John Gregory | @gregiej | Sportscene - Help Scotland’s canoe slalom Olympian Fiona Pennie make it to the pages of the 2015 #WomenInSport calendar. Vote here by November 1st http://goo.gl/dmXrSQ.

The calendar is designed firstly to raise the profile of women’s sport but also to highlight British female role models.  An editorial panel from Sports Liberated and the Women's Sports Network have cut down the nominations to a shortlist of 30, based upon the popularity of the nominations. One of those shortlisted is Fiona Pennie for her achievements in Canoe Slalom as European Champion in 2013 and a silver medallist at the World Championships in Deep Creek in 2014.  

“To be shortlisted alongside so many female World, Commonwealth, Winter Olympic and Paralympic stars of 2014 is a real honour.  It signifies the appreciation for my achievements over the last couple of years in what is still a relatively minor sport.  Being voted into the top 12, and therefore into the 2015 calendar, would be amazing as it highlights the sport of canoe slalom among the greater public”, says Pennie. “Women and girls may usually look to the mainstream sports in order to get active, but seeing this exciting sport may just encourage them to step into a boat with the Go Canoeing programme or other come-and-try-it schemes.  I’ve had many positive responses, particularly from women and girls, following talks that I have given to groups where I aim to inspire them to get active.  Let’s hope that this calendar will have a similar effect!” she added.  

Voting to cut the shortlist of 30 down to 12 individuals or teams for each month of the calendar is open until the 1st November.  Fiona’s appearance in the calendar on one of the months would really put Canoe Slalom on the map as a sport for women and girls to try.  It would also support the work that British Canoeing’s "Go Canoeing” programme are already doing.  Throughout September thousands of people within the UK nominated over 300 Sports Heroines for inclusion in the 2015 #WomenInSport Calendar.  

Pennie, 31, represented Great Britain at the Beijing Olympics. She has been a previous silver medallist at the 2006 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championship in Prague developing from a Junior World Championship bronze medallist in 2000. More recently, she became European Champion in 2013 and took a stunning silver at The Deep Creek Worlds.   In our Deep Creek Worlds review 'The French Connection', we described how Pennie had set a very high bar with a clear run that appeared immediately quick enough for a medal. She was very pleased to come away with World Championship silver. You can learn more about Fiona Pennie on her Facebook page or on Wikipedia. 

To vote for Fiona Pennie to appear in the calendar, visit the #WomenInSport voting page here: http://goo.gl/dmXrSQ.  Once you have voted you can also keep track of how the voting is going on this page.