Saturday 14 July 2012

Sport number 13. Kayaking.

For the last 2 Thursday evenings I have gone down to the beautiful Sandford Lido in Cheltenham to have a go at Kayaking with the Cheltenham Canoe Club. They do weekly sessions in the lido (and an indoor pool in the winter) and many trips on the rivers around the South West.

The first session I went to was in the glorious sun. There must have been over 30 people there, some were playing a game of canoe polo, others were having formal teaching, and the rest (like me) were having fun kayaking around. I learnt how to tip the kayak over and get out, how to go forwards and backwards and how to turn around. We spent the last half an hour playing polo without our oars (using our hands to paddle). I managed to get stuck in and nearly scored a goal!!

On the second week the weather wasn't quite as good (it was bucketing it down). I was actually going to go rowing and finish my kayaking next week, but after a long drive through rush hour traffic in the pouring rain we found that rowing was called off (we think it was as there was no one there) so we drove back to Cheltenham to go kayaking. Honestly, kayaking in the rain is not so much fun as it is in the sun. It did get a bit chilly but still managed to improve my skills and didn't fall in. Even in the rain about 20 people showed up- and there were some very dedicated playing a serious game of canoe polo.

Cheltenham canoe club seems to be really thriving and has an active kayaking and social calender. I can imagine it is very easy to get hooked! I haven't yet decided whether kayaking is something I am going to pursue in the future, will have to see when I have completed all my sports. I have a busy week coming up, rifle shooting, gymnastics (I still ache from my first session) and rowing. I am also doing a 5k park run next Saturday so I need to squeeze a few training runs in so I can get round in one piece.

I am almost at the end of my Gold Challenge- less than 2 weeks to go. Thank you so much for your sponsorship so far- but there is still time to raise more so if you can sponsor me you can here. I am raining money for Dementia UK who do such an amazing job helping improving the quality of life of people affected by dementia.

No comments:

Post a Comment