- Sport:
- Canoeing
- Last Funded:
- 2014/15
- Level:
- GO GOLD Athlete
- NGB:
- British Canoeing
- District:
- Charnwood
- School:
- Loughborough College
- Achievements from Application:
- 2nd place in the national championships First race back after a season of injury finished just 1.3 seconds behind the world champion
Blog
This week I should have been competing at the World Championships but following my de classification this is clearly no longer happening. I thought that I'd be able to accept what has happened and watch my friends compete, but this has been one of the most heartbreaking times of my entire sporting career. Knowing that I should have been on that start line today broke me. I had worked so hard for it, overcome serious injury which I guess you could say has made it harder for me. I guess this just proves how quickly your dreams can fall apart.
So earlier this month I got some disappointing news that I am no longer classifiable within my sport. As difficult a time as it has been, I've had great support from everyone around me including LRS which I'm extremely grateful for. I had a great time within paracanoe and going out on a high after winning all my major races this year has been incredible. It's been an amazing journey and one I'm sad to see end so abruptly, but I'm now looking forward to my next sporting challenge!
On Saturday we had the British Championships which also combined as World Championships selection. Becoming British Champion has always been my aim. The reason why, I have the Current and 8 World Champion in my classification to contend with. She is a formidable competitor and has always pushed me to become a better athlete. We both won a race each but I had the faster time of the day so the BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP became mine! This also means that I have qualified for the World Championships in Milan, August!
Charlotte Rose Wilkinson-burnett
(Previously Funded)
Learning South Leicestershire School Sports Awards
11th Jul, 2015
I was invited to come and speak and present awards at this event, and what a great night it was. I was truly inspired by a number of the athletes who were there and I look forward to following their respective journeys. What was also great to see was just what a great set up Leicester-Shire and Rutland Sport have. Through the number of events that I have done recently, I'm 100% sure that there is nowhere else in the UK that offers students what Leicestershire does. What a great evening and event! Thank you for having me!
A few weeks back now I was invited by LRS to attend a BBC Radio Leicester interview with a few fellow Go Gold athletes. The program was a youth sports special but focussed on how elite athletes cope with the struggles of balancing training and social life.
It was a great event, and was lovely to hear how fellow athletes also cope with the pressures of being an elite athlete. If you get a minute give it a listen and see what you think! (See Below)
More Information: bbc.co.uk
Last week I flew out with the rest of the GB Team to the World Cup in Germany. I didn't know how I would rank, especially considering there was a competitive line up but race day came around and I WON, and became world cup gold medalist in my event! Considering I only raced yesterday I'm still very much on cloud nine, but what an awesome way to start the international season! I must admit, it was a great feeling being on top of the podium in my first international!
More Information: youtube.com
Charlotte Rose Wilkinson-burnett
(Previously Funded)
Presentation Evening at Ashby School
5th May, 2015
On Thursday last week, I was privilege to be asked on behalf of LRS to attend the Ashby School Annual awards evening. It was a marvellous event to attend and be a part of. During the event, I presented numerous awards to the outstanding pupils, and also gave a speech at the end of the evening, which was a great experience! I throughly enjoyed the event, so thank you to everyone for making it such a pleasure.
http://www.ashbyschool.org.uk/content/latestnews_view.php?id=823
Charlotte Rose Wilkinson-burnett
(Previously Funded)
Leicestershire and Rutland Spring School Games
27th Apr, 2015
Last week I was privileged to be asked to attend the Leicestershire and Rutland Spring School Games, and what an amazing event it was! I was honoured to see all the athletes competing in various events, and what an experience speaking at the end of the day!
So, this week the final line up was announced for the world cup. My position on the squad hadn't been confirmed until now, so it's great to finally have it in writing!
On Saturday I had the race of my life! After only a few weeks of training due to being injured, I came out and from my point of view, absolutely smashed both of my races! In my first race I finished 1.4 seconds behind and then in my second race I finished just 0.25 seconds behind THE CURRENT WORLD CHAMPION so as you can imagine, I was absolutely buzzing! This is the best I have ever raced so what a great stepping stone for the future! This race also means that I have qualified for the World Cup in May!
