Paul Thorburn and Barbara Beedham announced as the key volunteers providing the strategic lead to major a Welsh based event.
The World’s best slalom canoeists will compete in a World Cup at Cardiff International White Water in June 2012. The event will be one of the last major events to be held in the UK for an Olympic Sport prior to the London 2012 Olympic Games. The event organisers are promising a fantastic event and a great spectacle.
There is a great deal of planning and hard work to be done in the preparation for this competition and good governance is a key feature in the minds of all those involved. The British Canoe Union and Canoe Wales are pleased to announce that Paul Thorburn and Barbara Beedham have been appointed as the event steering group’s Chair and Vice Chair.
Former Wales rugby captain Paul Thorburn was the Tournament Director of the hugely successful 1999 Rugby World Cup that took place in Wales. Paul is a current board member with Sport Wales, and is the Managing Director of his own business consultancy firm. He brings a wealth of experience to the event and its management team having held a number of key strategic and commercial roles within Rugby and the wider business sector.
Barbara Beedham has over 25 years experience in Local Government as a senior officer. Accustomed to managing multimillion pound budgets, Barbara was responsible for the strategic and operational delivery of leisure and play services in Cardiff and a board member and chair of a Core Group of the Children and Young People’s Partnership.
Paul Thorburn commented “I was naturally delighted to take up the opportunity with Canoe Wales and BCU and look forward to working with them to deliver a successful World Cup in 2012. This event provides Wales with another opportunity to show the World what it is capable of and I hope that my previous event management experience of Rugby World Cup 1999 will prove invaluable”
Barbara Beedham said of her appointment "I am very pleased to be involved in this World Cup Championship which is a first for Cardiff. It promises to be a very exciting event and I hope that by holding it here many people will be encouraged to have a go at canoeing."
Richard Harvey C.E.O of Canoe Wales and Steering Group member said “We are delighted to have attracted two such high calibre people to help us plan and deliver the 2012 Cardiff World Cup. The event was heralded as an example of good practice and successful multiagency partnerships at the inaugural Event Wales International Conference which took place last week. These appointments reflect this statement and I have no doubt that the event will benefit from the leadership and guidance that Paul and Barbra will provide us. I look forward to learning from both of them and to the added value that they will certainly bring to the positions and programme”.