ELLIOTT DAVIDSON – 2014 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

ELLIOTT DAVIDSON – 2014 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

Hello this is my first post on the Squarerock Blog, my name is Elliott Davidson I’m a canoe slalom athlete. I represent Ireland and compete internationally on the U23 and senior team. I’ve competed in slalom since I was 12 years old, I’m now 20. I’m very thankful to Squarerock for their support, it is much appreciated.

Irish selection 2014 was held in the UK, at the Grand Tully premier races 1 & 2. Its was a slightly different format than a usually race as each run counted as a race instead of your best run out of two. From this I was selected to compete for the Irish team for the 2014 season.

After selection I decided that it would be best to move to Nottingham to enable me to train more. At this point I was still studying at Loughborough university. A few months down the line I decided it was for the best to drop out of uni. This was for several reasons but mainly due to not enjoying it.

Over the summer period I went abroad for 2 months training and competing. I got to race several international races both at U23 and senior level. This by far has to have been one of the best summers of my life. I was able to spend time on lots of different white water courses gaining extra experience as undoubtedly I will have a race on them in the future. It also helps that is sunny all the time and you’re not freezing your ass off.

I compete in the UK for slalom and am ranked 18th in the premier division. They’ve had 11 races throughout the year and I’ve entered them all. Throughout the season my results got better which is probably due to the fact I’m now training full time.

I have been over to Ireland for serval training camps and races. Ireland have just started their own division leagues. I’ve been over recently and won in the top league, division one, at the Sluice on the river Liffy. They have just finished the renovation of the main slalom course at the Sluice in Lucan.

They have made several changes, mended the weir, built up rock pile formations to keep water in the course, created deeper eddies with more defined lines and finally have added new features to the course such as an “S” rock and waves to surf lengthening the course.

I look forward to posting on this blog again with some more useful articles. You can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram & Blog.

By Elliott Davidson