Llangollen company's kayaks in Olympics spotlight

Aug 11 2008 By David Simister

A LLANGOLLEN firm is going for gold at this month’s Beijing Olympics by crafting the kayaks used by one of Britain’s best athletes.

Nomad Composite Designs, a kayak and canoe manufacturer based on the banks of the River Dee in the town, has created the craft UK hopeful Campbell Walsh and Czech contender Stepanka Hilgertova will be competing in at the Summer Olympics in China.

"I would say that Campbell and Stepanka both have a very good chance in Beijing because the top paddlers in the world are European so they’ve already beaten the top paddlers" said Nomad spokesman Jim McConnachie.

"We make very light boats, very stiff boats and they perform faster than anyone else - they have very good running speed. We get a lot of people coming to us simply because we build the boats that their heroes paddle."

Both Walsh and Hilgertova follow on from fine form from this year’s European Championships, where they both won gold medals using Nomad kayaks.

The Brit and his Czech counterpart are hot tips for the men's’ and women's’ K1 classes at the 2008 Olympics, where competitors from Chile, Nigeria and host nation China are also using canoes made by the Denbighshire company.

Nomad, formed four years ago, says its success comes from building its 3.5 metre kayaks from scratch, in comparison to competitors who modified longer designs. The firm are hoping that its kayaks will boost the chances of success for Walsh.

"He’s got ultimate confidence in himself and that’s what wins races at the end of the day."