My favourite thing about canoeing is that you get to paddle on fast water. Our club has two competitions a year and you have to go through gates and get times. You have to go through the gates going down a course and if you hit a gate you get a five second penalty and if you miss it it’s a 50 second penalty.

Myself and my son came the same day and it was really really friendly, I remember it being a beautiful July evening and even though we got wet it was so warm it didn’t really matter. We had a wonderful time.

They’ve got a lot of experience here, they would have coached people at the highest level. We have people here who have been paddling 30-40 years. So we have lots of experience, lots of people with a lot of knowledge, really good coaches and it’s certainly very family friendly down here.

I think like a lot of clubs, the longer you’re there the more embedded you get and the more invested you get in it, because, you know, especially when our kids are involved, I kind of feel a bit responsible for things like contributing to the upkeep of the building, contributing to trying to run campaigns to get more people to join, to try and keep the whole show going. So I do feel as a whole, because it’s family orientated, there’s family vibe to it, there is a sense of belonging.

It’s brilliant. To be able to come down here with my daughter and jump on the water and paddle, you know, at a high level. It’s really cool. It’s a cool thing to be able to say you can do like that because it is kind of nuanced.

If you are looking for something different, if team sports or football isn’t for you and you’re looking for something that’s exciting, exhilarating, refreshing and really challenging. But not only that, canoeing is really, really good for people who are developing their confidence, problem solving, because you can see us here, we’re paddling back and forth across the white water, you’re thinking dynamically, especially for kids their brains are developing, you’re thinking, where am I going to go next?

There’s so much to it, as well as the physical exercise. So if you’re someone who is looking for something like that and you know you get really really fit, you should really come down and give it a go.

It’s just a really nice bunch of people and it’s just nice to have something local, you know, making you sort of feel part of something. It’s good fun, good exercise outdoors but it’s hard work. When you’re going downstream and the river’s taking you with it, it’s really relaxing. Then when you turn around to come back, it’s really hard work. You’ve really got to focus on where you’re going.

It’s not really scary, but it takes a little bit to build your confidence I think, because it’s surprising how much the river takes you, like how fast the water can be, although it doesn’t look that bad it’s surprising how fast it’s flowing sometimes. I think it’s like anything, there’s a knack to it and you’ve just got to keep practicing. I don’t think it’s one of those things you can just like get in and it’s just like oh this is really easy. I find it a lot harder than paddle boarding, paddle boarding is not that hard really compared to this.

I think when I first started, it’s because all my friends did it and I thought it sounded quite good fun. I was quite adventurous and I enjoyed cycling and mountain biking and things like that. When I started, it was all like white water canoeing and fiberglass boats. So you’d go canoeing on the Saturday, prepare your canoes the rest of the week and then canoe again following week. Everyone’s always enthusiastic and friendly, you know, it’s quite an inclusive club

Over the years we’ve had a lady who went to the Olympics and when I first started here there were probably five or six paddlers who were in the Premier Division which is the top level of slalom. One guy I think came second one year, the second best slalom paddler in the country. You’ll see a lot of the Juniors now working their way through the ranks. All our canoeing happens here. We paddle all year round, even at night as it’s floodlit, we do slalom canoeing here.

It’s an exciting sport, it’s not as scary as it looks and you know there’s a great community here and it’s just fun. It’s more fun in the summer when it’s nice and warm and sunny but then the river’s a bit low so it’s sort of a trade off but I think most people when they come down they enjoy it and very rarely does someone come down and think oh I didn’t like that very much.

I only joined maybe in August of this year. I played canoe polo with one of the coaches here and then I asked him if he was still a coach down there at the Bradford and Bingley canoe club and he was like, come down. So I’ve been coming down every every week since.

I enjoy seeing the improvement and it’s a bit scary which is good. I’d suggest to just stay consistent with it, but it is just fun at the end of the day. It’s not that serious. So if you want to come have some fun, do that.