Lanner Consultant Represents GB in World Championships

Lanner Consultant Stuart West is heading to the Marathon World Championships to represent Great Britain

At Lanner we always recognise the achievements of our staff, both at work and in their personal lives. That is why I am very proud to announce that Lanner consultant Stuart West is taking part in the Marathon World Championships in Rome on the 23rd September.

Stuart will be representing Great Britain in the K2, double Kayak, with fellow Worcester Canoe Club member, Jonny Tye. The race is over 30km and will see 40-50 Nations competing in the event, with each Nation allowed 2 boats per category.

Stuart and Jonny were selected for the event following their win at the British National Marathon championships in K2 at Norwich on the 26thAugust.

Stuart is no stranger to competing and in 2011 he awarded the title of ‘Senior Male Sports Personality of the Year’ at Worcester City’s Annual Sports Awards, recognising his continued commitment and success to his sport.

Stuart started kayaking when he was 11 years old, and since then his sporting career has seen many highlights. When he was just 16, Stuart was selected to join the Junior National Team which saw him compete for Great Britain several times, as well as win the Junior European Championships.

Stuart took a break from the sport for a time; however once he joined Lanner and moved to Worcester he again started Kayaking, this time with the Worcester Canoe Club. Since then Stuart has again competed for Great Britain, this time in International Marathon events. Stuart continued to complete in both National and International events and since 2007 he has been undefeated in all distances at the National Championship Races. 2007 saw another highlight in Stuarts career when he won the ‘Over 35 World Marathon Championships’; he went on to take third place in the same event in 2009.

2010 was a strong year for Stuart, with him progressing into the over 40’s category where he won all events in the UK as well as the Over 40’s World Marathon Championship. He also proved that experience is a major advantage when he beat the times set by the younger age groups!

As well as competing, Stuart is also involved in the sport in other ways. Since 2008 he has been the Chairman of Worcester Canoe Club and he is also on the British Marathon Racing Committee.

Stuart has worked incredibly hard to get where he is today and I, along with the rest of the Lanner team, would like to wish Stuart all the best in Rome!!