By Rosalind Gibb

Last updated at 15:31, Friday, 05 March 2010

The mountains surrounding Derwentwater are snowcapped and the trees lining the road through Portinscale glitter with frost.

Lisa Suttle

But on this fine, blue-skied day there is also warm – warm! – sunshine. It adds a spring-is-coming cheer to the air, as does Lisa Suttle’s beaming smile.

And she has every reason to be feeling bright and breezy: it turns out that just the night before the canoe maestro – a double medal winner in sprint canoe at the 2009 world championships – had been out on the lake for the first in months.

“It’s still getting dark at about six but I had my boat and my kit here and went out for half an hour. It was flat, calm and it was amazing!” grins Lisa, who also works as water sports manager at Derwentwater Marina.

Lack of access to the lake hasn’t meant a break in training though; over the winter months Lisa has to put in plenty of work to keep in optimum shape for the sprint canoe season, which runs from April to September.

Sprint canoe is the 29-year-old’s specialism. A flatwater – as opposed to slalom – discipline, competitors race on a straight course.

They use a single-blade paddle, sit on one knee, and paddle on one side solo (known as C1) or with a partner (known as C2, where each paddles either side).

At first sight it’s an odd, rather noble-looking position to assume and beginners would find it hard just to keep upright and go in a straight line.

At Lisa’s level, a combination of incredible speed, balance, endurance and power is required to race along distances of 200m and 500m (at international level the distance of 1000m is open to men only).

Her long, narrow blue boat measures just 10 inches in width, allowing absolutely no room for error.

“It’s all on one side so you do a J-stroke,” says Lisa, demonstrating with her paddle.

“As you bring it back you twist and push back. I use my body and foot and lean the boat to steer. It takes a hell of a lot to steer it.

“With kayaking you have a rudder by your feet but with canoeing it is all down to how you are.”

At the International Canoe Federation World Championships in Nova Scotia last year, Lisa came sixth in the C1 500m event and with her racing partner Sam Rippington won a silver medal in the C2 500m event and a bronze medal in the C2 200m event.

These were the only medals won by the Great Britain team and Lisa and Sam – who lives in Reading – are the only two British women performing at this top level.

“We met at a regatta three and a half years ago, the partnership is really, really good.

“It’s fun and we just seem to click. We were so surprised to win medals at the world championships. We didn’t expect it at all, we put our applications in on the off-chance and all the top women from other countries were there.”

The results gave Lisa a huge boost and she says she hopes this year to be selected for the world cup in May and the world championships in August.

Lisa has been paddling competitively for 15 years. “When I was 13 I saw kayaking and thought, I want to try that. So I started out kayaking then, four years ago, tried sprint canoe.

“I found I really liked the sprinting side and got a buzz out of it. Since I got in my first boat I’ve never looked back. I just thought it was fascinating but also I’m very competitive so I wanted to do well in it.

“It’s my third attempt at a sport, there was the kayaking and before that county level swimming.”

Lisa moved from her native Essex to Keswick six years ago after getting work as an instructor at the marina.

She teaches canoeing, kayaking, sailing and windsurfing.

“I love teaching here especially with kids. If they’ve never done a sport before it’s great to see them enjoying it and afterwards wanting to carry on and do more.”

Lisa is five-foot-two but what she lacks in height she makes up for in brawn, and effortlessly lifts her 17-foot long boat over her shoulder and heads down to the pier.

She explains that she started off in a wider boat than the one she uses now.

“You start in a wider and more stable one, but the slimmer they are the faster they go so you build up until you can go smoothly.”

Lisa’s gruelling training schedule involves two to three hours training six days a week. During the summer much of that would be on the water, but she has a paddle machine at home for winter and also uses weights, runs, cycles and swims.

“I always paddle on my right hand side so I get a lot of physio because, yes, basically it’s the wrong position for a human being to be in! I do exercise like running and cycling to even it up and make it equal on both sides.

“Today the conditions are ideal but you go training in any weather because conditions at competitions can be treacherous, you just don’t know.

“When the weather is decent I go afloat six days a week, but the lake has been frozen until now. I have a paddle machine at home and do one to one-and-a-half hours on it.

“Not being able to go out on the water is amazingly frustrating but over winter I went to a training camp in Portugal.

“I’m water sports manager and it’s a full-time job but I need time off with the amount of training I do so I am lucky to have a really helpful and supportive boss.”

Lisa follows a training programme but she doesn’t have a coach year-round and says it can occasionally be difficult to motivate herself.

“Sometimes it’s difficult but I have a supportive partner and friends who will give me stick if I don’t do it!”

Relaxation mostly takes the form of different sports: Lisa has been trying out paragliding – her partner Pete used to race in paragliding – and over winter there was skiing and snowboarding.

“I also went to Thailand for three weeks, not for training but just to relax. You have to have a break, take some time out otherwise it would get too repetitive if it’s the same old stuff. But once the three weeks up I was itching to get back to it!”

Lisa is fired up for the 2010 season, especially since the women’s C1 200m has now been added to the World Championship programme as a medal event (rather than an exhibition event).

That was only decided last year, and after years of uneven representation of the sexes this is a significant sign of progress.

Canoe/Kayak is the last summer Olympic sport which does not offer the same events for women and men in sprint and slalom disciplines.

“I am more determined than ever to promote this sport for women that has for too long been a domain solely for men,” says Lisa.

“We are fighting to get it right. At festivals we try to get more women involved, and to get women just to come and try it.

“Because there’s not as many women we’ve been training with men who are younger and faster than us. It can be a bit soul destroying and I’m looking forward to seeing the girls again this year.”

Another obstacle is funding. Lisa is sponsored by Derwentwater Marina and has had some financial support locally, but the fees and travel costs to competitions run into the thousands.

She’s now set up her own website – www.lisasuttle.com – which she hopes will attract sponsors.

“We paid for our travel and expenses to Canada all by ourselves. I just save up each year and my parents are very supportive, in fact they’re my biggest fans.

“Because of my age no-one wants to touch me. I’m seen as too old – 36 is seen as the maximum age, although there was one lady at the world championships who was in her 40s.

“But I’m hoping that with the level we’re at we might attract some sponsorship.”

Whatever happens, Lisa knows where her passion lies, and she plans to keep getting stronger and faster for as long as possible.

“I have this drive and just I couldn’t see me doing anything else,” she adds.

First published at 14:14, Friday, 05 March 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk