Paul Owen OBE

[davebrads]

I am sure that we all would wish to congratulate Paul Owen, the outgoing Chief Executive of the BCU, for being awarded an OBE for his services to canoeing, except that I don't know anybody who knows who he is or what he has done for our sport.

[jjayes]

To do Paul Owen credit it would be good to see in print what he has actually done for the sport to get his OBE, I assume he was also paid very well financially for his work. This would maybe inspire other to follow in his footsteps.
He was certainly a very good politician I seem to remeber when anything controversial arose. To his credit I think he kept his head down and kept the job for a very long time, but what he actually did I do not know! Congratulations anyway.

[Phil]

Pauls background in canoeing came via mainly marathon (that's my perception right or wrong) and is or was heavily involved with Reading CC. I did many a evening time trial in K1's at the old Reading club hut and all were timed and handicapped by Paul long before he joined the BCU. (Sorry it'll always be the BCU in my mind).
It's just most of the slalom scene won't have come across him except at big events.

[davebrads]

By big events do you mean Prem races? World cup races? European Championships or just World Championships?

If he attended any of these did he make it his business to meet some of the volunteers and find out what goes into running a race? Or did he just give out the pots at the end?

He is (was) the Chief Executive of our governing body. The sport isn't that big, my wife works for Sainsbury's and she knew who Justin King was, and met him more than once.