Tryweryn Festival (T-fest) is one of my favourite annual kayaking events and one I try hard not to miss! A weekend which encompasses fun events, lots of kayaking and plenty of time to catch up with friends. This year saw the festival happen a little earlier at the start of the July. It’s a busy time of year for me hence why this write up is a little later than usual. If you were at T-fest this year, I hope you had as much fun as me. If not – perhaps reading this article will inspire you to get yourself a ticket for next year!
Friday night – arriving at the Tryweryn
I drove up from Nottingham with my lovely friends Tamsyn and David. I had been away during the week running an outdoor kids residential so was pretty exhausted and grateful to David for him driving. We arrived at the Tryweryn at 10:30pm in the pouring rain and so unfortunately missed the evening quiz. After saying hello to a few friends I decided to head to the campsite and go to bed. After weeks of warm weather, the drop in temperature and rain was actually quite nice! Tucked up in a sleeping bag with the sound of the rain to set me to sleep was blissful and I woke up the next morning feeling much better for it!
Saturday
Mass start & ramp start races
After breakfast and a chance to catch up with a few friends, it was time to sign up for the NRS mass start race. A mass start race is always good fun and the T-fest mass start is one of my favourites! The event is split into a women’s race and two men’s races. All competing paddlers start at the bottom of Ski Jump and paddle in the flow facing upstream. When the race starts, you then have to turn your kayak as quickly as possible and paddle down through the rapids all the way until rafters get out.
I really enjoy taking part in amateur white water races like this one. It gives you the chance to feel the thrill of a competition without being too serious about competing! I also very much enjoyed the safety briefing from head raft guide Sam prior to the race. Sam is a particularly dynamic demonstrator and there was no mistake of what we should do if we found ourselves out of our kayak during the race!
This year I was so exhausted after my week away that I just didn’t have much energy to put into it. I struggled at the start and ended up towards the back of the group. Never mind though – I always think with things like this it really is about the enjoyment of taking part! Which I very much did!
Once us ladies had finished and got out, we cheered the men’s races on. The men’s race is split into 2 waves just to reduce some of the carnage. The Tryweryn is quite rocky and notorious for giving some unpleasant beatdowns if you find yourself upside down or out of your kayak. Splitting the larger men’s category into 2 smaller waves helps to make sure that everyone has a good time.
The mass start finishing positions then determine which heat you go in for the ramp start races. NRS put up a huge wooden ramp for launching from across from rafters get out. You race in groups of 3 and this race starts by launching from the ramp into the water and race down through the rapids until the finish line. I remember doing it for the first time many years ago and being utterly terrified. As soon as I went however, I realised it was quite okay and actually good fun! Now I really look forward to it but remember how scary it can be for people who’ve not done it before.
The men’s heats went first and made for some great spectating! I really enjoyed the heat where speedy Toby Jones launched off the ramp, only to realise at the bottom that his paddles had been ripped from him by one of the trees! Luckily, he landed upright and was able to retrieve them. Even more amazingly he still went on to win his race! I also really enjoyed the men who decided they would launch backwards from the ramp. Their faces said they were terrified but they insisted they had fun!
When it came to my heat, I was racing against Kirsten and Emma. A few years ago I had written a guest blog where people shared their local heroes who inspired them. Kirsten had been nominated by her friend Stella who had put her name forward for being a total wonder woman on the water. It did not surprise me therefore when Kirsten absolutely destroyed me in our race!
Laps with friends & party wave
Feeling relieved that I didn’t have to carry my kayak up again for another race as I had been knocked out, I headed to the top of the river for some joy laps with friends instead. One of the lovely things about weekends like T-fest, is that there are plenty of events happening throughout the day if you wish to take part in them. However, you can also just go do some kayaking for you! I used to feel that I had to do every single activity on offer during weekend events. But now I realise it is actually really nice just to spend some time sharing laps with friends and having that opportunity to catch up with them.
