About
Our Mission
The club’s ‘mission’ is to promote canoeing as a sport that can be enjoyed by everyone regardless of age, gender or ability.
Our Club
The club was founded in 1982 by a small number of canoeing enthusiasts and parents living in Celbridge to cater for children in the local area. For the first couple of years the club operated without a clubhouse. Boats and equipment were stored in members’ houses and gardens. Canoeing activity was centred mainly on the River Liffey at Celbridge. The club grew rapidly and in the early years occupied several temporary sites around the Newcastle/Ardclough area on the Grand Canal. In 1994 the club was fortunate and very grateful to be offered a perfect site on land owned by University College Dublin at Aylmer Bridge on the Grand Canal (near the Lyons Estate, Newcastle, Co Dublin). Finally settled in a permanent home the club has since been concentrating on developing its facilities and its athletes and has become one of the most significant and successful canoe clubs in the country. While our roots are in Celbridge our membership is drawn mainly from the West Dublin and North Kildare hinterland. We are an integral part of the local community with links to schools, scouts and local groups. We are well known as a ‘family oriented’ club. Our policy is to encourage parents to become involved in the sport as well as their children. Our experience over the years has been that if parents are involved in the club then their children are more likely to stay and develop in the sport.
Activities
At club level we engage in many water-borne activities – competitive and non-competitive. The canal provides a safe environment for beginner and leisure paddlers, and also provides an ideal flat-water training location for serious athletes. In general, the main water-based activities include basic instruction for beginners, family/group sessions, training for competitive paddlers, river trips (for both instruction and leisure), competitive racing both in Ireland and internationally, and indoor pool sessions for beginners and families during the winter months at Clondalkin Sports and Leisure Centre.
Facilities
For many years the club operated out of a collection of 40ft steel containers which were modified to provide basic changing facilities, boat storage and a gym. In 2018 the club was awarded a substantial capital grant from the National Lottery through the Sports Capital Programme 2018 of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to build a proper clubhouse incorporating boat storage, changing, toilets and gym. The club also ran many successful fund-raising events which were massively supported by our members, friends and the community. Construction got under way in June 2021 and is now nearing completion. The new facility will allow us to develop our athletes and achieve our goal of making the wonderful sport of canoeing accessible to everyone regardless of age, gender or ability.
Achievements
On the competitive side the club engages mainly in marathon (long distance) and sprint kayaking (an Olympic discipline). We have had great successes over the years in these disciplines both at home and abroad. Highlights include – · 2001: One of our young members, Neil Fleming (now the club coach), won gold in the Junior World Marathon Championships held in Stockton-on-Tees. This was the first time an Irish canoeist has become a World Champion in any canoeing discipline. · More recently Neil won a silver medal at the Marathon World Cup 2012 in Copenhagen. In the same year Neil also won gold in both the Irish and the British National Marathon Championships. Over the years we’ve had many gold medal performances in the world famous Liffey Descent marathon race which is an annual highlight on the domestic calendar.
Paralympics
Club coach Neil Fleming is also personal coach to Irish paralympian canoeist Pat O'Leary who had a brilliant run at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio coming 6th in the final of the K1 event. Pictured below is Pat and Neil heading off to Rio. Pat had an even better run in the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo coming in 5th in the K1 event.
Olympics
Sprint kayaking is an Olympic discipline and CPCC is one of the top sprint clubs in the country. Over the years we have had great successes in sprint and on several occasions have come close to qualifying an athlete for the Olympics. Our club is used on a regular basis as a training venue for the national sprint squad. Every year athletes from the club feature in the finals of major international sprint events across the world. One young athlete, Michael Fitzsimon of Celbridge, narrowly missed out on travelling to Rio 2016 coming fourth and agonisingly close to the top 3 in the Olympic qualifiers in Duisburg, Germany in May.
Special Olympics
CPCC has always had a close association with the Special Olympics movement. Our club provides a safe environment for training and kayaking events. The Kayaking event of the Special Olympics National Games 2002 where held at the club and run by volunteers from the club. CPCC was very involved in the 2003 World Games held in Ireland. The kayaking event was run by club members Eamon Fleming (Sports Commissioner) and Eamon Devoy (Field Manager) – many club members took a week of annual leave to volunteer at the event. Eamon Fleming was subsequently invited to the 2007 World Games in Shanghai, China as an international official. In more recent times the club was used as a training venue for the Special Olympics kayaking team in preparation for the World Games in Athens, 2011 and in Los Angeles in 2015.
Links with the community
The club is associated with local schools and scout troops. Most of our junior members come from schools in the Celbridge/Newcastle area. We regularly run kayaking sessions for local scout and cub troops and take groups from local schools during the summer months. We frequently mentor transition year students who opt to learn kayaking as part of their Gaisce President's Award challenges.
Charity Events - Annual Turkey Race!
The club has been running this charity event every year for the past 25 years – a fun race on the Liffey (conditions permitting!) at Celbridge usually the Sunday before Christmas. Participants brave the freezing cold and compete in their kayaks in fancy dress – usually with a Christmas theme! Competitors collect sponsorship money and this is donated to the Vincent De Paul Society. As the name of the race suggests the prize for the winner is a turkey (oven ready!).
Environment
The club is located on a beautiful stretch of the Grand Canal beside a picturesque old stone bridge (Aylmer Bridge - a protected structure). The canal towpath is part of the Grand Canal Way walking route which is frequented by walkers, hikers, fishermen and boaters. We are acutely aware of our place in this sensitive environment and have made every effort to make the club facilities as completely non-intrusive as possible. We routinely clean up the area which can become badly littered with rubbish especially during the summer months. Local residents and users of the canal have told us on many occasions that they are very happy to see us operating our club there – it brings life to the canal and improves the general security of the area.
Club Development
The club is well on the way to building a proper clubhouse that will cater for paddlers of all ages and abilities in a healthy and safe environment. This will enable the club to develop into a significant resource for the local community. We expect to have a fully operational facility by the end of 2023. A sincere thanks to the The National Lottery, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, University College Dublin, South Dublin County Council, Canoeing Irelandand the many members and friends who contributed along the way and made our aspiration a reality!
