This week we caught up with Team Paddler Beth Morgan whose living in Norway at the moment. Read on to find out more about how she got into kayaking, her kayaking adventures, and advice on how to improve your own skills.
Name
Beth Morgan
Age
30
Where are you currently based?
Norway
Where are you based when in the UK?
Llangollen
What is your day job?
Teacher
Where did you grow up?
Somerset
When and how did you get into kayaking?
As a kid we used to go on family holidays to France and I learned to paddle on the whitewater course near Lyon.
Favorite kayaking discipline?
Whitewater
What boat(s) do you paddle?
Pyranha 9R, Ripper, Ozone
Where’s your favourite river or place to paddle in the UK and why?
Mawddach – it’s a longer section with so much cruisey read-and-run whitewater with the odd harder drop thrown in the mix which you can choose to run or not! It also doesn’t run that often so feel even more special when you catch it.
Where’s your favourite river or place to paddle outside the UK and why?
Impossible question! There are so many amazing countries and rivers and so many more to explore. I couldn’t possibly choose a favourite.
Tell us a bit about your favourite kayaking adventure
We did a river called the Kynshi in Meghalaya, India back in 2015. There were 15 of us on the river together and we did the river over 3 days. The kayaking was challenging and scary in places, the scenery was incredible and the campspots were epic. It was definitely a trip I will never forget!
What advice would you give to someone new to kayaking?
Have fun! If it isn’t fun, why are you doing it?
What advice would you give to someone looking to take the next step and improve their kayaking?
Make the most of every river. A river is never boring until you have made every eddy and surfed every wave. Making class 4/5 moves on class 3 rapids is how you make sure that you are ready to take the next step.
River Legacy supports grassroots paddling and encourages participation in paddlesport, how important is that to you and what would you like to see RL do over the next couple of years?
Very important! The future is bright and we need to encourage as many people into paddling as we can. I would particularly like to see events focussed on encouraging more young people into the sport, and especially young girls
What is your favourite River Legacy event and why?
NSR!!!!!!! Enough said.
What are your plans for 2021?
Can we make plans? Covid dependant I am hoping to be in South America for the winter. I had plans in 2020 to travel to Turkey for kayaking in April but that got cancelled because of Covid. Hopefully I can make that trip happen next year!
