Two sons of a Perthshire farmer have been selected for Team GB in the sport of wild water canoe racing.
Sandy, 18, and Wills Fotheringham, 16, started in slalom at Strathallan canoe club about five years ago but progressed to wild water canoeing “because it is more exciting”.
They have both now been chosen to represent Britain at the World Cup series this year.
Sandy competes in kayaking and has been selected for the under 23 pre-worlds in Austria in July but he has also been selected for the senior team for the World Cup series in Slovenia and France in June.
Wills competes in the Canadian canoeing discipline and, despite his young age, has been selected for the under 23 pre-worlds and is first reserve for the seniors. He will also be representing GB at the junior European championships in July.
Wild water racing is not an Olympic sport yet, with slalom the only discipline taking place in Rio.
Nonetheless the boys’ mum, Vanessa, said: “Sandy and Wills are really dedicated to the sport and have worked hard, training five days a week, to get to this level so it is great that their efforts, and those of their coach, Paul Anderson, have been recognised by selection.”
Both boys like nothing better than to work on the family farm, which is run by dad Billy.
They farm 750 acres organically at Bankhead, Forteviot, where they grow spring cereals and beans and run 60 suckler cows and 750-800 Cheviot mule ewes. They also contract farm 100 acres conventionally for Billy’s mum at Craighall.
Sandy is currently studying for his national certificate in engineering at Perth College before taking up a place at Hartpury College in Gloucestershire to study agriculture.
He said: “I chose Hartpury because I can combine my love of farming with an elite sports set-up so I can keep up my canoeing.”
Wills is still at Auchterarder High School but loves helping out with the stock on the farm.
The boys are trying to raise funds for their trips abroad through a Justgiving crowdfunding page.
Sandy said: “We would like to raise about £4,000 each to enable us to travel to all the events and also to fund second boats for each of us. The boats cost about £1,500 each but if we damage one during a race, there is no time to repair it and unless we could swap into a second boat we would be disqualified.”
