The Team

Jason has been our illustrious Ed since the very beginning. A river running whitewater paddler at heart, he's paddled all over he world and represented GB at the Freestyle Worlds. Jay has tried his hand at nearly every kind of canoeing and kayaking, and even completed the famous Devizes to Westminster Canoe race in the non-stop K2 class (couldn't sit down for three days afterwards apparently). When he's not tied to his desk you can usually find him on a river somewhere, getting downtime in his squirt boat at the whitewater course in Nottingham or falling off his mountain bike!

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Tom has spent the last few years living in Bangor, North Wales, when he isn't up to his ears in work for his degree he is outside. Whether it is on, under, or by water he loves it. When the rivers are up you will find him doing laps on the Aberglaslyn Gorge, or spinning around underwater in his glittery squirt boat. If it hasn't rained he is most likely skating or biking, nothing like a filthy ride to build up an appetite! Tom has managed to spend all his money on a selection of big shiny lenses, and spends quite a lot of time documenting all the exciting things him and his friends get up to. He is addicted to tea.

Chris is quite simply one of the best high-performance surf kayakers on the face of the planet. Hailing originally from Guernsey Chris's passion for surf kayaking is a powerful thing and he's on a mission to spread his love and enthusiasm for surfing the ocean's waves in a kayak to the whole world. Chris is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in a surf kayak and his ability to generate big air moves and land back in the waves pocket earned him the nickname Air Harvey from his fellow competitors at the recent World Kayak Championships where he claimed a bronze medal. Chris will be running a series of Surf kayak technique articles over the coming months to help you get the most out of your visits to the surf.

Steve has been involved with testing gear for CKUK from the very beginning. When he's not out running rivers or playboating he's ripping up waves in his surfboat or eating up the miles in a marathon kayak. Blessed with a wicked sense of humour and endless enthusiasm for paddling Steve can often find himself in 'interesting' situations. Be it receiving the ‘evil eye’ from a Nepalese holy woman or finding himself doing the DW with Editor Jace after believing he was agreeing to a boozy weekend on the Guinness at the Liffey descent! Steve likes to keep himself trim and is CK's resident fitness expert, and Bruce Lee fan, his latest thing is doing bi and triathlons - Nutter!

We felt it was about time that female paddlers had a specific voice in the pages of CKUK, so here it is. Hosting that page from now on will be Emily Wall. A paddler for over nine years, who enjoys playboating, river running and creeking, she has also been the Junior Ladies European Freestyle Champ, and recently held the prestigious, and difficult role of Chief Judge at the 2007 World Freestyle Champs in Canada. Emily simply loves to paddle, a lot, and she’s passionate about paddle-sports, so we felt she’d be ideal to host the page. If you’ve got a topic you’d like to see aired here, or some news drop Ems a mail

Based in Nottingham Jim's an experienced product designer and veritable human dynamo. Inbetween testing, sourcing and researching  gear for CKUK he runs, along with his partners, successful outdoor manufacturing/retailing business (Alpkit.com). This year he'll also be organising and running the former Peak UK Challenge events that will become the Plastic Fantastic Alpkit.com Challenges for 2007. He still manages to squeeze in plenty of paddling (and ice climbing, snowboarding, biking) too!

Deb's has been writing for CKUK and Playboating from the get go. An awesome paddler, and an awesome person! In her career to date Deb's has won countless freestyle and extreme racing events, including becoming UK, European and World Champion, visited some of the wildest places on earth in search of classic whitewater and published her own book. Deb's is currently based in France where she splits her time between coaching, representing Wave Sport as a professional athlete, journalism and setting up a non-profit making company to bring kayaking to the young and those with disabilities.

Living in the heart of the Snowdonia, Lou splits her time between working at Plas Y Brenin National Mountain Centre and her work as a photo journalist for the national newspapers and various magazines including CKUK.  She's an internationally award winning photographer, appears on TV and has even been invited to photograph the Queen.Well known for her more relaxed approach towards paddling, Lou continues with her global search for family friendly paddling adventures.

 Check out www.manouchphotography.co.uk or  http://journals.aol.co.uk/lmanouch

/manouch-photography/ to find out about Lou's latest adventures

Wiggs was practically born with a paddle in his hand and has been playing in the outdoors on water, rock and snow since he was a nipper. A trained product designer Wiggs has an eye for the details. On the water he's always silky smooth and keeps a cool head, this makes him ideal as a blind probe! Based in the Peak district he's only a short hop away from the rivers of North Wales and he's a veteran of many overseas expeditions.

Ed's our man on the inside of all things freestyle. Ed's been tearing it up at freestyle competitions and extreme races for the last few years and his dedication, passion and determination have seen him become arguably the best freestyle paddler that the UK has produced and he is now widely recognised as one of the best freestyle paddlers in the world. Simply put Ed love paddling and when he's not training or competing you'll find him searching out and running steep whitewater, be it a crazy Californian torrent or a vertical boulder filled burn in his native Scotland.

A nebulous character from the outer reaches of the paddling universe. The Floater has been holding forth in his monthly column on everything from access, to frozen wetsuit boots, to the meaning of life from the very first issue. Locked away at the back of the boatshed he bangs away at the keyboard seeking truth, justice and the paddling way! In-between dispensing cutting edge comment for the discerning canoeist The Floater earns a crust penning TV scripts for family favourites, such as Peak Practice, East Enders, Holby City and the Bill!

Simply put James is just crazy about Canadian canoes. Whether it's running hard rapids on challenging whitewater rivers or gently gliding across a mirror flat lake... He loves it! And his burning passion is to introduce as many other people as possible to the joys of the Canadian canoe and his endless enthusiasm on the water and concise and thorough writing on the page is helping him to do just that! James is supported in his adventures by Nookie, Esquif Canoes, Kober Padddles, Sweet Helmets and Mother Nature.