March 2021 - Del Likes Kayaking

In one week’s time I will be paddling flat water for 24 hours in order to raise money for Mind. When my friend James Ibbotson asked me to be part of this charity challenge at Christmas, I had very little flat water experience. The hour back up the Llangollen canal when paddling the river Dee is usually enough to remind me why I paddle whitewater and not flat water! So after saying yes to the challenge, I decided I quickly needed to establish a training plan to make sure I was prepared.

With offers of help from an overwhelming number of people, friends and strangers alike, I came up with a training plan. For the last 3 months I have tried my hardest to stick to that plan. In this article I want to outline everything I have done to go from being someone with minimal flat water experience to (hopefully) being able to paddle it for 24 hours next weekend!

Since he started kayaking 15 years ago Matt has developed into one of the UK’s most notoriously stylish paddlers and is affectionately referred to by friends as a ‘kayaking ninja’. Matt is well known for his love of downriver freestyle but also his expedition paddling. I’m still not sure which is cooler: the fact that Matt has paddled in remote Madagascar or that he once took a hand roll during the Green race.

Matt’s passion for the sport is infectious and he has combined his enthusiasm and his love of teaching to start a coaching business to help others to progress their skills in the sport, specialising in his favourite discipline – downriver freestyle. In this article, Matt discusses his approach to coaching and how you can make the most of your coaching sessions.