You've just come out of Euros, where you won your first major international event as a senior woman. Congrats! How was that experience?
After such a long break from competition, it was very special just to be back on the water with the international freestyle community. To then compete with some of the best paddlers in the world, many of whom I had grown up trying to emulate, was a real buzz. The challenging nature of the competition feature made the preliminary rounds pretty tough. For the first time, I adopted a strategy of doing enough to get through rather than my usual "all in" approach. So in the final, I was pleased to paddle more like myself and get a bigger ride that I was proud of.
How did you find and fall in love with freestyle?
I started actual kayaking when I was 10 or 11, in pool sessions with the local Tendring Canoe Club, but I was always an outdoorsy kid and something of a water baby. Thinking back, I was exposed to kayaks quite young as my dad and brother would go out in the sea on waveskis. I would sit on the back with them, though I mostly remember falling off in the surf. At that time, kayaking was just something for hot summer days on the beach. I actually preferred a tiny rowing boat. I spent whole days rowing around our local marina and later tried out for a local rowing club. I didn't make the team, but my mom saw kids doing freestyle on the river nearby and researched more about it. We found Sudbury Canoe Club, which was run by Dan McGaley, whose daughter Jen was on the GB Team. That's where I discovered my love for the sport. We mostly did sessions on flatwater. Then, as I progressed, we would go to the whitewater courses: Lee Valley, then Nottingham.
AS MUCH AS I WANT TO PUSH MYSELF, I WANT TO HELP THE OTHER WOMEN, AND HELP WOMEN PUSH THEMSELVES, TOO.
Did you enjoy it from the get-go?
I must have really enjoyed it, but I wasn't the most confident kid— I found going upside down quite scary, and I always had my goggles on! There was actually another girl in the club who was really talented. Now I realize that it was really special to have another girl my age; seeing her motivated me so much. Later, at Sudbury, I was lucky to regularly
