Summer 2025 brought us a lot of sun and not a lot of rain. Making the most of those very few days where the river gods gave us enough rain to bring the classic runs in, the rest of the days we were relying on the dams to open their gates for us to enjoy those sunny days on the river. The three main rivers in Scotland that rely on dams to release water are the Moriston, Garry and the Tummel, with a guaranteed water level and knowing when it will be releasing far in advance creates a perfect venues for holding white-water events.
We have three main races, each event has it’s own unique style, designed to test your paddling ability. The Upper Tummel McLarens Giant Slalom challenges your technique, speed and agility. The Garry Boater X (GBX) tests your sprinting and stamina. The Moriston Enduro demands everything you have, physically and mentally, on and off the water.
The last couple of years the Garry Boater X and Moriston enduro have only been open for adults over the age of eighteen to race, until 2025. This year, James Fleming has been working behind the scenes in his personal time to make competing possible for juniors in both the Garry Boater X and Moriston Enduro. This has given us juniors the opportunity to push our development and experience being apart of some of the best white-water, high adrenaline races in the UK, and I for one was excited to be a part of them.
McLarens Giant Slalom, River Tummel
The first event of the 2025 season was the McLarens Giant Slalom, organised by Aaron White and Jamie Peden. The race is set up on the main rapid McLaren Falls on the Upper Tummel, it’s a short section of river with slalom gates set to make a sick extreme slalom racecourse. We each had five attempts to set the fastest time possible without missing any gates. This year, the event fell on one of the hottest days of the year, it was twenty-eight degrees, it felt absolutely scorching with the sun splitting the trees and I knew it would be an all-time day. During the day my laps just kept getting faster and cleaner and after everyone had finished their last lap, we all chipped in to get the course dismantled and tided everything away. I ended up coming placing twenty-first with my fastest lap coming in at 65.43 seconds about ten seconds off the fastest lap. After all the results and prize giving was complete, some of us went for a joy lap down the river to finish the day off.
Garry Boater X
The next event of the season was the Garry Boater X the largest race event of the three with over eighty people racing. The Garry Boater X is a head-to-head race with heats of six people starting together from the eddy at the top, then race all the way through the rapids, finishing six hundred meters downstream at the takeout bridge. Everyone raced four laps, no matter the place you finished you still qualified through to the next round, the more rounds you won, the higher ability final you would end up in, likewise for the less experienced, everyone ended up racing with similar ability level races throughout.
With each round came a different sort of battle whether it was a fight off the start line with paddles flying everywhere, or a fight to stay on the race line. There was some intense competing going on from everyone, especially the other local kids who were getting stuck in and giving it there all. This was just awesome to watch and to be part of.
One of the things that I was super stoked to see was one of the local juniors, Sam Robinson (fourteen years old), giving most of us a run for our money which was just sick. There was one point Sam and I were battling side by side, Sam managed to get out in front of me and I was so stoked for him that I started cheering him on even though he was out running me until I managed to get passed him on the very last rapid. With each heat getting harder, the competition kept getting closer to the point that we were battling side by side down the entire river to the last rapid where the crowd were lined along the riverbank and on the bridge cheering everyone on across the finish line. The atmosphere was amazing, it was just sick to see everyone having a good time. Once the final heats came through and everyone was off the water it was then time for prize giving, there was a prize and medals for the first three people across the finish line in the top three for male and female, veteran and Junior. As well overall prizes there were prizes for each ability level, advanced (gold), intermediate (silver) and beginner (bronze).
Moriston Enduro
The last event of the season, the Moriston Enduro is the toughest, most physical and hardest race of the year. With three hours of pain, the day starts off with registration, bib collection, race briefing and a mandatory practice lap. The three hours of adrenaline and pain started, paddling 600 metres of class 4 whitewater and hiking back up to the start makes this the most physically demanding event of the three. There are three different categories of race you can chose to target, you can race for the most laps, the fastest individual lap, or the fastest three laps which include your time running back to the put on. I personally like this event, not only because the Moriston is one of my favourite rivers but getting to paddle laps of the river without stopping and paddling the same rapids repeatedly, makes you begin to dial in the sweet spots and get a reel feel for clean lines and smooth transitions from feature to feature.
At last year’s enduro I had managed ten laps in the three hours, this year I managed to up my pace a bit, crushing out thirteen laps. I was stoked on beating last year’s personal record. Some of the guys were on an absolute mission with both the male and female records being smashed out the park this year, with Johny Hawkins and Rhona Callander coming in with the most laps at nineteen and twelve laps respectively. As always, it was an absolute blast to be a part of such an incredible event, and safe to say, I will be looking forward to trying to beat my PB at next year’s Enduro.
That’s a wrap for summer of ’25 whitewater river racing in Scotland, it’s been an unreal year of events with good laughs and some seriously good competing across the board. I am looking forward to getting stuck into next year’s events. Summer of 2026 bring it on …
Useful links –
Scotland water releases – https://www.paddlescotland.org.uk/go-paddling/water-releases
Find next years events – https://www.paddlescotland.org.uk/find-a-course
Garry Boater X – https://www.instagram.com/garryboaterx/
Morriston Enduro – https://www.instagram.com/moristonenduro/
