Canoe Slalom The Adventure Show

Hello, and welcome to a brand new series of The Adventure Show,

bringing you all the best action from the greatest adventure races from across Scotland.

And that includes, today, the Grandtully Canoe Slalom

and this is one of the UK's premiere kayak and canoe races -

with the conditions the way they are today,

it should prove to be an extremely exciting and fun weekend of paddling.

No doubt about it, because the last few wildcard places for the British team are up for grabs,

and if you don't make the British team, you're not going to the London Olympics next year.

I don't think we're going to make it.

-I am.

-You reckon?

-I am. We're going back out to practice.

You've got some practice to do.

I'm going to give it up. My Olympic dream's over.

In the back of my mind, all the time, is that you're working towards London 2012,

and our whole programme, the coaching set-up and the funding,

is geared towards producing results at the Olympic Games.

So it's all just poles and water -

I'm sure that there's probably a few more nerves,

when it comes to important races like selection, the Europeans, the World Championships,

where your funding and canoeing career relies on those results,

you can only do what you can do and you have to go out and try the best on that run.

Later in this programme, we'll be visiting a community

in the west coast of Scotland that hosts one of the most unusual triathlons you'll find anywhere.

And in the first of a brand new feature of Wild Weekends,

we'll be heading into an undiscovered corner of Tuscany with Cameron McNeish.

Oh!

Ho! Ho!

That's all to come, but first we're straight into the deep end with the canoe slalom and Grandtully.

If you love adventure, then this is the show for you.

Now, Duncan and I have just battled our way down this course in a canoe,

that's a single-bladed paddle and kneeling down.

The kayakers, they have a double-bladed paddle and they get to sit.

I reckon that's much more comfortable, because my legs...

-I'm in agony!

-Vipond, you're going in the wrong direction!

Well, at least I'm still in the boat, which is no mean triumph,

but the professionals have everything to play for.

Later this year, there's the World Championships in Slovakia

and next year, it's the big one,

the Olympics, where there's high hopes for the Scots.

Historically, paddlers do much better at their home Olympics.

We give them a lot more support, and it raises the profile of the sport.

We've been very proud in the past. I think the last Olympics,

there was a Scot in every boat that was selected for the GB team.

Is it likely there's going to be Scots in each boat this time, or are we kind of falling away in UK terms?

I think that there are Scots up there in every boat,

every category this year, but it's not cut and dried there will be Scots.

There's a lot of competition at the top, which is good for the sport.

And also in terms of the importance of this event this year,

because if you do well here there are wildcard places available.

Could you explain exactly what it means, in terms of wildcards, potentially for the Olympics?

They allow access to selection this year, and if you get selected for the British team this year,

you're automatically in the selection event for the Olympics next year.

I'd really like to get a wildcard -

I'd just really like a chance to race on London again.

There is a wee bit of pressure.

I'm confident in getting it.

It'll be a good achievement if I do get it,

and it means I will get to race down in London.

Just because you were good before, doesn't mean you'll be good for the next season, you know?

Everyone's got to have their breakthrough at some point.

For me, I spent years being an up-and-coming athlete,

with great, world-class performers ahead of me, but at some point

we have to have a race to see who's the best that year and I had my breakthrough year.

Some other younger paddler's going to have it this year or next year, or some point in the future.

The rules of this sport are simple.

The winner is the one with the fastest run down the river,

but if you touch a gate there two-second penalty.

Miss one and there's 50 seconds added to your time.

We're kicking off the action with the women's kayak event and,

at the top, Fiona Pennie has had a difficult start to her year with illness,

but she's still the one to beat.

I'm not expecting too much this weekend. We'll see how it goes.

And you know, going to selection, well hopefully this rest will have actually done me some good.

It's been shown before, some people go out for injury or illness before a big competition,

and they'll come back even better in the race, so you know,

I'm hoping that's what happens with me.

There's a number of young up-and-coming paddlers snapping at Fiona's heels,

including Bethan Latham from the Bradford & Bingley Club

and 16-year-old Mallory Franklin from the Shepperton Club in Surrey.

I'm at a reasonable standard, and I've just got to get a good result

this weekend, and hopefully I'll be in the junior team,

so racing in Bosnia in both boats - that's the main reason I'm here.

I mean, when you see somebody like Fiona, who's been at the top

of her game for many, many, many years, do you see yourself wanting to go down that route as well?

Yeah, I'd really like... I'm only 16 at the moment, so I've got quite a few years

to be able to get to that point and yeah, it would be really nice to be able to be at her level,

anything like her age, preferably obviously younger, and be able to be doing that maybe when I'm 20.

But I've still got many years now, so it would be nice.

Mallory had an absolutely superb first run, coming down the river

with no penalty points and a fast controlled line.

Fellow under-18 paddler Bethan Latham

was just a second slower down the course, but she touched two gates,

giving her a four-second penalty.

Pre-race favourite Fiona Pennie had the fastest run down the course,

but she also touched two gates and lost four seconds off her time.

