CKT Midlands Canoe Show

Last weekend saw the first CKT Midlands Canoe Show at the Nene white water centre. We had an early start as we had to get the whole of the shop set up at the Nene before the event started, and as we’d never set it up before, we decided to try and give our self’s plenty of time, which was definitely needed!

At the starts of the show, we had freestyle clinics run by celebrity superstar of the paddling world, Emily Jackson! We also had White water clinics run by Daz Clarkson king fresh from his solo decent of Everest.

We had a lot of people turn up to try out the latest demo boats and paddles from some of the top manufactures, including the new Dagger Mamba, the Pyranha Jed, and the Jackson Zen, and paddles from Streamlyte and Ophion.

Throughout the event, we had many flat water clinics running, such as the flat water flat water freestyle, which turned out to be very popular as everyone wanted some coaching from Emily, as well as that, there was also Sit on top and canoe intro sessions.

We also had the Warwick Trolls polo team down to get people involved in another aspect of the sport, giving demo sessions, and hints and tips to help people get into polo.

We had 2 freestyle competitions, one for novice and junior paddlers in pool C, which saw a lot of people enter in the hope of winning a WRSI trophy, signed by Emily and Eric Jackson.

We then saw the main competition later in the day with 16 people competing in pool A, giving spectators an insight to the sport of freestyle kayaking, Emily was on the mic commentating on what was going on.

To finish of the event we had evening talks from Nigel Markey on how to make a top quality paddling video, and from Daz Clarkson-King, of his solo decent of the Everest. The team from canoe kayak trader would like to say a big thank you to • SqaureRock - who provided the signed WRSI trophy’s, and demo Jackson and Ophion paddles • Dagger/Palm - who provided some great prizes and demo boats • Pyranha – Who provided Demo boats and for bringing Daz along • Streamlyte – for providing demo paddles, polo players, and some top advice for buying new paddles • All of our team paddlers – for turning up super early, staying till the end, and being really helpful all day • Emily Jackson – who helped on and off the water • The lovely lady who made us some amazing cakes! (Sorry forgot your name!) • The Nene White Water centre – for letting us hold the event there • Poppy Layton and Laura King - for judging the freestyle events • All the people who help coach throughout the day • And everyone else who was there to help out!

We really appreciate all the help everyone gave us; it wouldn’t have worked without all of you! Alex Read & Pete Bridgeford