A hot month – ideal for paddling!

As August broke many records for heat, many people wanted to be near the water, but lack of water can be a curse to paddlers, as rivers are not flowing as they should be. But how did The Sharks do?

Competitions

August is not usually a busy moth for our competitive teams and we only had one paddler racing and that was Rick Moore at Grandtully.

Site News

Greenford Quay sessions are now well established and we have had a lot of positive, comments and feedback, the Mayor of Ealing came down to have a look and we were very busy during the Canal festival.

We modified our Greenford Quay timetable to get more sessions in adding in a racing session for those who are ready. The partnerships being developed at this site are helping do develop paddling to a whole new section of the community.

Harefield is now running three days a week and attracting regular participation and the results at slalom events are proof itself of our success.

At Harlesden we have been working with a number of partners to reach a wider audience, we have welcomed a number of regular paddlers who stated through the Canal & River Trust come and try it sessions. Additionally we have been working with the Jason Roberts Foundation, to get more people involved. We have a number of paddlers now in racing boats and are looking for them to race soon.

There is a lot happening at Harlesden with improvements to the Canalside area.

We have been experimenting with times at Osterley Park, to try and better meet the requirements of people who paddle there. During August we held our regular Wednesday sessions as well as a number of sessions for different groups including the Learning Tree Holiday Club in Hounslow.

The Southall site has been having its ups and downs, the logistical problems took a turn for the worse when our Open Canoe was stolen. However, during August we have reached a lot of people through our regular sessions and working with our partners at Let’s Leap and Let’s Go Southall.

Hopefully we will have some news about long-term facilities at this site soon.

Published 11th September 2022