John Gregory | @gregiej | Sportscene -  Of Great Britain’s seven Olympic canoe slalom medals four have been from Scottish athletes. OK; albeit, with help from England’s Etienne Stott & Richard Hounslow! Indeed, at the Beijing Olympics all three Team GB canoe slalom athletes were from Scotland.

In Scotland’s strive for independence there are many as yet truly unexplored implications. The residents of Scotland will vote in September whether to break off from the remainder of Great Britain and United Kingdom. This would require Scotland to seek its own status as a nation with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). If this was in time for the Rio Olympics in 2016, would any former Scottish canoe slalom Olympians be tempted to return from retirement should Scotland became an independent IOC nation?

Young & Munroe were Britain’s first canoe slalom medallists from Scotland with gold in C2 Team together with Joce/ Owen & Jamieson/ Williams at the ’81 Bala Worlds. This was followed by Jim Dolan at the ’83 Merano Worlds with gold in K1M Team, together with Richard Fox and the late Paul McConkey. There has been a steady stream thereafter, including seven Olympians; Mark Delaney C1M, Stewart Pitt & Craig Brown C2, Campbell Walsh K1M, David Florence C1M, Tim Bailie C2 and Fiona Pennie K1W.

So in the World of canoe slalom does Scotland have a secret formula?

Athens K1M silver medallist, Campbell Walsh highlighted; “It seems like Scotland has managed to produce a few outstanding individuals rather than a constant conveyer belt of talent. “ World C1 number 1 athlete, David Florence agrees; “There has been a good structure for bringing athletes on in the sport at a junior level and we have been fortunate that some individuals with the potential to excel at world level have come into the sport. A number of individual people working at club level as volunteers have been pivotal to the successes of our Scottish Olympic medallists have had.” Scotland own former GB Canoeing coach, Kev McHugh backs this up saying; “A Golden generation, the sport came to them at the right time.”

While participating in Scotland has continued to increase with an unprecedented number of Scottish paddlers gaining promotion through the divisions, there is an inherent relationship south of the border. For many aspiring British slalom athletes the journey up to the double Tully (Grandtully) April races have a special thrill and mystique. However, many of the canoe slalom venues, coaching staff and sport funding is centred in the English or Welsh centres such as Lee Valley, Nottingham or Bala. What would the ramification be on an independent Scotland? The funding stream would change for certain. Maybe in preparation a number of Scottish athletes have been proposed for sportscotland institute of sport support in 2014.

Both Campbell & Fiona Pennie, current European K1W champion, came from CRCATS in the central region David Florence captured why CR CATS has been one of the most sustained and successful clubs in British canoe slalom; “Largely due to the work of CR CATS coach Johnny Brown, who has worked tirelessly to bring young people into the sport and support them through their development, and the other volunteers working with the club.” McHugh added that Johnny has provided; “inspirational leadership.… a good mid-week facility with the right balance between technical demands of water and hard physical effort for developmental paddlers.” Campbell adds; “Johnny Brown at CR Cats had a massive impact on my generation of Scottish paddlers, and he continues to do so today. He created a strong high performance environment and promoted an ethos of hard work both at the club and in the junior national squad. Johnny is passionate about the sport and devoted a huge amount of his personal time to helping young paddlers. Whilst growing up at home, Mark Delaney was the only Scot on the GB senior team. It was always inspiring to have him around for the occasional training day at Grandtully. Now, David Florence inspires me to aim high, seize the day and believe in doing things my own way. His commitment and work rate is incredible.” When asked many of our Team GB athletes say they feel as much British as they do Scottish and have been very proud to represent Team GB.

Scotland has now joined those nations with an artificial whitewater course with the completion of the Pinkston Basin course in Glasgow earlier this year. Florence commented; “To have an artificial whitewater course in one of our large cities is very significant. It will hopefully allow us to get more young people into the sport, as it is much closer to a large population base than the current training sites.” There is an impressive pace of work progressing across Scotland including the formal start of their new Performance programme. In 2013, Alice Haining and Michael Brown were selected for GB U23 team and Rachel Houston, Eilidh Gibson, Lauren Strickland and Bradley Forbes-Cryans made the GB Junior team with Bradley’s excellent 4th at the Junior Worlds in K1M.

The debate will progress until the final vote among the residents of Scotland on September 18th. In the meantime, for sportscotland institute of sport it remains business as usual. Sportscene will be quick to report the outcome and reaction.