Fact 1 : The GB senior womens Olympic canoe sprint kayak squad consists of eight athletes with an average age of 22.2. So pray, what’s so special about this group of women?.
GB womens kayak squad
Fact 2: every one has achieved a top 5 finish or better in Senior European or World competition in the last 12 months and 5 of the squad have won medals……… that’s what special.
These were probably not the only statistics that drew a well known ‘former boy/ now verging on middle-age’ band’s attention to our superb squad at Dorney Lake recently as the girls continued their preparations for next week’s ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships.
GB girls with Take That band members
Never ones to shirk publicity, there was a slight skirmish amongst the superstars of Take That as to who would stand next to whom. See the evidence for yourself. (Abi and Lou got the job of racking the K4 and doing what it takes to be the best in the business).
‘Taking care of business’ is the name of the game for coach Miklos Simon– a big fan of folk music and for whom everything changes, when it comes to kayak racing. Take this ….…. Since 2008 and his involvement with the athlete group, achievements include: 1 x Junior European Championship medal; 1x Olympic K2 qualification; 5x European Championship medals (inc. 2 gold) and a best ever WK4 result in an Olympic event. (5th SWC 2009).
Already this season has brought a fistful of World Cup medals and two European Championship golds. No wonder Robbie Williams was singing ‘Angels’.
Planning for World Domination - Miklos Simon (R) & Trevor Hunter (L)
Simon is not completely responsible for all of this. Working in tandem with Trevor Hunter, these pair are ‘What the Women Want’ and form the dream coaching team for GB canoeing.
While it is clear that Simon sets the programme, Hunter makes sure it works for the girls. His strong suit is empathy and understanding and every girl in the squad speaks highly of what he brings to the coaching party. When asked why the relationship works, Simon said:
‘ We are of a similar age and our view of the world is similar. I write the technical programme and Trev points out how it can best be delivered. All of the girls have a huge soul and they go to Trev when there are any problems. He has a big heart and that’s what’s great. He picks them up when they are down. Trevor is very good at advising me what balance I need in my programme to make it work’.
Hunter is the oil in the cogs of human relationships that go hand in hand with competitive sport and is an essential element to the recipe for success that Simon is developing with this squad.
Shimmy (as he is known to friends) came to GB in 2007 after realising that he couldn’t progress his coaching career further in Hungary. ‘ I wanted to prove my coaching worth. I wanted to be the best at the highest level and GB has given me that opportunity. I am competitive and proud and I knew that working in Britain would be a challenge. When I first started I was unsure of the plan that GB canoeing had for me, but I quickly realised that I could use 90% of my training system over here’.
After coaching Anna Hemmings (who claimed that Simon relit her fire for sprint racing). and Jess Walker to Olympic qualification in 2008, Simon took responsibility for the Thames-based women’s group in 2009. Of his new charges he said ‘The girls had great attitude and made my job easy. They did everything I asked and I worked on their main weaknesses which were strength and strength endurance. I used most of my Hungarian principles in their training and now they are on the same level as the Germans and Hungarians – the best kayak nations in the world. The success Rachel has achieved in the last two years shows this.’
Rachel Cawthorn as she is today, taking on Europe and the World
What was the masterplan for the 2009/2010 season? ‘The plan was to bring 2-3 more girls into the group to develop future possibilities’ he said. The results from the Europeans show he has moved the group forward again – 3 medals, 1x 5th , 1x 7th and 1x 9th place. We wondered if Simon would continue with the same crews for the World Championships. A man whose trait is to continuously look for the best options, it was no huge surprise to see him reconstruct the K4 crew. Abi Edmonds, Rachel Cawthorn, Louisa Sawers and Hayleigh Mason will now race in Poznan. ‘It was always in the plan to find the strongest K4 for the SWC. We have a chance to be close to the Podium. Abi Edmonds did a really good job in the driving position (Seat 1) this season. This is a key spot – to set the tempo of the boat and change rhythm when required. Based on her international performances she gave me an additional option to Jess as a driver. At the Europeans Abi proved how good she was and with Jess picking up an injury, she now has an opportunity. Also Jess is one of the best options for the K1 200m race and she is now working specifically on that event.
Abi Edmonds, Hayleigh Mason, Angela Hannah & Jenna Hawkey
Jenna and Angela, after their results in the K4 in Trasona, can do well in K2 and Lani will always give everything in the 5km race’.
The Womens K4 are clocking times of 1m 31s in training camp – a time that puts them within a clutch of nations – Spain, Poland and China- contending for a medal behind Hungary and Germany. Simon is clearly ‘sniffing’ out more podium appearances. Jess Walker is getting faster daily over the 200m distance every day while Rachel Cawthorn continues to look world class.
The Simon Ship is making good headway towards achieving global ambitions (and his are high) in Poznan next week. With Hunter as his Executive Officer, providing influential balance, it looks that the winning habit is back for good for GB.
Expect smoke on the water in Poznan..
Coming next week……..feature on the Mens squad… Tim Brabants, Liam Heath, MK4 and the rest of the team.
All action photo credits to Antony Edmonds: www.aephotos.zenfolio.com
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