Great Glen Canoe Expedition - Young Ambassadors

Hello there, my name is Kamron Hardacre. I am one of the Paddle Scotland (formally Scottish Canoe Association) Young Ambassadors. We are planning on paddling the Great Glen Canoe Trail in October this year and I am looking after this fundraising for the trip!

A little bit about me. I’m 17 and in my sixth year at school, in September I am going to study adventure performance coaching at UHI Fort William. I work at Port Edgar Water Sports part-time as a coach. As for personal paddling, I split my time between white water and sea, always looking for new ways to get out on the water no matter the craft or the environment.

Anyway, that’s enough about me. Time to talk about the expedition. Our aim is to raise as much as possible towards the costs of this expedition. The Great Glen canoe trail goes from Inverness to Fort William. The expedition will be done over 5 days. The aim of this expedition is to support a group of young people getting out on the water together and doing the thing we all love. Can’t think of a better way to spend 5 days exploring the gorgeous Scottish views, spending time on the water with an inspirational group of young people who share the passion as I do for paddling and adventure.

Why are we trying to raise money? Well, we are young and don't have much money to spare, and this expedition will be quite expensive. We have transport, food, equipment and supervision to pay for. Now why can we justify this expensive expedition? We believe that being out on the water allows young people to escape into an environment and mindset where anything is possible, and the feeling of achieving something, we want to celebrate this and share our stories/passion to inspire other young people.

By now you’re probably bored of me, so I asked a few of the other young ambassadors why this is so important to them, why they want to do the expedition and what they will get out of it, and here is what they said;

“it’s a great opportunity for team building for everyone in the young ambassadors. It’s a superb experience in the Scottish countryside seeing and exploring interesting new places and nature. It will be good for all our fitness, team building, confidence, and independence” – Ru.

“I love the adventure you can have while paddling getting to go pretty much anywhere and the people you can meet as they are always friendly and happy to help, I think this expedition will provide both of these things and hopefully inspire other young people to get out on the water” – Ava

“there is a deeply personal feeling of being with nature as you have made your own route within it rather than following the deep marks of a trail or path. That sense of adventure is rare, and the feeling is like no other. That sense of adventure as well as the resilience and responsibility that kayaking develops is important to me and my change into young adulthood” - Andy.

After hearing what the other young ambassadors have said, I’m hoping you all can understand just what this expedition means to us and why we want to do it so much, not only that but what we will all get out of it. So, we are asking for any donations possible to go towards this expedition. All these donations will go towards supporting our amazing group of young people to do something great and achieve something greater. Also with the end goal of showing other young people anything is possible, truly proving the point "paddlesports is for all."