Footscray Members Target Upcoming World Champs
The great thing about Footscray CC is the range of paddlers in the club, from novices to elite athletes. At the latter end of this scale is Ivor Morgan and Andrew Stimpson. Both have won numerous state and national titles over the years and are currently training for the upcoming World Championships. Ivor has agreed to provide regular articles in the lead up to this event. In this article Ivor describes a bit about his background and his thoughts on the club – CdL
For those of you who I don’t see around the club my name is Ivor Morgan. I have been a member of the Footscray Canoe Club since early 2000. I was attracted to the club by its location, facilities and elite athletes that trained from the venue.
Michael Leverett who was a member for many years was the benchmark for Marathon Canoeing in Australia as he had won many National Titles and placed at the World Championships. Paddlers would come from all around Melbourne to train with Michael which resulted in a very talented squad. For many years a large contingent of the Open Men’s National Team have come from this squad.
I took advantage of this situation and teamed up with Michael is 2003 to win the National Open Men’s K2 Marathon Championships and went on to represent Australia at the World Championships in Spain.
I didn’t compete at another National’s until 2008 where I teamed up with Mark Rantall from Warrnambool Canoe Club. A broken tiller bar during the race ended our campaign.
In 2009 I decided to make amends for last year’s disappointment by winning the Open Men’s K2 National Title with Mark. This was very rewarding and qualified us for the 2009 Marathon World Championship in Portugal this September. Andrew Stimpson who is also a member has qualified for the same event with partner David Cole.
The squad numbers have dropped since early 2000 and there are only the dedicated few that turn up to train. Our squad consists of myself, Dominic Scarfe, Andrew Stimpson and Mark Rantall (my doubles partner). Dominic is a vet 45 paddler but his dedication to training and assisting myself has played a very big part of my success. Having a reliable training partner makes the sport more enjoyable and assists with the motivation to get out of bed at 4.30am on a cold winters morning.
I should also mention that there are many other groups that paddle from our club for all levels of paddlers.
Training is going well in preparation for Worlds and I depart in 5 weeks. A typical week includes 8 kayak, 3 gym and 4 run sessions. I would like to thank the Footscray Canoe Club for its support and note that the club is in good hands with new equipment being purchased for everyone’s benefit. The K1 ergo is a great asset which I often use as a quick warm up before getting on the water.
I hope to see more members around the club soon as we have a great facility that should be enjoyed by all.
Regards
Ivor Morgan
