Frome canoe club paddler Aimee Collins has been selected to represent Great Britain as part of the junior team in the women's single canoe class. The 18 year old first started training with the club when she was 10.

Aimee who is in 6th form at Gryphon School in Sherborne said : "Ever since I saw my sister paddling I thought it looked a fun thing to do, as I got better, I started competing in canoe slalom. It is a great sport because it is both exhilarating and challenging. We race on a course of up to 25 gates which are set on a rapid, every time we compete it is a different course and the white-water challenges are always different."

Canoe slalom is an Olympic discipline, Aimee competed on the 2012 Olympic white-water course at Lee Valley over the Easter Weekend to earn her place on the team.

Aimee will represent Great Britain at the Junior European championships, which are being held in July in Bratislava, Slovakia she will then go on to compete at the Junior World Championships which this year are taking place in Krakow, Poland In August.

Club chairman and coach Chris Wilde said: "We are all immensely proud of Aimee's achievements, she is a great role model to the younger paddlers at the club. Aimee trains hard, she shows great commitment to her sport and when she is not training she coaches the other paddlers.

What is special is that at Frome we only have a flat water river, so for Aimee to reach such a high standard in a white-water sport is a mark of the hard work she puts in and the success of Frome Canoe Club in coaching your paddlers.

We will all be watching her racing very closely, everyone at Frome Canoe Club wish her every success. "

Frome canoe club is based in Market Yard in the centre of Frome, next to the Cheese & Grain. They offer paddle sport activity including canoeing, kayaking and paddle boarding to anyone from eight years old upwards. To find out more visit their website.