UCG Kayak Club was founded
in 1977 out of various kayaking clubs that existed in Galway at that time.
Since then it has grown to be the largest University Kayak Club in Ireland.
The club has won the Inter Varsities an amazing thirteen times in the last
fourteen years.
Originally the clubhouse
was situated in a stone building in the fisheries field. Then in 1986,
the club moved to the shed beside Macnas (where the diving club is now),
and then in 1988 moved to its present home.
The sheer size of the clubhouse
and its location beside the Lower Corrib and the Canal are the envy of
many clubs throughout the country. The canal was and still is the first
training ground for new paddlers, and the Lower Corrib is paddled as fervently
as it ever was.
White water boats have also
changed immensely through the years. Gone are the days when each river
trip was followed by a mammoth fibreglass repair exercise. The plastic
boats of today are shorter, rounder and more durable.
No history of UCG Kayak Club, however brief, would be complete, without a mention of the annual Kerry Pilgrimage. This trip, the largest of any type by any club or society in UCG is as popular as ever. Every November, over a hundred paddlers from Galway descend upon Rossbeigh. Every year it just seems to get bigger!
Of course the club has also
still runs trips to many other places. The Boiluisce in Spiddal and The
Bundoracha in Mayo are always paddled extensively by the Club. The
Club last went to Wales in 1997 and also visited Slalom Course, Holme Pierrepoint,
in Nottingham that year.
During 1999, the club came
of age, saw the UCG Kayak Club web site being published at http://www.ucgkc.com
and hundreds more first years join the Kayak Club at the start of the academic
year.