So after the first run, it looks like this - in third place is Bethan Latham with a total time of 113.65.

That four-second penalty means Fiona Pennie is currently lying

in second with 109.56.

But out in front is young Mallory Franklin with 108.97.

But there's still that second run to come.

The fastest time from either run counts, so still all to play for.

We're picking up the action as current leader Mallory Franklin comes down the course.

Keeping it nice and clean as she batters down, as the wind really starts to pick up here.

Mallory Franklin was leading after the first run.

Mallory was quite tentative through this session in her first run.

This is the second of two runs and she's picked better lines this time.

Oh, I spoke too soon there!

She just battered on to 8. That's a two-second penalty.

Mallory paddling here today in K1 Class,

which is the double-edged paddle.

Sitting down, but she's already qualified in C1,

the canoe class, of course, when you kneel the single-bladed paddle.

So, very happy on the water, this young girl.

What can she do in the bottom half of the course?

It's always a big decision to make,

whether you try and blast down and risk hitting the gates, or keeping

it nice and clean, and hope that somebody else hits on the way down,

but this course today has been set up so there's lots of options,

lots of decisions to be made and if you make the right ones,

you'll get down fast and clean.

Make the wrong ones and you're going to get some penalty points.

But Mallory Franklin is making the right decisions so far,

as she powers back up the river for the gate 17 towards the bottom of the course.

She's got 18 and 19 to go through and then that will be all over for her.

Unfortunately for Mallory, that's not as fast as her first run

and she's picked up those two penalties,

but her previous time of 108.97 still counts.

Will it be enough to keep her in that top spot?

So sprinting into the start of the course

is Bethan Latham.

Bethan Latham lying third.

Quite a good credible third,

after her first run as a junior and under-18 paddler.

A girl with a great future in the sport.

Very, very fast. Nice technical paddling, going

across that rough water, especially with this wind making it difficult.

These gates are all over the place now and the wind's gusting 30,

40 miles an hour now, making it very difficult.

You need to give yourself a bit more of a margin, so you don't hit these.

And that's very, very strong paddling.

And she has to keep high, just to catch that.

Quite difficult to see it and very nicely done.

So Beth's so far,

great top half of the course, and now into a slightly more

technical second half, where the water is a little bit smoother,

but the gates are in positions where the water comes from fast to slow water, all the time.

You're having to compensate and accelerate and decelerate,

to make sure your lines are absolutely perfect, so downhill

in the 14, 15 and 16. She's come a little bit wide.

It might be a bit of a struggle for her to come across.

She's done that well, and needs to be quite high into gate 17.

Go on, fast hands, come on. Pull through it.

And that's very nicely done from Beth.

Yes, a really strong run, 107.55 and no penalties,

puts her ahead of Mallory Franklin and into first place.

All eyes now are on the last competitor.

So, on the course now, Fiona Pennie, No 1.

Britain's representative at the Olympics in Beijing.

She did the fastest run last time in the first run down, but she had

two hits, which meant four seconds added on to her time,

so lying in second place.

She wasn't hugely happy, but knows what to do to get down the fastest.

She knows what to do to win this competition.

She's won it so many times before, Fiona Pennie.

A wee limbo through 6,

and now through 7.

She had a hit here before, but she's clean through 6, 7 and 8.

See the speed she goes there, big breakout, lovely, then.

The bow up into the river, and use the speed of the river

and work hard to get across for 10.

She's through comfortably.

Again, stick the bow into the river, she does, down to 11.

Then a couple of big strokes down to 12

and a wee bit of a limbo there to get through 12,

but she manages it, and she manages it clean.

This is an impressive run for Fiona Pennie, it really is.

Now, she clips clean though 13 and 14.

Now 15 is moving about, but she manages to get past it, as is 16.

This could well be a winning run from Fiona Pennie,

if she keeps this clean and gets up through 16 and puts the power on

to ferry her round across to 18

and then the after-burners go on.

Sprint to the line. Look at that.

That's very impressive indeed from the British Olympian.

And what a run that is.

The fastest clean run of the day.

So a look at the final result in the Women's K1.

Mallory Franklin's first run of 108.97 was her best,

but only secured her third place.

Second is Bethan Latham, with her second run time of 107.55.

But a superb run from Fiona Pennie to take top spot today,

in a time of 105.89.

I was hoping that I could come out with a win but, you know, obviously depending how I did

physically, going down the course and, yeah, fortunately on that second run I managed to pull it out,

just went down and made sure I didn't get any touches and it was enough to do it in the end.

So was there a big physical difference in between run one

and run two, because after the end of run one, you looked pretty wiped out and white.

Yeah, it was quite hard work, but the second run was equally as hard.

I just managed to keep away from the poles.

Still to come, we've got the nail-biting action of the men's canoe and kayak competitions,

but first we're going to leave the white water here at Grandtully

and introduce you to a brand new feature on The Adventure Show - the Wild Weekend.

