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Morpeth Gets Active at Paddlesport Club Launch

To mark the launch of the Paddlesport Club in Morpeth, the River Wansbeck in Morpeth became hive of activity last weekend as spectators were encouraged to participate in a range of Paddlesport activities including canoe polo, slalom and flat water racing. Club members and qualified coaches were also on hand to provide professional support and advice.

The club has been developed by the sports development team at Castle Morpeth Borough Council during the past 18 months and as demand grew, a constituted group was set up to take the club forward in partnership with British Canoe Union and Morpeth & Ponteland Schools Sports Partnership.

The festival was also sponsored by Northumberland Sport via their Get Active Northumberland campaign, which aims to encourage people to get active and to stay active and highlights the amazing opportunities places like the River Wansbeck in Morpeth has to offer, which local communities and visitors can take advantage of and enjoy.

All activities over the weekend proved to be very popular and as a result of almost 100 competitors participating in the activities on Saturday and Sunday, official club sessions which are due to commence on 2 June 2008, are now fully booked.

Louise Horsely, Castle Morpeth Borough Council Active Outdoors Coordinator said, “The interest in the Paddlesport activities provided over the weekend was huge and we are delighted with the turn out, which demonstrates the success of the festival and demand in the area for new, exciting opportunities Paddlesport has to offer.”

As a finale on Monday and organised by the Morpeth/Ponteland School Sport Partnership, the schools competition proved to be as equally popular with participants from Newminister middle, Ponteland middle, Rothbury middle and Coates middle competing against one another. The climax to the challenge saw Newminster middle winning the canoe sprint challenge just ahead of Ponteland middle by two seconds. As a result, seventy year 8 pupils have now been introduced to Paddlesport activities for the first time. This produced a very positive response from all participants, many of which will now be joining the new Padddlesport Club, which is a very significant achievement.

To date, the club has already raised approximately £20,000 from key Partners including Castle Morpeth Borough Council, Sport England, Morpeth & Ponteland Schools Sports Partnership and Northumberland Sport. This funding will be utilised to sustain the future growth of the club and enable a coach to be employed 1 day per week for the next 3 years which will be a fantastic asset.

Doug Lowery, Executive Director of Northumberland Sport said, “We're delighted at Northumberland Sport that the Paddlesport Club launch proved to be such a success. It’s fantastic to see so many people wanting to take part and more importantly being prepared to follow this interest up by signing up to attend more club sessions in the future.”