I visited the Lee Valley Centre with a friend, booking us for a Saturday 2.30PM White Water Rafting session. The whole experience at the Lee Valley Centre is incredibly well organized and drilled.

Upon arrival, you are provided wetsuits, water boots and instructions on how to use the free lockers provided on the hallway. The lockers provided are midsize and allow for the storage of a medium sized bag. It can be a chaotic scene at the end of each group as people scramble to find their locker. My suggestion is to bring a large towel and a bathing suit as the changing rooms feature showers.

The group then gathers outside where instructors hangout the helmets, floating jackets. Following the kit distribution, you are given a briefing on the liabilities and requirements (including age and medical conditions) of the event which led to signing a standard release form. Once the forms are released you are taken to a safety briefing around how to use the raft and paddle including the procedure to get individuals that have fallen into the rapids back onto the raft. The group is then separated into smaller groups - each assigned to an instructor and a raft. The final procedure prior to jumping on the rafts is a swimming test. The swimming consists of jumping into the water, getting dragged downstream by the current and upon given instruction swim to the edge. It is a fun exercise and one that most people pass and enjoy as it gets the body going. Once these procedures are complete you jump into the rafts and conduct some basic training on the rafts including basic instructions such as getting down and turning. Once up and running and depending on the speed of the track, each session will consist of four to five runs down the circuit that get progressively more intense.

The entire experience is amazingly fun and safe. The crew and instructors are friendly and knowledgeable. Our instructor Tom was a seasoned whitewater trainer and made everybody feel incredibly safe yet entertained. I highly recommend a visit to the Lee Valley Centre and taking part in the White Water rafting.