Lincolnshire2012

[divingbrit]

We are deeply saddened to confirm the fatality of nineteen year old canoe slalom athlete Simon Fletcher. Simon was training on the stretch of river ahead of a canoe slalom race this weekend.

Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with his family and friends at their tragic loss.

Our thoughts are also with his fellow training athletes, the coaches and the canoeing community who are shocked and upset.



Simon Fletcher was a fantastic character who died in a tragic accident at the Grandtully slalom course on Wednesday 7th April 2010, at the age of 19.

If it can be any consolation, he died doing the thing he loved, with a group of people he loved, including his twin brother Matt.

Sim was a bit of a clever lad, and was just about to complete his first year of his Engineering Degree at Northumbria University.

The thing that defined Sim was his passion for canoeing. His first love had always been polo, the sport that he had excelled at, recently making it into the British reigning World Champion Under 21 team. He was about to compete in his first major international tournament for his country, alongside his brother, in a couple of weeks time. He has also been a key player at club level, helping the Tees Tigers A-team make it through to playoffs for promotion to the top division.

Over the past year, Sim has concentrated a little more on the "canoe" bit of canoe polo, (as he had focussed on the "polo" bit for quite some time!) taking up slalom. He had high aspirations here too, much preferring to judge at prem races all over the country than competing at the more local div threes. He would always use the line, "well if I don't get promoted, it'll be easier to get on the interclubs team!"

Up at Tully he had put in some solid performances judging at the Pan Celtic and on the Monday, he gained his first 1000 points of the season.

Sim was an outgoing character and despite being a recent addition to the slalom community, he was fast becoming a familiar face. He also made a massive contribution to his club, being keen to get involved with both coaching the youngsters as well as helping out at events.

He will greatly missed by his family, his friends, his team-mates, everyone at Tees Tigers and anyone who has had the pleasure to meet him.