Thank you to everyone involved with the GoGold scheme for funding me for the next year. As any athlete knows, training and competing costs a large sum of money, so the money I receive from the GoGold scheme is greatly appreciated and will go a long way in terms of this years training costs!
Thank you GoGold for supporting me through what has been the toughest year of my career. Having spent the best part of 10 months out injured, I never thought I would end the season with a new PB and UK Number 2! Thank you for all of your support!
Not expecting much, I gave the race everything I had hoping that my shoulder would hold up! I ended the race 1.17 seconds down on her. This was a huge feat for me, and it proved just how hard I had been working over the last 10 months! This result was completely unexpected so hopefully this is just the start of something great! Thank you GoGold and all my other sponsors for getting me to this position! (3/3)
fit and healthy so for me it was just a case of going out there and giving everything I had.
My first race was the best out of the 2 (although they both were fairly consistent). I was racing against another female in my classification, who is the current world champion and x 7 times world gold medalist. Last year when I raced her, I was almost 11 seconds slower. This year, not only did I surprise myself, and my coaching team I think I surprised my competition. (2/3)
Sadly, this year had been greatly hampered by a shoulder injury which left me out of training for almost 8 months. Yesterday though, after a lot of hard work from my team and myself I made it to my first regatta (but the last of of the season). I had 2 races, and although there was absolutely no wind (which doesn't happen very often), the lake was very slow so there was no chance of getting a new PB. Going into the races, I had absolutely no pressure on my, due to the fact that I'm still not 100% (1/3)
This month I am happy to welcome onboard a new sponsor of mine, who I'm sure will aid me hugely to get back to my full fitness following on from the injury I sustained last november. The company's name is fireactiv and they sell some great products to help with injuries! I'm really looking forward to working with this company in the future!
Please take a look at there website fireactiv.com
This month, I attend a selection day at St Georges Park in Burton to win a scholarship for 1 athlete in Leicester. Very gratefully, I was chosen for this as the scholar so I'm now looking forward to using the expertise of there staff and facilities!
Please see the news stories on this below!
http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/Sponsor-elite-Charlotte/story-22520039-detail/story.html
http://www.loughboroughecho.net/sport/other-sport/scholarship-boost-for-para-canoeist-7580110
So, finally I'm back training again (to a degree anyway)! I've been back doing some ergo and gym sessions again and have progressed well in those sessions! I have a team meeting to see where we go from here, but everything seems to be on an up! I'll keep you updated on my progress.
Sadly, I'm still injured so have missed out on the first 2 regattas of this season. Rehab though has been going very well, so hopefully I'll be back out training on the lake next week. One of those frustrating things, but things are slowly improving!
This month I did a photo shoot for my sport! Very good fun and you'll see below why enjoyed it so much! Sadly, I haven't recovered from this injury as anticipated. I had done a good few weeks of rehab, so thought everything was heading in the right direction, then found out that I need to take yet more time out of training. I've been out almost 6 months now, which is very frustrating. I'm just very glad to have the support team around me that I do. Hopefully the next time I log in I'll have some good news!
I'm very thankful to have been awarded the Go Gold funding, and had a great night at the presentation evening. Unfortunately the 2014 season hadn't been the start that I had been hoping for, as sadly I sustained an injury at the end of 2013. I would have loved to of competed for a place at the Europeans and World Championships this year, but due to my injury this is something that has taken a back seat in terms of my goals for 2014 although if I recover better than expected this is something, which will come back into play.
For more information please contact:
Liam Drake
Sports Development Officer
Leicester-Shire & Rutland Sport
I am currently remote working, so please contact me via email/mobile phone (where provided).
- Virtual Together App
- School Games
- Team Leicestershire
- HE/FE Support
- Telephone
- 01509 564865
- Mobile
- 07394567814
- l.drake@LRSport.org
