With roads closed these lads in Ennistymon took to the river!! RESPECT!
Posted by Timmy Dooley TD on Saturday, December 5, 2015
When Dáil Éireann member Timmy Dooley started filming the cascades in Ennistymon on Saturday afternoon, he did not expect to see a group of kayakers hurtling towards him.
The group were taking advantage of the conditions provided by Storm Desmond.
Unlike those captured jumping into the sea at Salthill yesterday, the kayakers had full safety measures in place.
Jamie McCauley, a commenter on Timmy Dooley's Facebook page, explains.
For anyone viewing this video with no experience of white water kayaking I'm sure it is shocking. People are quick to condemn all the racers along the usual lines of putting the emergency services at risk. If you stop and reflect on a few factors: (1) The participants, these are indeed some of the country's top kayakers, a number of whom have represented Ireland; (2) The sport, white water kayaking at this level involves years of experience at a personal level (decision making, reading whitewater) along with this personal paddling skill and experience, comes intensive safety training, from throw bag rescues, live bait extractions, SRT courses which are identical to some of the training the emergency services go through. (3) The race, take a look again, everyone is in drysuits, helmets and kayak specific buoyancy aids and rescue equipment, the actual kayak's used are specifically for running this level of white water, a dense plastic with sufficient volume to handle and navigate white water. The organisation, from participating in similar races over the years, I can confirm these races include a mandatory safety briefing along with positioned rescue points which are manned by the most capable individuals in the country. Of course all extreme sports have their inherent dangers and accidents do happen but I'm positive the emergency services respond to more call outs due to people who pick up €50 inflatable kayaks from Aldi every summer and go paddling with zero training, and a lack of adequate safety equipment than to experienced kayakers.
Thanks to Aaron Meade O'Hanlon for alerting us.
