Women’s Paddling Ambassador Niamh Cleary organised a club networking day on the Slaney River in Baltinglass. Niamh spoke about her own paddling experience as a junior female paddler, mentioning that there was alot more happening when she was a junior to help her to network with other girls. She would like to see more of this come back to the paddling scene and have opportunities where paddlers can network across disciplines and grow a positive community for the future of paddling.

This event saw 42 attendees,  29 of the attendees were female with junior girls from Balto Canoe Club Co. Wiclow, Salmon Leap Canoe Club Co. Kildare, GoPaddle Kayak Academy Co. Wexford, and Tullow Canoe Club Co. Carlow. There were also members from many other clubs such as Rockhoppers Co. Dublin, Limerick Kayak Academy, Lough Dan Scout Centre and many others. Balto Canoe Club kindly brought down their fleet of SUP boards and extra equipment for those who needed it.

The event was held in aid of Samaritans on a donation basis, with tea, coffee, sandwiches and cakes in the local community hall to warm up after the event – hosted by the lovely Ger Cleary. The local news paper came down to do an article on the day as well, have a look at the article below:

Photo Credit: Jenny Kilbride & Karen Caffery