Canoeing's Blackwell honoured for going above and beyond in the face of Covid
The British Canoeing team manager who contained a Covid outbreak at the World Championships has been recognised with an award from UK Sport, writes Sportsbeat's Tom Harle.
Fieke Blackwell, the manager of Britainâs successful slalom squad, was the voice on the end of the phone when three paddlers caught the virus at their biggest event of the year.
Blackwellâs job was to keep unaffected athletes safe, re-organise rooms, co-ordinate travel schedules and get the athletes who tested positive back on the water as soon as possible.
She was able to do just that and Britain rallied to produce five medals on the whitewater in Augsburg, Germany, finishing third in the medal table.
âWe had a lot of knowledge and experience of managing Covid but it really came at the worst possible time," said Blackwell, whose work is powered by National Lottery funding.
It takes a village to raise an athlete.
This is the power of the collective.
đ„@Joelanetkd1998, @GBTaekwondo
đčLola Tambling, @SkateboardGB
đ„@BruceMouat, @BritishCurling #PLx2022 pic.twitter.com/kj5MMn4gTOâ UK Sport (@uk_sport) November 29, 2022
âIt made it even more difficult that I wasnât actually on the ground with the team at the time of the outbreak. I had to manage it all remotely and it was tough to understand the full picture.
âThe three people all had breakfast together and shared the same car but you donât quite know where itâs coming from, there was always that fear in the back of your mind.
âItâs all one big puzzle to consider but I am proud of the way we managed it and that our medal potential wasnât affected too much.â
It was a feat of creative planning and communication that earned Blackwell the Support Staff prize at UK Sportâs PLx Awards, recognising outstanding contributions to the high-performance community.
Blackwell said: âItâs very nice to be recognised.
Support staff award
đ Fieke Blackwell from @BritishCanoeing
Canoe slalom team manager is pivotal to the team; her energy, passion and solution focus attitude has played a big part in the team being able to win 32 major international medals in the last 12 months đ«#PLx2022 pic.twitter.com/xwYn2q9Da3â UK Sport (@uk_sport) November 29, 2022
âI feel like I get a lot of recognition from people at British Canoeing for what I do but for a few more people to know about it, itâs really cool. Itâs nice not to go unnoticed!â
At least next yearâs World Championships will be slightly closer to home for Blackwell and company.
Londonâs Lee Valley Whitewater Centre will stage the 2023 edition of the Championships, a key Olympic qualifier, from 19-24 September
She said: âWe are already working hard to make sure itâs the best possible Championships for the athletes themselves.
âThere are lots of things we can suggest for the athletes in general and also how we can make it work for the British team.â
The PLx awards are organised by UK Sport, the nationâs high-performance experts. Through strategic leadership and investment of National Lottery and Government funds, UK Sport has transformed high-performance sport, winning more Olympic and Paralympic medals than ever before. For more information visit https://www.uksport.gov.uk/