Words: Pete Astles

Photos:
Pete Astles
Paul Ramsdale

Pete Astles owns and runs Peak UK, one of the world’s biggest paddling equipment manufacturers,  who supply everyman and his dog in the industry. Family man Pete is also pretty dapper with a camera but his long term ambition is to brew good beer:) Find out more @: https://www.peakuk.com

Paddle Peak & Cromford Mills adventure weekend

This year celebrates 250 years of Cromford Mills, the World’s first water-powered mill built by Sir Richard Arkwright within the Derwent Valley. As part of the celebrations, over the three day bank holiday weekend, the local community group Paddle Peak took more than 250 local youngsters kayaking on the Cromford Canal at Cromford Wharf.

Thirty-minute back to back taster sessions, ten paddlers at a time, were given free of charge to young people, giving them the chance to experience kayaking in the beautiful outdoor space Derbyshire has to offer. Plus, every lunchtime, awe-inspiring paddlesports demonstrations were performed by several world-leading canoeists and kayakers to show the variety of different and exciting disciplines paddlesports has to offer.

On Saturday, Team GB Canoe Slalom team members Chris Bowers and Olympian Adam Burgess, just back from Tokyo 2020, showed the crowd of fascinated onlookers the ins and outs and ups and downs of canoe slalom, including a demonstration of the wiggle test, a tricky canoe slalom training routine from the 1970s. Neither Adam nor Chris had ever seen the wiggle test before, but both quickly mastered it and laid down some good times. Check out the Paddle Peaks Facebook page for the video! Adam and Chris then gave our local youngsters their first taste of slalom, then chatted and signed posters for all the kids that attended that day of paddling sessions.

“One of the nicest things about kayaking is sharing that passion with others and showing off our sport to fresh eyes as you never quite know who it might inspire. It was a true joy getting so many fresh faces out on the water for the first time and giving everyone a glimpse of freestyle kayaking with our demo session – maybe one of those faces watching will be a champion kayaker in a few years…”
James Bebbington

On Sunday, visitors were treated to a doubleheader of paddlesport action. Firstly Viking Canoe Polo Team from Belper put on an excellent display of action and impressed everyone highly with their excellent ball and paddle skills. Viking is looking for new Derbyshire members to join their team. Check out their website for more info: vikingcanoepolo.com.

Liam Heath MBE

Then again, just back from Tokyo 2020, sprint kayaker Liam Heath MBE put on a fantastic show by speeding past the Cromford Canal boat Birdswood in his carbon fibre racing kayak. Liam is Team GB’s most medaled kayaker. He’s the fastest sprint kayaker on the planet and a World, European and Olympic Champion. He wowed the crowd with an amazing demonstration of speed, certainly the fastest craft the Historic Cromford Canal has ever seen!

“The paddle peak event at Cromford Mills was a brilliant mixture of expert guidance, Olympic adrenaline, and paddlesport’s fun. With high energy demonstrations of different paddle sports, visitors were treated to a broad view of what can be done on the water and how to get involved. With over 200 children taking to the water for the first time, Olympians and British team members were on hand to inspire the next generation.The event was a joy to work and big thanks, as always, go to Pete and the Paddle Peak team.”
Robert Furniss – Events Manager, Cromford Mills

Liam then kindly took some of our local youngsters out on the water and held a mini Olympics just for them, awarding all participants with a special Cromford Mills medal. He brought all four of his Olympic Medals to share with the young paddlers, signed autographs and showed everyone his incredible racing kayak. What a great guy and experience for everyone.

James Bebbington, Gav Barker and Rob Crowe

On Bank Holiday Monday, Great Britain Freestyle Kayak team members, including World and British champions James Bebbington, Gav Barker and Rob Crowe, wowed the onlookers with an impressive display of acrobatic kayaking moves. They demonstrated a menu of moves and entertained the crowd with horizontal spins, through vertical cartwheels, front flips and onto three dimensional crazy combinations such as McNasties and Godzillas with cheese! All in the shallow and very weedy waters of Cromford Canal. Again, the guys then took local boys and girls out on the water and started to teach them the wonders of freestyle kayaking – truly outstanding.

“Just so good to see group after group of kids getting on the water and having a good time in boats! Proud to have been there with Paddle Peak to see them create this opportunity for so many!”
Adam Burgess

Other events also took place in the mill yard and on the canal throughout the weekend, including open canoe and canal boat trips, rock climbing, orienteering and more.

Event organiser and Paddle Peak founder Peter Astles commented, “What a fantastic weekend. We filled every come and try it session back to back and gave more than 250 youngsters the chance to experience kayaking on the beautiful Cromford Canal. The kids also got the chance to see our amazing paddlesport ambassadors on the water and meet them, share their stories and even hold their Olympic medals. What a weekend! We hope to get some regular sessions going for the kids around the Cromford and Matlock Bath area soon. Keep an eye on our website and Facebook pages for more details. Thanks, everyone, for coming along!“

Thanks

Massive thanks to all of the Paddle Peak volunteers and coaches for working so hard over the weekend. Cromford Mills for hosting the event. Friends of Cromford Canal and Derbyshire County Council Countryside Services for their support.

Thanks also to Peak UK for supplying all the equipment, Pyranha Canoes for the kayaks, and Ainsworth for the paddles.
Paddle Peak is a community charity and British Canoeing club whose goals are to improve local youngsters’ access to our outdoor spaces. Care for our local environment and protect its wildlife through river cleanups. They inspire and enable young people to take up paddlesports, improve their mental health, and promote a healthy lifestyle.

Viking Canoe Polo Club was invited down to the Paddle Peak Cromford Adventure Weekend to demonstrate and help showcase our unique sport. With six of our members, we showed onlookers a brief insight into what a Canoe Polo game looks like. Including drills, passing, scoring, teamwork and even a roll in the canal. It was great to see spectators interested in Canoe Polo, and we hope we helped inspire the next generation of kayakers. At Viking, we know the value of getting people into kayaking, specifically the younger generation, and we are always looking for our future A team and GB Canoe Polo players. Viking Canoe Polo Club hope to be back next year for another demonstration.
Aaron Pashley

The future

Paddle Peaks future plans include setting up a waterside club to enable local Derwent Valley Youngsters to take up paddlesports in our wonderful area with an ultimate dream of one day perhaps having our very own homegrown paddlesport Olympian. Anything is possible.

More thanks to the fantastic athletes that gave their time to inspire our future champions, Adam Burgess, Chris Bowers, Viking Canoe Polo Team, Liam Heath, James Bebbington, Gav Barker and Rob Crowe. The shows these guys put on were unbelievable and truly inspiring.

For more information, check out www.paddlepeak.org or email: info@paddlepeak.org.