The future of C2 in 2017

[CeeBee]

Selection to GB has now been based on % for a development squad which leaves C 2 needing to make 135%
against the best paddlers in the world on a course the C2 will get to paddle maybe a handful of times before selection.
The seniors will get this in one week.

Completely agree. 135% is far too hard against Jo Clarke/Bradley Forbes Cryans on their home course which they will have trained at the same water level and the same rapid block config for many weeks leading up to selection.

I do not understand why Junior teams are only selected if they make percentages against the top kayak men. This applies for other junior classes too and is depriving junior paddlers of the opportunities to race abroad at the World Champs. In 2015, paddlers were only selected for the Worlds because Jo didn't perform as well on the Sunday and so percentages were achieved.

If you are good enough to finish in the top 3 in your class if the class has enough participants, you should be selected to represent GB. For C2, this is much harder to determine as unfortunately, juniors are not racing in C2 - a mistake really as racing in C2 is a fantastic experience. May be the junior C2s could be compared as a percentage to Junior C1 men instead.

[JimW]

Really sorry to hear about George - hope he bounces back OK.

Odd how things come and go, slalom C2 is on the decline, river running OC2 seems to be growing - enough for Silverbirch to launch a new boat anyway:
https://vimeo.com/202650507

[Mark H]

C1 men are as fast if not faster than K1 depending on the course.
Mixed pairs are obviously the way forward.
It is very ironic how britishcanoeing say European racing is an invaluable experience for paddlers
but put restrictions on their development squad. I hope that there are no empty slots for the Junior worlds
and European champs as this would be an opportunity lost..

Steve give George our best and wish him a speedy recovery
Cheers Mark

[davebrads]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but this is the situation as I see it. I can understand British Canoeing not supporting athletes who don't make a certain level of performance (though I agree that the current system of percentages is not fit for purpose), but they have the power to prevent athletes from entering international events on a self-supporting basis, and use this power even if the athlete would otherwise qualify for an entry by their position in the selection races.

If this is the case then it seems to be highly unfair to those athletes to deprive them of the opportunity to compete internationally, an experience that they will remember all their lives even if they don't continue to pursue a career in the sport. Also it seems counter-productive to exclude athletes from having the experience when they may become established international paddlers in subsequent years.

I don't see any negative aspects of allowing these athletes to race, unless you count the potential for egg on the face of the selected athletes and British Canoeing if a self-supported athlete beats the team athletes.

I think I am right in believing that we don't have any way to correct this absurd situation. One of the conditions of our sport receiving Sport England funding is that British Canoeing must have control of the selection policies.

This has its effect upon C2. One potential reason for some of our more ambitious paddlers to race C2 might be that they could have the opportunity to represent their country at the top level. If British Canoeing aren't going to support C2 they could at least allow paddlers to enter on a self-supported basis.