Glasgow Taxis presented Kevin Yost with a £200 cheque to help him on his way to the Special Olympics in Shanghai this month.

Kevin (38), who is deaf, attends the Hayfield Deaf Unit in Gorbals’ Moffat Street. He will be competing as a member of the British team in the 200m and the 500m individual kayak events in China. A double-gold medal winner in last year’s Special Olympics in Glasgow, he has also won medals in Milan at the 2002 European Championships.

Said Kevin, ‘I’m desperate to go and I’m hoping to win. I’m very happy, but I’m also a little nervous!’

He has attended the Hayfield Day Centre for seven years and has been rowing for 15 years, training twice a week at Glasgow Green. In the past two months he has also been weight lifting to improve his fitness.

Kevin Deane, Sales and Marketing manager at Glasgow Taxis, said, ‘We’re proud to support Kevin in his trip to Shanghai and we wish him the best of luck. We’ll all be rooting for him.’ Kevin raised the cash required for the two-week trip through an appeal to businesses the Hayfield Deaf Unit regularly deals with. The day centre has an account with Glasgow Taxis.

Hayfield manager Robert Reid said, ‘We’re really pleased for Kevin and wish him all the best. It’s great to see someone like him in the spotlight. He’s a hero with all the people here. We all took a day off to watch him compete last year but I couldn’t manage a week off to go to Shanghai!’