PAUL WYCHERLEY
~ Flatwater Kayaking ~

Profile updated October 2011

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Paul Wycherley is an international kayaker who started the sport, aged 12, at the Wey Kayak Club in Guildford in 1998. His dream is to win an Olympic Gold Medal and he is currently training for between 4 and 6 hours per day to realise this dream.

A day in the life of Paul starts with a one hour training session on the water at 7am. He then has a chance to exercise his grey matter working from 10am until 3pm at the British Athletes Commission helping develop their Athletes Benefits Scheme. As well as office work Paul gets a chance to develop his communication and sales skills at client meetings. It’s then back to the kayak for a 1.5hour session on the water followed by 2 hours in the gym. It’s hardly surprising that his evenings tend to be spent on the sofa refuelling and resting for the next day!

With such a busy week you’d be forgiven for thinking that Paul has his feet up at the weekend too. You’d be wrong though. During the competitive season he is either training or competing and in the off season he finds the time to catch up with mates to socialise and indulge himself in his own little vice; clothes shopping! Paul even finds the time to prepare for his future after sport by studying for his university degree.

Six words that describe Paul accurately are charismatic, hard working, discerning, vivacious, principled and determined.

Karim Bashir, CEO Catch Sport

Paul Wycherley beats Olympic canoeing champion for right to compete in World Championships in Hungary.

"That was one of the toughest races I've done," Wycherley told BBC Sport's Ollie Williams. "Tim is the Olympic champion and an enormously brilliant paddler. The last half of the race was a war of attrition. I had to dig very deep - and then dig some more." bbc.co.uk 21st July 2011

Read the full story of Paul's successful race-off against Tim Brabants (K1 Olympic Champion) to qualify for entry at the K1 World Championships in Hungary (August 2011) here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/canoeing/14216580.stm

Latest update about Paul (October 2011):

Olympic hopeful Paul Wycherley beat the existing world record for kayaking across the English Channel, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, by 31 minutes (in a time of two hours 28 minutes) whilst raising in excess of £100,000 for charity. All funds raised are to be split between Great Ormond Street Hospital and The Prince’s Charities.

In ideal conditions Paul set off from Dover harbour in Kent and crossed to Cap Gris Nez in northern France and broke the world record of two hours and 59 minutes which was set in October 2007 by Paul’s coach Ian Wynne, an Athens Olympics bronze medallist.

During the past year Paul has trained for the crossing whilst also undertaking his training with the Olympic team (he beat the current Olympic kayaking champion in a 1-on-1 to represent GB at the 2012 qualifiers).

After completing the challenge, Paul said “I was just so fortunate with the conditions. We chose the weekend about a year ago and it could have gone either way."

Photos can be found at: www.crosschannelchallenge.com

To view the BBC video footage of the Cross Channel Challenge visit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/canoeing/15160182.stm

Previous update from Paul (September 2011):

"Phew, what a month!

"The result of my narrowly beating Tim Brabants in a best-of-three race off in July was that I was selected to race the 1000m K1 event at the World Championships just four weeks later. So, no sooner had I enjoyed a moment of celebration to relieve the pressure that had inevitably built up than I had to ramp everything up once more to compete on the world stage.

"Just to compound matters the World Championships would be held in Hungary, a country where canoeing is the national sport, where the paddlers are superstars and where the crowds would be huge and boisterous. If that wasn't enough there was also the small matter of this being the qualifying competition for the 2012 Olympic Games.

"So, on the startline in Szeged for the heat there was a degree of pressure but a second place eased matters – until I saw my draw for the semi-final. Tough or what! With only the top two qualifying for the 'A' Final (plus the fastest third place finisher) the pressure was now really on.

"The race quickly developed into a four-way battle. I was firmly in the mix and scrapping with the Swede, Gustaffson, for third place. Despite my giving absolutely everything I came home fourth by just 0.3 seconds. This meant a 'B' Final slot and no automatic Olympic qualification.

"I had pretty mixed feelings about this result. I was naturally extremely disappointed not to make the 'A' Final but I'd raced well, to my absolute peak and, as it turned out, my time was a personal best by three seconds. In fact, my time was the fourth fastest of anybody in all four semi-finals (my race was easily the fastest). A PB and only a whisker off the 'A' Final on my first K1 outing at the World Championships – I couldn't be too disappointed.

"Now, it seems, Britain will receive an automatic host nation place for K1 1000m at the Games next year. What this means is simple – I will be involved in race-offs for the right to paddle the boat in 2012, against Tim Brabants. Again!

"There's no doubt that I had to achieve a physical and mental peak for the race-off in July. To carry that supreme mental level through another month was extremely difficult. It's no real surprise, then, that I couldn't rise to the heights at the Olympic Test Event at Eton at the end of August. Instead, a small but quality field just had fun.

"As I said, what a month! But I have another challenge to rise to shortly – I'm paddling across the Channel to raise money for Great Ormond Street and the Prince's Charities. My aim, too, is to break the record for crossing the Channel, a shade under three hours. If you want to know more, or donate, visit www.crosschannelchallenge.com." Paul