentally at different rates – don’t compare yourself and journey to others because they may be at a different development stage than you – even if they are the same age.

The most important thing is to enjoy the sport of canoe slalom and give yourself time to learn and develop in the sport – not everyone will go on to win the Olympic games but you will definitely have fun and grow as a person for the experiences and learning you have gained on your journey in this incredible sport.

— feeling proud.”

Our GB athlete – Bradley Forbes Cryans

Bradley started paddling aged 10. He raced for GB as a Junior and in 2018 won Silver medal at the World Under 23 Canoe Slalom Champs in Ivrea, Italy. He will be representing GB at the Tokyo Olympics.

Our Olympic Paddlers

Name	Class	Year	Event
Craig Brown	C2	1996	13th Atlanta Olympics
Campbell Walsh	K1M	2004	Silver, Athens Olympics
Fiona Pennie	K1W	2000 2008 2013 2014 2016 2017	Bronze, Bratislava Junior Worlds 17th Bejing Olympics Gold European Senior Champs Silver World Senior Champs 7th Rio Olympics Bronze European Senior Worlds
Bradley Forbes-Cryans	K1M	2013 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2019 2020	Liptosky, Junior World Champs Bourg St Maurice, Under 23 European Champs Senior Worlds and Europeans Lee Valley -Senior Worlds Bronze Team medal Senior Worlds and Europeans Senior Worlds and Europeans Brazil – Senior Worlds Gold Team medal Ivrea – U23 Worlds Silver medal Seu D’Urgell – 4th in Senior World Champs Will compete in Tokyo Olympics

Our World and European Championship paddlers

Name	Class	Year	Event
Sophie Ogilvie	C1W	2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019	Skopje, Junior European Champs Krakow, Junior European Champs Solkan, Junior European Champs Hohenlimburg, Under 23 European Champs Under 23 World and European Champs Senior European Champs Gold Team medal
Rebecca Ogilvie	K1W	2015 2015	Krakow, Junior European Champs Brazil, Junior World Champs
Isla Kelly	C1W	2014 2015 2016	Skopje, Junior European Champs Krakow, Junior European Champs Solkan, Junior European Champs
Andrew Houston	C1M C2	2012 2012 2014 2015	Atlanta, Junior Worlds Solkan, Junior Europeans Skopje, Under 23 European Champs Krakow, Under 23 European Champs
Michael Brown	C1M C2	2012 2012 2013 2013 2014 2015	Atlanta, Junior Worlds Solkan, Junior Europeans Bourg St Maurice, Under 23 European Champs Liptosky, Under 23 World Champs Skopje, Under 23 European Champs Krakow, Under 23 European Champs
Rachel Houston	C1W	2014 2014 2015 2017	Penrith, Junior World Champs Skopje, Junior European Champs Krakow, Under 23 European Champs Hohenlimburg, Under 23 European Champs
Aiden Water	C2	2016	Krakow, Poland, Junior European Champs
Aidan McAleenan	C2	2016	Krakow, Poland, Junior European Champs
Jonny Dickson	K1M	2017 2017 2018 2019 2021	Hohenlimburg, Under 23 European Champs Bratislava, Under 23 European Champs Liptovsky – 7th European Junior Champs Krakow – 4th World Junior Champs and Gold Team medal Silver, Under 23 World Champs Slovenia