Forster and Cleator sign to Peak PS Team for 2026
We are incredibly excited to welcome a young duo to our UK slalom racing team for the 2026 season - Sophie Forster and Alex Cleator.
Sophie and Alex have been selected to represent Great Britain at the Junior World Championships Krakow, Poland and the European Championships in Epinal, France. Sophie will be competing in the C1W category, having just missed out on another full team spot in the K1 class during the selection series - where she qualified as a reserve. Alex will be contesting in two categories, K1M and C1M, after a thrilling selection series that left his team position to a winner-takes-all scenario on the final day.
Both Sophie and Alex have strong paddling heritage with both of their respective parents having been involved in competitive paddlesport at International level. After being exposed to the rapids of the local whitewater course, Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham there has been little stopping them in their progression through the UK slalom divisional system. Sophie is currently ranked 2nd in C1W and 6th place in the UK, whilst Alex is ranked 6th in K1 and 7th in C1M. Super impressive for J18 age category paddlers.
Last Tuesday Alex and Sophie travelled over to Peak PS HQ to not only collect their gear in preparation for their summer of competitions, have a tour of our factory and talk all things paddle gear over a cuppa tea, but also to join us on the water and share their knowledge to our aspiring group of slalom racers from Paddle Peak.
A session filled with questions, exploration and tail dipping was enjoyed by all. Our Paddle Peaksters were lucky enough to have a full session of the most up to date ‘how-to-do-slalom’ from the country’s leading junior paddlers - maybe in not so many years to come, one of the Paddle Peak group will find themselves in Sophie & Alex’s position...?
Find out more about Sophie and Alex in their Peak PS team profiles.
U23 / Jnr World Champs info HERE
U23 / Jnr European Champs info HERE
