Conor Macken 2013 Paddling

2013 was a pretty big year for myself in Irish paddling, It marked the year were I made the switch to the senior Irish Freestyle Team.

The year kicked off with Team trials at the national water-sports centre in Nottingham.
The venue was decided to make it as fair as possible.
At team trials it was a tough fight but I managed to come out Joint first with fellow IFT members Barry Loughnane and Tom Dunphy.

Space Godzilla Inlet wave, Nottingham

After team trials there was a lack of freestyle competitions due to the water and "unusable features" such as Sluice in Dublin, not my words ha but there was however a few training days used to boost Irish paddling and try and make some funds for the Team at the same time. I carried on padddling most weekends up at sluice or a few days down running some stuff in Wicklow to try best to keep my paddling levels up, I even managed to get a quick session in on Slane castle weir at flood levels which was a welcome change.

Everything from there then led to the world championships at the Nantahala Outdoor Centre in North Carolina U.S.A.
Thanks to some fundraising with Irish freestyle training days, Irish Freestyle calender sales, support from canoeing Ireland and the "deap" pockets of the team member we ended up having a full Junior mens and mens team.

2013 Team before the Opening ceremony in Bryson City, NC

My personal paddling didn't go too great with a finish I wasn't happy with it but we had some excellent results from two of our Juniors Billy Brett and David McClure taking 9th and 10th place respectively.

Training in My Custom PeakUK Speedskin cagdeck

Late night composite repairs

Overall the worlds was still a great trip and a new experience all the same. We were living practically wild for the few weeks we were there and yes I would do it all over again. 

Next seasons big trip Ill be off to Uganda to stay on the hair lemon and experience some of the worlds biggest whitewater in hopefully some new custom peak UK gear.

want to thanks my various sponsors from the year namely Watershed Dry bags, Surfplugs, Jones engineering group, The DIT Sports and recreation service and of course I-Canoe.

Here is a short video I put together of my year the way I see it best and Heres to an even better 2014 for paddling!

Winter Sessions

Well, it's been a while since the last update and there has been some fun times in the mean time. November saw epic flooding across the country, this washed out a lot of the main playspots around the country but provide some great river running, if you could find a river at a reasonably sane level.

All set for providing safety - Barry, Dee, Brian, Donal, Rob Dawg &Kav.

I got out on the Boluisce 3 times in a week, not bad for someone who lives in Dublin. One of those spins was the day after Dee celebrated her birthday out in Spiddal. It was perfect to wash away the cobwebs. Everyone made their lines on the river, but the birthday girl had an accident with a random rock, which called for James and a block of surf wax to come to the rescue and seal the leak.

Bowsie running the top drop.

Photos are thanks to John Staunton. Below is a video John put together of the day on the Boluisce. Enjoy.

After the flood began to recede, the usual winter playspot began to show themselves. We had some lovely levels at Tuam which we got some footage of. Enjoy Dee, Sinead, Shane and myself showing off the skills. Thanks God for NRS mitts and a skull cap, this is, remember, the coldest place in the WORLD.

The traditional trip to Kerry for New Years paddling and partying was struck down by a severe lack of water, which was replaced by lots of snow and ice. So with no paddling to be done it left a lot of time for partying with natives of Tralee. And of course a bit of hill walking in the snow.

Jean and Rob Dawg, looking lost on their way to the top of Mount Brandon.

View of Inch Strand with Carrauntoohil in the background.

We joined in with the local festivities in Tralee, with a spot of trolley racing. Above shows Rob in the passenger seat with Barry at the wheel.

To finish the Christmas hols and before headin back to the day job in the smoke i managed to get a couple of great Gower sessions in.

The new All Star really flies on the wave. It has amazing speed for such a short boat.

I am looking forward to comparing it to the 'Smoother', when it (if it ever) gets its debut surf!!

Above Dee carving up Gower.

So, that was my winter sessions, I am hoping for a nice wet Spring to keep the rivers flowing and I'm looking forward to competition season, with team trial, nationals and the national league events just around the corner. Bring'em on.

Talk soon

bowsie