Meet this father daughter duo, Bec and Ian Wallbridge who made the journey from Melbourne to Sydney to assist in making the World Championships a success!

As they drove, Ian was excitedly telling Bec all the incredible athletes they would get to witness - ‘the best of the best’, and something that has only happened once before in Australia (2005).

Ian developed his passion for paddle sports as a young boy when he made a two-person canvas kayak with his childhood friend, Howard. This love for adventure eventually led to Ian's involvement in K1 and C2. Bec (a primary school teacher) was dragged along to many paddle events as a child. This paid off for Ian and the family then shared many whitewater adventures and canoe polo nationals together. This developed into a continued love of the outdoors and being active.

When the World Championships were announced, Ian immediately booked a campsite and tickets excited at the prospect of attending. Then at a family dinner when discussing the event Bec mentioned they were looking for volunteers to help support the running of the event and the two thought, ‘why not?’

So far, Ian has enjoyed helping with the Olympic Unleashed Paddle Series schools program, as this allowed him to educate kids about the outdoors and the importance of giving things all go. He has also loved watching the athlete's train (if you watch him closely, you will notice he moves his hips to ‘help’ the athletes with their turns in the water).

Bec has loved seeing the pure joy on her father's face each day, watching him excitedly talk about which athletes he saw and how impressive they were in training that day. ‘He is like a kid in a candy store.’

Both are excited to be a part of making the event a success. Be sure to pop by Paddle Activation to meet Ian who will be on the water sharing his infectious passion for paddle sports, and each day you can see Bec assisting Emily.

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