ONE of the driving forces behind Bradford’s Dragonboat Festival has been appointed a coach of the national team.

John Galt, who is an occupational safety adviser at Bradford Council in his day job, has been appointed a coach of the Great Britain Under 24s Dragonboat Team.

Over the past five years, he has played an integral part in the organisation and planning of the Bradford Dragonboat Festival, the largest festival of its kind in the UK.

He will take up his role in the youth set up of the national team, as they build towards the World Championships in Thailand in August 2019, and said he plans to ramp up recruitment in Bradford to build a championship winning squad.

Mr Galt said: “I have been invited to work in the GB Youth set-up and I’m involved in coaching the Under 24s team.

“This is a category that despite lots of good endeavour and tremendous effort by some talented and dedicated individuals, has not come to fruition and represented Great Britain at any championships.

“We wish to rectify this. My plan is to recruit right here in Bradford and West Yorkshire as a whole to put this squad together to go to the World Championships in Thailand.”

Mr Galt has collected a full-sized racing boat that will be housed near Roberts Park, and recruitment is set to start soon to bring young people into training to try and turn them into world champion athletes.

A recent training day was held for more than 20 teenagers from the district with the GB u18s coaching team, and despite many of the youngsters never having been in a boat before they impressed the national coaches, and most attended recent trials for the national team.

The u18s have enjoyed major success in the past decade, collecting around 48 medals at world and European championships, and it is hoped Bradford’s young people can carry on this success.

Mr Galt has been involved with the Bradford Dragonboat Festival since its inception and has seen it grow to a multi-day festival that is one of the highlights of the year in the district, with thousands of people attending the event and hundreds taking part.

Over the past five years, it has raised thousands of pounds for the charities supported by the Lord Mayor’s Appeal, such as young people’s mental health charity Young Minds and the Down Syndrome Training and Support Service.

He said: “As you can see, the journey we started with a simplistic idea of raising funds, using dragonboats, is now spawning so many wonderful things that will create life changing experiences for so many and a whole host of new and exciting stories in the future.”

Young people who wish to sign up to race dragonboats are asked to email john.galt@bradford.gov.uk