On May 18th, the picturesque Irish countryside played host to a remarkable event. The Barrow Blitz, Ireland's longest stand-up paddleboarding challenge. This year's Ultra SUP Challenge brought together a dedicated team of family, friends, and seasoned SUP enthusiasts, who combined years of kayaking and SUP experience to organize an unforgettable point-to-point paddle event.

River Wye – Glasbury Update ‘We have received an update from Natural Resources Wales (NRW) on their current position relating to paddlesport launching at the Glas – Bont, Glasbury. This update has been sent to all stakeholders that have an interest in paddlesport launching from Glas – Bont. Hopefully, with NRW being satisfied that the requirements required for their final sign off of the HRA and concordat are just about in place, we hope to see a speedy re-commencement of paddlesport from Glas y Bont, Glasbury. *NOTE* Any restrictions to launching at Glasbury relate only to the Glas y Bont. Hire businesses are still operating in Glasbury and we understand that paddlers are also passing through having accessed the river further upstream.

We are thrilled to announce that Sid Sinfield has joined our team as the new Performance Manager. With a robust background spanning over 35 years in various paddling disciplines, Sid brings a wealth of experience and expertise to our organisation.

Set in the picturesque landscape on the Monmouthshire/Torfaen border, Llandegfedd Lake played host to an exhilarating event as part of the GB SUP National Tour, organized and hosted by Llandegfedd lake, in collaboration with Canoe Wales.

Help us to protect the places we love to paddle from plastic and other litter by organising or taking part in a paddle clean-up This year we are hoping to further encourage access to blue spaces and we want more of you to enjoy the many benefits of being out on the water; but our waterways are in crisis from all kinds of pollution. Our campaign in 2022/23 saw 50 clubs and group requests free ‘Litter Picking Kits’, nearly 60km of rivers, banks and shore line being cleared and as much as 204 bags of rubbish were collected in Wales alone!  So it's clear that as paddlers, we can make a real difference to our blue spaces as we can access those hard to reach spots and remove litter and other rubbish from our waterways. Making it a better environment for everyone and it certainly helps kick those January blues by doing something good if you would like to start early.