Made even stronger by the support and dedication from instructors and guides, the sporting community of paddling continues to grow.
Born into a paddling family, Allana Bold has been involved with the paddling community since she can remember, and has no intention of leaving.
Involved as a paddling instructor for the last 20 years, her continued hard work saw Allana awarded the Instructor/Guide of the Year Award at the Annual Paddle Australia Awards for the second year running.
“It was a surprise because I won it last year as well, so I thought two years in a row was pretty special,” Allana said.
“Getting the acknowledgement and recognition after the successful outcomes I’ve had was nice because I was able to do a lot of fantastic things last year with training.”
Working heavily in the recreational education space, Allana knows how important it is to develop this space to help the future high performance athletes succeed.
“I think it is really important to have that education side recognised, not just the sporting side, because there are so many fantastic recreational things happening, and some of what I do may result in Olympians because we’ve been able to put them on a path to grassroots,” she said.
In her current role, Allana is deeply entrenched in the paddling community, even helping to develop it further through qualification and training.
“I know a lot of people, so when I’m out there paddling a lot of people know me through what I’ve done,” she said.
“And I’ve been a part of so many people’s journeys, and what I do now with a lot of training of outdoor leaders, it’s really neat to see how many people are getting the outcomes from what I’m doing.
“I might train five teachers in one qualification but they’re going to go on and paddle with 200 kids and just knowing stuff like that is incredible.”
Having the opportunity to travel to Fiji to paddle is up there with one of Allana’s favourite memories, but it was a guide training in Tennant Creek that takes out the top spot.
“I went out to Tennant Creek and delivered training for some guide leaders and school teachers and that was so cool,” she said.
“The outcomes it produced were so awesome, there were some remote community teachers who were taking the young Indigenous people out paddling in waterholes.
“It was just so cool, the outcomes from going there and doing the work, it was a really cool memory and I really enjoyed that.”
Having been a part of the paddling community for her entire life, Allana encourages those who are looking to get started in paddling to go for it.
“Definitely get involved, it’s a sport that can be around lifelong,” Allana said.
“It has many different aspects that you can participate and contribute in, so give it a go.”
Article courtesy of Paddle Australia.