Hepburn spreading the word for his beloved sport

Back in December, Brandon Hepburn set his sights on one day representing Great Britain in a kayak at the Olympic Games.

Now, nearly six months later, the 14-year-old from Hurley has moved a step closer to achieving that aim after being selected for the junior GB squad for the first time.

The trouble now though is that kayaking is not an Olympic sport, so if Hepburn is to achieve his goal he must help to promote the sports appeal.

“We need to progress the sport on and on,” said Hepburn, who trains five times a week near his house at Hurley Weir.

“We need to try and make the sport bigger and get it into the Olympics.

“We have to recruit younger people and get more countries involved.

“I tell my friends at school that they should come and try it out.”

Since his selection for the GB squad, achieved at the GBR Select event on his home weir, Hepburn has been training harder than ever before and travelling around Europe to train.

“I had my first training session in Wales where I met the seniors,” he said. “We’re training for the Worlds in August.

“I’ve got loads of new moves, new fitness schedule and I’m travelling to new places - I just got back from training in France.”