‘WHITE-WATER KAYAKING KEEPS ME FIT AND FOCUSED’
‘I was enjoying it so much, I trained as a coach’
Barbara Stewart, 68, a chartered accountant from Hertford, kayaks on white-water rapids
‘I was not a sporty child. I had little hand-to-eye coordination and I was rubbish at team games at school. I couldn’t even swim until I was 37 and took lessons in order to look after my two young sons, Tom and Sam. Once
I’d mastered the basics, I was reasonably good at it – but it went on the backburner after my third son, James, came along, and life was too busy.
I’d been complacent about my fitness – tall and naturally skinny, and not needing to worry too much about my weight. But, aged 47, with post-baby pounds clinging, I was creeping towards 14st, so it was time to take action.
I fancied doing something fun in the fresh air and joined a local women’s group offering all sorts of outdoor activities – including kayaking. My first time out on the river was awful. I hated it! It took me four times as long as everyone else to reach our resting place. But when I eventually got there, I found
all the other women gathered around a lovely picnic of tea and cakes. The team spirit and camaraderie sold it to me.
I joined a kayak club offering winter sessions in a pool, learning to capsize and swim under our boats. I could roll my kayak before I could navigate in a straight line – and I was enjoying it so much that, at 53, I trained as a kayaking coach.
Four years later, the Lee Valley White Water Centre opened, just eight miles from home – and it now feels like a second home.
White-water kayaking is where you learn through failure and push through setbacks. You have to be proactive and bold, as it only works when you commit to what you’re doing. There’s little room for error and you can’t wing it. It takes focus and practice – and that is a
philosophy I can apply to all areas of my life. And there is a huge sense of achievement to be had from navigating difficult water and staying upright.
You also have to be fit, calm, in control and in tune with the water and the boat, and how they interact with each other. You’re fighting to stay upright and move forward – and the work that requires is a form of HIIT exercise, targeting the fast-twitch muscles that are the first to be lost as we age if we don’t use them.
That’s really important to me. As a retired friend once told me, you have to be fit to be old – if you’re not, your life could be very miserable.’
✢ better.org.uk/leisure-centre/ lee-valley/white-water-centre