I paddled for a couple of hours with various friends and had the best time. After such a busy week and morning, having that time just enjoying being on the water was blissful. We did paddle through Cafe Wave during the wave party competition.
Most of us in our group paddled on through and stayed out of the way… except for our friend Graham. Graham was enjoying a lap in his Ozone and decided to get involved in the competition by pirating a raft that came on through the wave. This was of course well received by the crowd and won him a shout out later during the prize giving.
I also really enjoyed the duo pair who bought a real guitar with them for their duo surfing!
Enduro Race
Palm Equipment run an enduro race which is best described as half an hour of competitive suffering. The race consists of paddling the entire Graveyard section, then running with your kayak back up to the top. You have half an hour to do as many laps as you can. Last year my lovely friend Janice at Palm, signed me up to compete in the Enduro race. I went slow but it was still hard. This year, my lovely friend Janice asked if I could help with the race by doing some timekeeping. I had been intended to race in the event but with the opportunity not to – I took it!
My role consisted of standing at the bottom of Graveyard and making a note of bib numbers as paddlers got out. Sounds easy right? Except for it’s a mass start to begin the race and that first lap or two is pretty chaotic. Luckily the lovely Sal Montgomery appeared! I had not been expecting to see Sal this weekend but she was able to join the event just in time for the start of the Enduro race and so could help me with the bib spotting.
Off they went! After the chaos of the first lap, people were more spaced out and it became easier to record them as they finished their half laps. There were quite a range of kayaks being used. Most had chosen some kind of half slice kayak, although many had opted for playboats too. The infamous Nick Wilson had even decided to go in a carbon Apex Ringer. A brave choice! If anyone knows the Tryweryn well enough to race a carbon kayak down it however, it would be Nick!
There were quite a few very serious paddlers who were very determined to win the race. Whilst most of the paddlers I knew to be ex-slalom athletes, there was one man I did not recognise. An Irish man by the name of Paul, paddling a playboat, was quietly and with full determination catching up with the top men with each lap. With 5 minutes to go, he was in second place behind a very speedy Barny and I was delighted to find out that he did in fact come first by the end of the 30 minutes!
During prize giving later that evening, Cheesy was describing his winning laps and was unable to stop himself from commenting on what a ‘unit’ this man was and encouraged the crowd to ‘look at the size of his thighs!’ as he came to collect his prize. I had a lovely chat with both Paul and his girlfriend later that evening. Paul did assure me that he hadn’t minded being objectified by the entire T-fest crowd and had quite enjoyed the appreciation! So if you want to win the Enduro race next year – maybe take a playboat!
Final laps and raft racing
By the time I’d added up the laps for the Enduro race and got back on the water, I found I had missed the Pyranha Kayaks Tailee Jam but did bump into some more friends and went for another fun lap. As we got to Cafe Wave, I heard my name called from the bank. It was my friend Ross reminding me that it was time for the raft racing!
Out I popped and joined the team River Legacy Volunteers Raft Racing Team. Myself, John, Katie, Patrick, Emily and Ross were all part of this team. Head raft guide Sam was our designated guide and we had a lovely time! Once we were appropriately kitted up, Sam led us through a land safety briefing. It was during the practice rescues that John found out just how strong Katie really was as she nearly broke his nose through the force with which she pulled him back into the raft. Luckily for John, he stayed in the raft during our practice and race laps of the Trwyeryn. I think if he had fallen out of the raft, he might have chosen to stay in the river rather than be rescued by Katie again!
Our laps were fun and I want to say a big thank you to Sam and all of his raft guides for running the raft racing. It is such a fun activity for everyone to have a go at and only happens thanks to the guides volunteering their time to make it happen. I know many paddlers later bought their guide a thank you beer at the party and that small token of thanks was very appreciated! Thank you to the wonderful raft guides of the Tryweryn!
