Take Me to the River

Take Me to the River

University of Limerick Kayak Club, or ULKC as its commonly known, was founded nearly 43 years ago by a group of friends who loved to kayak. Since then the club has gone from strength to strength, and is now one of UL’s largest clubs. Every year around 250 students with little or no kayaking experience sign up to ULKC, making it the best club for freshers to join. From our weekly river trips, active committee and friendly members, you are sure to make friends for life through this club.

Kayaking has become a hugely popular sport throughout the world and in UL too. Whether you have paddled before college or have never seen a kayak before in your life, you will be more than welcome here. You will be guaranteed to be taught how to kayak quicker than you can imagine by some of the best kayakers in the country, who are currently studying in UL. ULKC is currently the best ranked kayaking club in the country, winning our 8th consecutive intervarsity’s title and not planning on letting go of it any time soon. Our club offers you the chance to get away from the tiresome college life, and challenge yourself whilst having some of the most amazing experiences possible. From endless river trips,  excellent safety training, social events, to international trips; you will never be short of things to do with ULKC.

Our pool sessions will begin Tuesday of week 2 @9:45pm in the UL Sports Arena. Every week we will be running a weekly river trip for you to get out on the real water. You will get a chance to get outdoors, meet kayakers of all ages and learn unreal kayaking and safety skills. ULKC will teach you all types of kayaking; from white-water kayaking, to surf kayaking, to freestyle kayaking, we have it all! Our annual Freshers Party will properly kick off your ULKC experience on the Thursday of week 2 and allows you to get to know all our members outside of the pool. As if that wasn’t enough, in week 3 we will be heading to Lahinch for some of the best surf kayaking Ireland has to offer. Lahinch is undoubtedly the best weekend away you will have during your college experience! You will be introduced to surf kayaking, see how ULKC really have the craic, and see one of the wackiest fancy dress parties to grace the west of Ireland. This is definitely not a weekend to be missed!

As fun as our weekly river trips are, we have bigger and better trips wedged into our jam-packed schedule. Last year we sent 35 of our members to attack the waters of Donegal and Wesht Cork on some of our weekend trips. Our trips don’t just happen during the semesters, oh no. Over the Christmas break we spend the New Year in Kerry with other university kayaking clubs. During this break is also when the first of our international trips of the year takes place. This trip takes our paddlers to the cold region of Snowdonia, Wales, to allow you to experience the best white-water kayaking Wales has to offer. However, all of these river trips are to gear you up for our anticipated trip to the Alps. Straight after summer exams, you will get the opportunity to spend 3 weeks in the beautiful Slovenian, Italian and French Alps. This will be without a doubt one of the most amazing opportunities you will ever get. Kayaking has taken some of our members around the world both during and after college, and you could get this chance too. ULKC has had members go kayaking in Uganda, Montenegro, California, Norway, Canada and many more places.

If you would like to be a part of our club and add to your college experience, then come talk to us at the recruitment drive on Wednesday of week 1. You can find us at our stand in UL Sports Arena and we can answer any questions you may have. You can call into the pool to us any Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night @9:45-10:45 too. Feel free to contact us on our Facebook page ‘University of Limerick Kayak Club’, our email

 

[email protected] , our our Snapchat ‘ULKAYAK’.

SEE YOU ON THE WATER!

Pool Sessions

Pool Sessions

We run Pool Sessions every week Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights at 9:45-10:45pm in the UL Sport Arena 50m Pool for beginners , intermediate and advanced paddlers. Come along any night and learn something new be it learn to capsize, roll or even learn some tricks. It is a great learning environment in warmth of the pool. See you there !!