A Cambridgeshire canoe racer is competing for her late father and grandfather as she tries to make her family proud on the global stage this month.
Lindsay Thorpe, 33, from Chatteris, will compete for Great Britain at the ICF Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships later this month. She will take to the water in Poznan in competition, from 26-30 August, and the event will be another marker before the LA 2028 Paralympics.
Thorpe revealed that she lost her grandfather Cecil Cutting, and her father Mark Cutting in the space of six weeks. Her father lost his battle with cancer aged 62 on the day of her selection race for the World Championships.
“My dad was my biggest cheerleader, so I’m still finding my feet when it comes to pre-race pep talks. It’s given me extra motivation to go in his honour,” Thorpe said. “It’s my story, they are part of my story. It’s always going to be connected. There’s the side that wants to give it a mile, but we are all humans. We all have personal lives and our reasons why. As time passes, it might not be as strong, but this year I will pride myself in doing well for them.”
She is part of a team which includes reigning Paris champions Emma Wiggs and Charlotte Henshaw, as well as 2024 silver medallists Hope Gordon and Jack Eyers. Perhaps with a new take on life after suffering personal loss, Thorpe wanted to make the most of another opportunity to wear the flag on her vest and represent not only her country but her family.
She said: “My goal is to make the A final, in the top nine athletes. The atmosphere is going to be big and exciting. The fact I’ve got the opportunity to go out there and give it my all is a blessing. I’m lucky that I have some of the fastest on the globe as my national competition.
“I’ve been in the sport 10 years now, and every time that the announcement comes out, I get goosebumps. You don’t know what’s going to happen next with sport.”
Paddle UK is the national governing body for canoeing, kayaking and all other paddle sports. For more information, visit https://paddleuk.org.uk/
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