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ANY BUSINESS RELATIONSHIPS WITH ANY OTHER COMPANIES IN PADDLESPORTS ?
I work a bit with the Source to Sea shop in Innsbruck , Austria , but other than that , it ’ s just Pyranha and NRS .
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OU ’ RE CLEARLY ONE OF THE PADDLERS OF THIS GENERATION . WHICH PADDLERS FROM THE PAST WOULD YOU HAVE LOVED TO HAVE PADDLED WITH ?
I think it would ’ ve been so sick to be around when Bomb Flow was in full flow . The videos that they made were insane , and they definitely made me want to try whitewater !
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR TRAINING ? WHAT KEEPS YOU MOTIVATED ?
Training-wise , I like to keep myself fit in the gym , especially when I can ’ t go paddling , but I think I would do that even if I stopped kayaking . But the best training I can think of is just spending as much time on the water as possible . What keeps me motivated is that the more training or practice I do , the better I get and the more fun I have .
IS THERE ANYONE IN PARTICULAR IN THE SPORTING WORLD THAT HAS INFLUENCED YOU ?
There have been many people who have influenced me over the years . It ’ s hard to put a name on who influenced me the most , but in my time in WW kayaking , it would have to have been Bren . He had a lot of influence over me and always guided me in the right direction , which I will forever be grateful for .
WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN 20 YEARS ?
I hope I ’ m still kayaking ! But by then , I ’ d have probably grown up and decided to get a normal job …
WHERE DID THE ‘ LORD ’ HUW BUTTERWORTH COME FROM ?
Well , it ’ s not as fancy as it seems … I always joked about being able to buy a piece of land and acquire the title of Lord , and then my Girlfriend bought me some for Christmas , giving me the title of ‘ Lord ’. https :// www . instagram . com / huwkayak / IT ’ S A TOUGH CALL , I KNOW , GIVEN ALL THE EXPEDITIONS YOU HAVE UNDERTAKEN , BUT DOES ONE POP UP AS YOUR FAVOURITE ?
The Sary Jaz has got to be my favourite expedition ! But as a kayaking trip , Norway 2023 would be the best so far because we kayaked so much and enjoyed it so much !
WHAT ’ S THE BIGGEST LESSON YOU ’ VE LEARNED FROM WW KAYAKING ?
It ’ s got to be that even if I ’ m not enjoying myself at the time , I ’ m going to look back at that time and realise it was actually pretty fun .
WHAT DO YOU DO TO RELAX AWAY FROM THE WORLD OF PADDLESPORTS ?
To be honest , I don ’ t do that much apart from kayaking and editing kayaking videos , but if the river doesn ’ t have good flows , I ’ ll spend time in the gym and dabble in a bit of Fifa , even though I ’ m not very good at it .
WHAT ’ S IN THE PIPELINE FOR THE NEXT 12 MONTHS ?
It ’ s hard to tell at the moment , but I have plans to spend a fair bit of time in Norway . I also want to go to the Zambezi and probably end up in New Zealand at some point , but it ’ s always hard to make solid plans that far in advance .
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