JackieOnassis

The Clifden fun rodeo was the second event of the 2009 Irish Freestyle League.

The event included freestyle coaching, a flatwater rodeo, beach party, barbecue, DJ and of course Fun Rodeo. There was a squirt event too! A lot of variety made sure everyone was happy.

There was a great turn out for the weekend with 50 paddlers registered and plenty of spectators. It was great to see so many new faces at an Irish event and many competitors were experiencing the joys of Clifden for the first time.

Big Up to the organisers from Nuig kayak Club and Irish Freestyle for running a great event that put the fun back in freestyle.

There was plenty of great performances! Conor Bredin was delighted to win his first Senior Event in the Mens Expert class. He pulled off a fantastic ride including an entry loop which he copied from another competitor. He was also getting plenty of air throughout his runs and made sure to include some of the fun moves too.

The Sport Classes were putting on some great performances such as Scooby from Cork, and Andrew Regan from Nuig who threw away his paddles much to the delight of the crowd. Michelle from Nuig was spinning and rolling in the hole although she has only been paddling for a year, this was great to see. However Dee won in spite of a hefty hangover!

I really enjoyed the ladies class and it was a nice relaxed atmosphere and we were having plenty of banter in the eddy with smiles all round. Fran O Donnell came first. She took plenty of risk with some nice entry moves. I finished in second with Muireann Lynch in third.

The Juniors were ripping it up as usual and were having a blast with the fun moves throwing in air guitars and paddle spins, cartwheels and plenty more. Neil Slevin came in joint 1^st place and was delighted with himself, fair play to him!

I can’t remember all the results but for further info see www.irishfreestyle.com

All pictures by Donie McLoughlin

For the past 3 weeks my home town Galway has been a festival of fun because of The

Volvo Ocean Race. We have had sun, atmosphere, concerts and good old Irish Craic!

The highlight of the festival had to be the arrival of the boats into Galway docks in the middle of the night!

We have enjoyed lots of free concerts featuring some great Irish acts including The Coronas, The Stunning, The Saw doctors, Mundy and Sharon Shannon.

I went kayaking in Galway bay during the In Port Yacht Race and had an up close and personal look at one of the Irish navy ships. I also met some lovely folks from Longford on the bay out touring for the day. This was a great place to watch the race away from the huge crowds gathered along the shores of Galway Bay.

On top of the festival I also managed to escape to a variety of destinations.

I went playboating in Oranmore, Clifden and Limerick.

I went kayak surfing in Lahinch and Fanore. I had a nice flatwater session on Lough Corrib and the river Corrib heading out from my home in Menlo.

I even managed to sneak in a climbing session in the beautiful Burren. Life doesn’t get much better than this!