Going WILD on the BBC

Last weekend I was given the opportunity to show off our sport to thousands of kids across the UK. Live. No pressure…

WILD is Saturday morning TV programme which aims to show kids the wonders of the outdoors and get kids off the sofa. There’s an awesome mix of wildlife, activities and adventures; each episode being themed around a certain environment. This week’s episode was to be river themed, coming live from Cardiff International White Water.

My adventure started with an early morning drive to Geneva airport from my base at this time of year of the French Alps. A quick ‘nip’ over the channel to Bristol airport where I was collected by one of the WILD team and driven to Cardiff for the first of my rehearsals. On arrival I was amazed to see CIWW totally taken over by broadcast vans, cameras and… hang on… that’s a monitor lizard! I was introduced to the crew, presenters and wildlife who were all incredibly nice (including the monitor lizard… I even gave him a stroke!).

After unwrapping my new Jitsu 5.5 which had been kindly delivered by Palm, I got it outfitted to perfection within minutes with the new outfitting – awesome stuff! My boat was then rigged up with a GoPro with a big RF transmitter unit and battery strapped behind the backband to allow them to stream the footage live. Then it was time to rehearse… the extra weight was a little awkward but the Jitsu is soooo good! I can now claim to be the first person to have snapped one of this BBC team’s GoPro arms though. Ooops! Sorry guys…

After a very short night in a swanky hotel, we were back at the course at 5.15am ready for dressed rehearsals. Eels, otters and lizards in place, white water course and FlowRider on, it was time for the young live audience to see what was in store. It’s important to know when to cheer, scream or dance!

All of a sudden it was 8.55am and we were all stood in position waiting to go live to the nation.

I was introduced as their celebrity guest and after the lizard had done his thing, they gave me a dramatic and linguistically interesting build-up (“superhero of the water”… “sorceress of the white water”…). After paddling down for an interview in the eddy I was set off to do a minute long demo before the presenter got in a duckie and paddled down the course with me.

 

I had one final part to play in the final wind-up of the show. As I floated into position I noticed the inflatable crocodile was still surfing in the hole. I seized the opportunity and wrestled with it behind the presenters. See if you can spot it!

The show can be seen on iplayer for the next few weeks: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b036yrcn/Wild_Rivers/

This was one of the most outrageously fun things I’ve been a part of for years (and I’m lucky enough to do some very fun things!). It was a real honour to be an ambassador for our sport… I hope this show inspires some youngsters to come along and give paddling and freestyle a try!

p.s. The FlowRider is also AMAZING. When you next head to Cardiff; definitely give it a whirl!