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All about British Canoeing Vice-President
Alan Laws MBE
British Canoeing ’ s Vice President and former Chair Alan Laws was awarded an MBE in the Queen ’ s New Year ’ s Honours for Services to Canoeing . Alan has dedicated more than 60 years to the sport , both as a paddler himself and as one of the founders of marathon racing as we know it today . www . britishcanoeing . org . uk
Alan started paddling at Lincoln Canoe Club in 1960 , and went on to become Chair of the British Canoeing Board , the Sprint Racing Committee and was Chair of the Marathon Racing Committee for 28 years . He also completed a 34 year tenure on the International Canoe Federation ’ s Marathon Committee .
We caught up with Alan to find out more about his career in paddlesport and where his love for the sport came from .
A chance chat with Grammar School classmate , Ian Grant , started Alan ’ s Kayaking journey . He was persuaded to give kayaking a try upon hearing of greater travel opportunities and the excitement of racing .
“ I thought , that sounds like a good plan ,” he said , “ so I went down to Lincoln Canoe Club one Easter .
“ My friend Peter Trigg put me in this racing boat and of course , I fell out , three times , but I was determined to have a good thrash at it . In the end , I did manage to stay in for longer than five seconds . And that was the start of it .
“ We used to go off to marathon races or long distance races as they called it then . There were only eight of them every year , unlike the busier calendar today , so you only got eight chances which meant they were big events .
“ My first race was in Bedford , it was seven miles from Great Barford to Bedford . I loved it . It was partly the camaraderie of the club and partly because I just found a love of being on the water .
Time passes very quickly , it ’ s only since I ’ ve stepped back from my volunteer roles and had time to reflect , that you realise the impact you ’ ve had .
“ I ’ ve never lost that . Every time I get in the boat , even now , it ’ s just a magic thing . It ’ s completely different from many other sporting environments . It ’ s an almost ethereal sensation that is almost beyond description . You either enjoy it or you don ’ t . If you don ’ t like water well , you ’ re in the wrong place . But for me , it was something that was almost quite magical .”
Alan took part in his first international event at the River Sella Race in North Spain in 1966 , an annual event attracting around 100,000 spectators . He last raced there with David Green in 1996 , some 30 years later . In that time he was also the Team Manager for the GB Marathon Racing Team .
A bad back in his mid-twenties curtailed Alan ’ s racing so he took on the role as minutes secretary for the club so he could stay involved . Then at one of the long distance races , he stood next to Martin Bosher who asked if he wanted to