Party and Tom’s birthday
After rafting, everyone got changed and headed to the marquee for dinner, prizes and the party. River Legacy support T-fest by proving the marquee and bar for the party. The volunteers who put the marquee up and down and run the bar, do so to help raise money for the charity. All money raised over the bar then goes towards supporting paddle sports. Last year, they were low on volunteers so I ended up serving on the bar most of the night. This year, there were plenty of volunteers however which meant I could just enjoy catching up with friends instead which was lovely! Thanks guys for your hard work!
After prizes were given out, the band set up and the party got started! It was Tom’s (my husband and River Legacy organiser) 30th birthday on Sunday and therefore I had made plans for when it turned midnight! Tom doesn’t like celebrating birthdays but they are important to me and I wanted to celebrate him. I teamed up with the other volunteers and head raft guide Sam to organise getting the crowd to sing him happy birthday at midnight. Sam and the other raft guides had wanted to get Tom a dirty pint to drink on stage in front of everyone. Tom doesn’t drink and I knew he would hate that but we compromised with the singing of happy birthday (and no dirty pint) instead!
I’ve got him a badge to wear and some birthday cupcakes and candles. Our friend Tamsyn had also decided to get a balloon arch which got blown up over the course of the evening. Midnight came and Sam announced to the crowd it was Tom’s birthday and a very raucous rendition of happy birthday was sung. This was followed by Tom being pulled into some kind of mosh pit by the large group of Irish paddlers near the front of the stage. Like a good wife, I left him to it of course and enjoyed the spectacle from the side lines.
Moments later, Tamsyn and David appeared with the balloon arch and tried to take it through the marquee. If you have ever tried to take a balloon arch through a crowd of drunk people before – you might know what happened next. Hours to blow up this balloon arch and it was destroyed in seconds. I’ve never seen so many balloons popped in so short a time. The crowd seemed to enjoy it though!
Luckily Tom got to keep him badge which I made him wear for the rest of the weekend. Happy 30th birthday Tom!
Sunday
Sunday is always quieter compared to the Saturday as people are slow to emerge following the party night. Luckily the marquee needed taking down so me and Tom were still up early! It was raining steadily in the morning and we had another breakfast date to start the day. It was nice to see more friends over breakfast, including lovely Sal, and catch up on their news.
I left Tom with the rest of the River Legacy team to start on the marquee take down and off I went paddling. I had the most enjoyable morning. It was quiet on the river and I was paddling by myself. I stopped to join in with two events – the infamous Palm throwbag Olympics and Matt Stephenson’s foamy boat race.
The throwbag Olympics involves throwing a throwline multiple times over / through obstacles in a race against others. Every year I think to myself to find a shorter throwline and every year I take my 20m rope and wonder why I lose! It is hilariously good fun though, especially with Cheesy cheering you on.
Matt’s foamy boat race is a race for small toy kayaks made out of foam on one of the side streams at the Tryweryn. It was a tough competition this year with several of the foamy kayaks excelling in both the race and the downriver freestyle! Emma Wilson’s entry did particularly well. An excellent spectator event if you get a chance to attend next year.
It had been lovely to catch up with Matt over the weekend. I had not seen him since Matt won gold in c1 men at the freestyle kayak world championships a few weeks earlier. I am ridiculously proud of my talented friend and it was lovely to be able to tell him so in person!
As well as seeing friends, what I really enjoyed the most on Sunday was the chance to kayak just for me. I had a couple of laps with friends on the Saturday, but Sunday I got in 4 or 5 laps just paddling by myself. I love being social but it was only after I got off on Sunday that I realised how much I had needed that time to myself to get fully immersed in the mindful joy of kayaking.
Life has felt very chaotic for the last few months; full of lots of wonderful things but not really with many opportunities to pause or to rest. The fact that this blog (which I can usually get written and published with an hour or two input) has taken my nearly a month to get written might give you an idea of how busy I have been! It was so therapeutic on that Sunday morning just to get lost in the joy of surfing waves and catching eddies. By the time the marquee was down and Tom was telling me it was time to go home, I was feeling very full filled. So thank you Tryweryn for being such a great place to do that in!
I hope everyone else who attended had a lovely weekend and as always – happy paddling!