The first post!

My obsession with kayaking started back in 1997. Since then my passion has grown to a sometimes worrying level! It started at Leeds Canoe Club with weekly pool sessions on a Thursday to arrange the weekends activities then it was off to the Lakes! We were 'the boys' fast food and even faster cars! These were some of the finest kayaking times as i was being pushed by far more experienced paddlers and they were all epics! This either being on the river or just the journey getting there!





During the next few years the few hardcore ones of us started playing at our local Leeds playspots with regular visits to Nottingham and to the surf on the North East coast. This continued until 2003 when i decided, after a trip to Africa, it was time to move down to Nottingham to take this paddling lark a little more seriously.
Since the move my kayaking has gone from strength to strength, winning the Peak Challenge Series in 2004 was a definite highlight as well as winning the Student Rodeo Open Competition in 2005 which led to a sponsorship deal with Fluid Kayaks...(cheers Pete!) and more recently a deal with Elephantwear...(cheers other Pete!)... but achievements like these certainly makes paddling in the cold winter worthwhile.



I have managed to get in plenty of travelling this year, much to the delight of the missis, I had a week in Lyon with the other 'Pommie' boys in April, followed by three weeks in Canada with Jon Best and Emily Wall-where I competed in the North American Championships, and was extremely satisfied with my 11th Place in the Pro Event, especially as I was fighting a major hangover at the time.





It was over the pond again for my next trip which was to Ecuador with the other 5 boys on the British Raft Team to compete in the World Rafting Championships where we finished a very respectable 15th- a brilliant result for our first international competition! I finished the year off with a return trip to Africa with one of the original Leeds Boys, Big Ben Spencer. Two weeks paddling the White Nile finished another successful year!

'leeds playspots' photos by www.ben-spencer.com
'first day in a fluid' photo by james reeves
'garb flip' photo courtesy of jackson kayaks
'GB raft team' photo by dunny@dunniesmobilephotobooth