Categories
Trips

Having fun on the water at Park Jam 2024!

For UK and Irish paddlers, October brings with it an exciting couple of weeks as the Park Jam events series runs. Park Jam is organised by Pyranha Kayaks and Palm Equipment in an effort to bring people together for some fun on the water. The aim of the Parkjam tour is to inspire the next generation of paddlers across the UK. It’s a chance for kids to paddle with and be inspired by the Palm and Pyranha teams, and hear from them about their latest adventures. Over the course of 3 weeks, team paddlers from both Pyranha and Palm tour white water courses across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Paddlers are encouraged to come and join them for some fun on the water, with the opportunity to then hear from and meet those paddlers afterwards.

I was involved with some of the Park Jam dates in 2023 and was thrilled to get involved again in 2024. Life has been a little busy lately but I managed to join for 4 out of 9 of the dates and had a great time during those events. I am sure there will be blog posts aplenty from team paddlers in the coming weeks to share a more official account but here is mine if you wanted to hear it!

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Categories
Mind set

The impact of ‘Imposter Syndrome’ as a kayaker

Have you ever noticed that it is often seen that the ‘experts’ in a sport that have far more self doubts that the ‘beginners’? I have developed as a kayaker hugely since I first sat in a kayak 10 years ago. Yet the better I got at kayaking, the more self conscious I became about it. I have really struggled with feelings of imposter syndrome over the last few years and in the last few weeks especially I have been considering this topic more deeply.

This article, like many of my blog articles, has been a way to help me process my thoughts and feelings on the matter. If reading this helps you to process your own feelings – even better! A little warning that this article is very personal and really quite long! If you want to skip to my ‘top tips for dealing with imposter syndrome’ section I really won’t be offended. You can do so by clicking this link.

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Categories
Freestyle

Behind the scenes of Euro Open 2024!

Euro Open, a freestyle kayaking focused event, took place here in Nottingham at the start of September. James ‘Ibbo’ Ibbotson first set up the event many years ago and it has long been a successful kayaking weekend which combined the British Freestyle Championships alongside some fun novice paddling events. This year, River Legacy took over the running of the event, alongside GB Freestyle . My lovely husband Tom is one of River Legacy’s more active volunteers and so ended up taking on most of the organisation of Euro Open. Naturally that meant I got signed up into running it as well!

This article is here to tell you all about how that went! I have written this blog from my perspective as someone who was involved in both running the event and participating in it. This is not as ‘official’ Euro Open blog account and so please accept my very biased account of Euro Open 2024!

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Categories
General

River Legacy – The charity that helps people in paddlesports

River Legacy is a charity which provides funding for causes within paddlesports in England and Wales. They support numerous paddling events and in doing so are able to raise these funds. Everyone involved in River Legacy is a volunteer and there is a huge amount of work that goes on behind the scenes. I wanted to write an article to raise awareness of who River Legacy are and what exactly it is that they do.

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Categories
Trips

Charity Challenge – Kayaking the Great Glen Canoe Trail!

On Monday the 12th of August 2024, I set off on a challenge to kayak the Great Glen Canoe Trail. This is a ‘coast to coast’ of Scotland, a journey along the Caledonian Canal and a series of Lochs from Fort William all the way to Inverness. It is 60 miles in total and took me 3 days to complete. In the process, I used the challenge to raise some funds for Lochaber Mountain Recuse Team, who are based in Fort William. Carry on reading if you would like to hear more about this adventure!

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Categories
Freestyle

The GB Freestyle Academy Camp – 2024!

Another Summer, another wonderful week here in Nottingham with the GB freestyle academy camp! 35 young paddlers aged 12-17 travelled from all over the country to spend a week at Holme Pierrepont white water course. They came to develop their freestyle kayaking under the guidance of 6 of the best freestyle coaches in the world! We had a really brilliant week and this article is here to tell you all about it!

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General

My top 10 lessons learned after a decade of kayaking

I had just turned 20 years old when I flew to New Zealand to live there for a year. I was determined to make the most of such an incredible opportunity and say yes to every new experience offered whilst I was there. Which is how I found myself signing up to an introduction to kayaking pool session with Auckland Univeristy Canoe Club. A year later and having taken many swims out of a kayak on the rivers of New Zealand, my visa ran out and I had to return to the UK. I moved back to Nottingham and was delighted to find out that Nottingham had it’s very own white water course and quickly signed myself up as a member.

Since that first pool session in Auckland, I have been obsessed with kayaking ever since. I have spent countless hours out on the water over the last decade, improving in my skillset and gaining experience in that environment. I recently celebrated my 30th birthday and realised that I had been kayaking for 10 years now! I have learned a lot of lessons in that time and I wanted to share my ‘top 10 lessons learned’ with you in this article.

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Categories
Trips

Tryweryn Festival 2024

Tryweryn Festival (fondly known as T-fest) has to be one of my absolute favourite white water events on the calendar. Quality white water time, fun well organised events and plenty of time to catch up with old friends and make new ones! I’ve just got back from this year’s T-fest and once again am struck by what a brilliant weekend it has been! This article is a summary of the highlights of T-fest 2024!

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Categories
ShePaddles

ShePaddles white water festival at the Tryweryn 2024

Last weekend was the ShePaddles white water festival at the Tryweryn and I was lucky enough to be part of it! There were an amazing 52 women signed up as participants and they were joined by an array of talented coaches and organisers. It was a really brilliant weekend and I was thrilled to be asked to attend on behalf of Pyranha Kayaks. I had such a good time that I wanted to write a blog article in order to tell people all about it!

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Categories
ShePaddles Trips

ShePaddles at Plas y Brenin 2024 – sunshine, smiles and inquisitive seals!

I was thrilled to be invited to Plas y Brenin‘s third ShePaddles event which ran on the 10th-12th May this year. This event first ran in 2022 after the lovely Katie Simmons came up with the idea. It was hugely successful and has been a highlight on my calendar ever since. The last two years had been beautiful sunny weekends full of fun and laughter and the 2024 event proved to be just as good. As I drove over to North Wales on the Friday evening, the Welsh mountains of Snowdonia were basked in sunshine and it was still beautifully warm. I arrived at Plas y Brenin (PyB) to an enthusiastic welcome and a delicious dinner from their restaurant. It promised to be another wonderful weekend.

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