Paddle WA, WA Marathon Series, and the WA Institute of Sport came to town on the weekend as part of the inaugural 2026 Albany Kayak Festival on the beautiful Kalgan River. We had a small but enthusiastic bunch turnout from ASLSC to represent the local paddling scene, who benefitted greatly from the experience and the opportunity to learn from top level coaches and athletes from the Perth kayak scene. In fact a number of young paddlers in attendance represent Australia in their age group, and were watched over by their head coach at WAIS, Ramon Anderson OLY.
A big thankyou to the clubbies and club supporters who responded to the call for help, providing a welcome presence on the water during both sprint and marathon races – Kelvin, Jeff & Zaf.
The festival kicked off with a Come and Try session on Saturday – providing an extremely fun introduction to kayak paddling on the super stable play boats – quickly followed participants jumping in for their very first taste of a four person kayak (K4). Some practice races were held and medals were awarded! So some of our youthies went from beginner status to Silver Medallists all in one day… The Perth jets then put on a 100m sprint display, which was followed by a sprint regatta featuring 1000m, 500m and 200m race distances with a mix of local and metro entrants.
Sunday morning featured 6km and 12km marathon length races – and the return of the Albany K4 Kids with coach Bresa at the helm – with a number of interesting tussles within the field filled out with single and double skis, kayaks, outrigger canoes and SUP’s.
We’ll be interacting with the organisers to plan and promote an even bigger event next year, so keep an eye out through ASLSC channels and get paddling!
ASLSC Surf Sports
