Lucy on Long Road to Olympic Success
Local kayaker has started a 4 year journey which will hopefully lead to her representing Great Britain at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Lucy Gardener who is a member of Tees Active Sports Academy and trains at Tees Barrage International White Water course has tasted success already this year as she returned from the British Para Canoeing championships with two gold medals. Lucy was invited to a talent identification weekend at the National Water Sports Centre at Holme Pierrepoint in Nottingham. Lucy was put through a barrage of gym based tests to measure whether she had what it would take to be a potential Olympian.
Lucy and her family were delighted to receive the news this week that she has been selected to be part of a 10 strong squad to attend 5, week long intensive training camps in Britain with the added bonus of a week long warm weather training camp in Portugal.
Lucy’s achievement was even more notable as she was the only female selected to the squad. The delighted paddler said “I’ve been training hard with my coach Wendy Morris over the past 12 months and my Activ8 gym training programme has been tailored by the Academy staff over the past 6 weeks to ensure I performed well in the tests weekend.”
Lucy’s coach Wendy Morris added “This is the first significant step to Lucy working her way to the Olympics but she can lose her place on the squad at anytime if she does not maintain her performance and fitness levels so there is definitely no room for complacency.”
If you require any further information on Tees Active Sports Academy contact Academy Manager on (01642) 528772 or visit www.teesactive.co.uk