June 7-9th was the ShePaddles white water festival at the Tryweryn , and I was lucky enough to be part of it ! An amazing 52 women participated , and an array of talented coaches and organisers joined them . 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 an article to tell people all about it !
PADDLER 63
June 7-9th was the ShePaddles white water festival at the Tryweryn , and I was lucky enough to be part of it ! An amazing 52 women participated , and an array of talented coaches and organisers joined them . 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 an article to tell people all about it !
SATURDAY
I arrived on Saturday morning just in time for the opening briefing from event organiser Annette . A marquee had been set up to be used as a base for the weekend ( thanks , River Legacy ), and I joined everyone there for Annette ’ s talk . Annette is a ball of positivity and enthusiasm , and her upbeat attitude was mirrored by the coaches who were there to run the sessions for the weekend .
As Annette talked , I looked around the room and felt something special . White water kayaking is a sport where , for whatever reason , male paddlers massively outnumber female paddlers . It was quite something to be in a room of women who were all intent on their goals for the weekend , eager to push themselves out of their comfort zones and get as much out of the weekend as possible . You could feel the buzz of excitement amongst the paddlers , and I just thought to myself – wow ! How wonderful to be a part of something this special !
Photo : Happy on ski jump ! Photo : Tom Clare
PADDLER 63