TWO slalom canoeists from York will compete for the chance to represent Great Britain in next year’s Olympic Games.

Tom Quinn, from Bishopthorpe, and Ryan Westley, whose father was stationed at RAF Dishforth, will go head-to-head in next April’s Olympic Selection Races in both C1 and C2 classes.

Less than ten boats will race in each class but only one C1 paddler and one C2 pair will join Team GB. Quinn and Westley, who are both members of Tadcaster’s Lower Wharfe Canoe Club, rank third and fourth in the C1 Men’s premier pivision after a fantastic season which ended with the British Open.

Both young men qualified for the British Open final and Quinn came third, picking up a bronze medal.

Westley came eighth but secured the title of British junior champion as the highest ranked under-18 in the C1 men’s premier division.

The athletes are now focusing all their attention on the Olympic selection races and will follow a strict training regime over the winter.

They will train together at the National Water Sports Centre, in Nottingham, and the Lee Valley White Water Centre, in Hertfordshire, where the Olympic selection saces will take place.

Westley said: “Me and Tom train together a lot and we’re good friends. We don’t hold anything back.”

Quinn added: “We have a set training plan involving quite a lot of gym work, weights and lifting. We do physical sessions in our boats, sprint work and technical sessions.

“We do cross-training and gymnastic as well.

“From January onwards we’ll be spending half the week at Lee Valley to learn the course in time for the selection race.”

Quinn is looking for sponsors to help him to buy a new C1 and C2 for the race next April. He said: “Designs are getting better all the time and the new boats go faster and turn faster. I want to stay up to date.”

If anyone would like to sponsor Quinn, he can be emailed at tom.quinn@hotmail.co.uk