About Slalom Inspires
Slalom Inspires is an organisation run by volunteers that aims to inspire and empower girls through the incredible sport of canoe slalom. We hope that by putting on uplifting events, creating projects tailored specifically to empowering girls, and cultivating a tight-knit community, we can support girls to become the best versions of themselves. Sport has the capacity to completely change lives. We want every girl to have the same chance at the life-changing magic as her male counterpart.
OurStory
In 2018 the first ever Slalom Inspires event was run at the London Olympic course, Lee Valley. 60 girls came from all over the UK to experience a weekend of canoeing, hilarity, fun, inspiration and positivity. Initially to be a one-off event, the atmosphere and feedback throughout the whole weekend was mind-blowing. It wouldn't be a stretch to say it changed the lives of some of the girls there, including mine (Eilidh's). It was clear that this couldn't be the end.
WhatHappenedNext?
Since that initial event in 2018, we have done the following:
2019
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Three Regional events
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One National event
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Opportunity to volunteer at the International Canoe Federation World Cup in London
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2020 (adapted):
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A virtual Welsh event
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7 x Instragram Live interviews with top international athletes
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3 x Performance Webinars
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Launch of Project FLOW (Female Leaders On Water), our coaching initiative
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2021
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We delivered our coaching initiative, Project FLOW to a group of twenty-two aspiring female coaches
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We welcomed Maddy Jennings to the team (Project FLOW coach)
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We launched our current project, the C1 Women (C1W) Academy
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2022 & 2023:
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Running of the C1W Academy
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MeetTheTeam
Eilidh Gibson
Founder
I’m Eilidh, a retired GB team canoe slalom athlete from Scotland. Previously a member of the Great Britain Senior team, I was lucky enough to travel the world as my job, competing at the highest level in my sport and even being crowned team World Champion in 2017. It isn’t lost on me how fortunate I am to have had the opportunity for sport to change and shape my life. This is why women in sport has always been a passion of mine. While I was an athlete, I decided to turn my passion to reality and I ran an event to inspire the girls in my sport, Slalom Inspires was born. What started as a little idea to run one event, has now developed into this wonderful organisation that is changing girls’ (and my!) lives. I am continually blown away by the overwhelming love and support from everyone involved in our projects. Slalom Inspires has empowered me to do more and be better. I am so incredibly proud of it.
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Find out more about me on my website - www.eilidhgibson.com.
Maddy Jennings
Co-Project Lead & Coach
​I’m Maddy, a retired Scotland canoe slalom athlete turned coach. Sport afforded me opportunities to travel and compete all across Europe and make international friends along the way. I started coaching whilst still competing as an U23 for Scotland as a means of giving back to the sport that gave me so much. I then joined the Project FLOW initiative with Slalom Inspires which gave me the boost I needed to pursue a career in coaching. Now I get to fulfil a coach's dream of journeying with athletes from grassroots all the way to the National Performance Team. I love canoeing and what I really want is for everyone to have the opportunity to share that feeling of being on the water.
