Canoeing: Jonny's a boating star

Oct 30 2008 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

A LINLITHGOW Primary School pupil is making a big splash on the national canoeing circuit and has already been earmarked as a possible future Olympic star.

Jonny Dickson is just seven-years-old but barely a year after taking to the water in his own canoe he has left much older competitors trailing in his wake in events on both sides of the border.

The youngster was a regular on rivers and lakes in the back of his father’s double canoe from the age of three, but he didn’t begin paddling his own until last year.

And his father David, who also coaches the Scottish junior squad, admits he has not seen a seven-year-old canoeist with such potential.

David said: “I never expected him to be doing this at his age and we are careful not to push him but he was so keen and the speed he has picked up has been amazing.”

Jonny made his competitive debut at the ALVA Slalom UK in Division Four.

But after stunning onlookers by winning his first race he was promoted to Division Three and he has continued to impress on the water.

David continued: “He has been in the top ten in all of his races in Division Three against much older opponents.

“He has taken the under-12 prize at every race he has entered in Scotland and England, and he even came out on top of 40 competitors at a competition in Sheffield.

“He consistently finishes in the top seven or eight in every race and is always the first under-12 across the finish line.

“We hope to get Jonny promoted to Division Two soon and we also have the British Junior Championships in June.

“Jonny will be taking part in the under-12 category and we are hopeful he can do well.”

Both Jonny and his dad are members of Forth Canoe Club and David has revealed the Edinburgh Club is the perfect breeding ground for canoe glory.

He said: “David Florence won a silver medal at the recent Olympics for slalom canoeing. He lives in England now but is originally from Edinburgh and has honed his talent as a member of Forth Canoe Club.

“In fact the entire Olympic squad this year were Scottish and there is a really good tradition of canoeing in this country.

“Another Scotsman, Campbell Walsh, won the silver in Athens in 1996.

“The target for Jonny is the Olympics and if he continues to progress the way he is we hope he is flying the flag for Britain in the slalom in the future,” said David.

Jonny is a regular on the Avon River in Linlithgow where his dad has set up some slalom gates, but they also practice on other waterways.

David added: “At weekends we go away to train on rivers across the country but as Jonny is still quite young we avoid some of the white water rivers like the Tay and stay on rivers like the Tweed.

“The target is to get Jonny confident on the rougher waters. We also practice once a week in the swimming pool to practice things like Eskimo rolls.”