A national kayak champion has paid tribute to DSU’s support in funding his career.
A national kayak champion has paid tribute to DSU’s support in funding his career.
Ricky Millar is a second year Mechatronics student at De Montfort University as well as both UK under 23 and BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) kayak champion, and has thanked DSU’s Sports Development team for their ongoing support.
Originally from Nottingham, Ricky is a member of Nottingham Kayak Club – based at the National Water Sports Centre – and says a lot of his funding will go towards travel costs.
“I do so much travelling backwards and forwards between Leicester and Nottingham so the money will really help,” he said.
“Sometimes I can’t train because of exams or whatever but sometimes my uni work has to get put on hold because of my training!”
And Ricky’s training doesn’t stop when he’s not on the white water course.
“A lot of my fitness is paddling on a flat river,” he explained. “Then through the winter I am trying to do three gym sessions a week for strength and fitness. Right now I only have one rest day a week.”
Ricky competes in both sprint and white water events – with his UK championship coming on the ‘rough stuff’ and his BUCS title coming in the K1 Sprint Canoe category.
However, of the two disciplines, only sprint is an Olympic event. White water is represented in the specialist slalom discipline. Ricky said: “A couple of people I know have gone on to compete at the Olympics.
“Tim Brabants has three Olympic medals – including a gold at Beijing – and we picked up a couple in 2004.
“In 2012 we got medals in both sprint and slalom so it’s definitely something you can go on and do.”
Ricky’s story comes hot of the heels of the story of Ricky’s triple world champion housemate Maddison Moore – another DSU BUCS champion – who is also funded by the sports development team. You can read Maddison’s story here.
To find out more about sport at DSU, click here.