We're going to be exploring some exciting destinations for a short adventurous break and we'll start

with Cameron McNeish, as he discovers the wild side of Tuscany.

On a wet, windy day in Scotland, the thought of hopping on a plane

and heading to Europe for a weekend of adventure is irresistible.

And what lies ahead is full of surprises.

Over the next two days, I'll be put through my paces, not just on foot, but also on a mountain bike.

And I'll be checking out my cordon bleu potential.

Go on, look at that.

I've been very fortunate over the years in that I've been able

to go off and explore some of the wild areas of the world,

places where sunshine is virtually guaranteed.

A couple of years ago, I was invited across here to Tuscany in Italy

and where I expected to find fields of marigolds and sunflowers,

little villages with pink roofs and nice easy gentle rambles,

what I discovered was a mountain range called the Apuane Alps,

an area with a wealth of adventurous activities on offer,

from mountaineering to hangliding.

And do you know this, I'd never even heard of the Apuane Alps.

I didn't even know they existed.

I think the only reason people might have heard of them is because

most of the white marble comes from just over the hill there at Cararra.

-I've heard of that, yeah, Cararra Marble.

-Yeah. Michelangelo.

-Michelangelo.

-Michelangelo built the road into the quarry.

Three years building a road, just to get into the quarry, yeah.

Jamie Reynolds and his partner Ailsa were born and bred in Scotland,

but seven years ago, they decided to move from their home in Perthshire

to start a new life in the mountains of Northern Italy.

It's surprisingly easy to get there.

Just a short, cheap flight to Pisa and then a couple of hours drive

to the Col Di Lavacchio, and a perfect wild weekend.

Here Jamie and Elsa have converted a farmhouse,

which provides a fantastic base for my exploration of the Apuane Alps.

A lot of people have this dream of coming and living

in Tuscany in a place like this.

There are still stresses and strains

and it just takes a walk in the hills to sort all that out.

Which is my view exactly.

So I'm only too happy to head straight up into the mountains.

There's no shortage of walks here, so Jamie suggested we head out for the day and see what this landscape

has to offer, and here you are literally stepping into the past.

I love the fact you can go up the hill and see old folk cutting hay with scythes.

I mean, it's unheard of in Britain now,

but it means is you get all those lovely wild flower meadows

and things that still exist, rather than huge fields of silage.

Oh, I'm warming up now. It's beautiful, isn't it?

Now we're getting a good view of the mountain, just over here,

and this is where the Gruppo Valanga, the Partisan Brigade

hung out during the war and they were sheltered by a lovely old lady called Mamma Viola

and then betrayed, and 2,000 German soldiers advanced on their camp.

Which is just round the other side.

And it took, there was a battle for about 10 hours,

and eventually 20 of them were caught

and they were killed and pushed over the edge of a big cliff.

Good grief. Isn't it extraordinary,

you come to a place of such natural beauty and you don't think there's any sort of darkness like that

and yet history's full of it, isn't it.

There's a lot round here. When we get further on in the walk, we'll look down on where

the Germans as a reprisal killed 584 women and children,

and it was kind of hushed up.

In fact, just after we got here was the war crimes trial for that atrocity.

We're walking through a classic limestone landscape,

containing centuries-old forests, deep valleys and rugged mountain peaks.

Where are we Jamie, can you just point out where we are?

OK, we're here, finally out of the woods.

-And now we've got a few options, but I think we'll take the middle option.

-OK.

There's a little scramble here that we can see - Foce di Valli,

and there's this beautiful green slope that we can see,

which run the other side of the hill here.

Looking at this map, it's interlaced with all these red routes and they're numbered.

What sort of variety is there in the walking, in the terrain here?

Low level rambles, through beautiful little villages, but as you can see, the terrain is quite steep.

-Yeah.

-So on the whole, you have to expect a pretty hard day.

If there's been landslips, if trees have come through the winter, it is very easy to stumble off.

-Now, you mentioned something about a refugio.

-It's just around the corner!

I know you're desperate for a coffee.

Well, Italian coffee's a bit special, isn't it?

Where's the dog?

-Come on, Finn.

-Hey, girl.

We certainly have plenty of bothies in Scotland, but you can't go to a bothy and get a nice espresso.

If I wanted another one, what do I ask for when I go in there?

-Un'altro, per favore.

-OK.

-But if you're really wicked, you could say corretto - "corrected coffee". Con rum.

-What's that?

You get rum on top.

-Oh, rum in!

-I thought that would appeal.

Yeah, yeah. I was going to ask you, what's Italian for a plate of chips?

Un piatto di patatine fritte.

Patatine fritte, that's easy to remember, OK.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

This is undoubtedly a fantastic area.

Is there any sort of designation here? Any sort of protection?

It's a regional park, so as such, there's a restriction on the amount of building that can go on.

People look after it, I think the local people are very proud of it.

-What is there here in terms of wildlife?

-If you bring a dog with you, very little!

But normally, we would see mufloni,

the big wild sheep with the curly horns.

Ibex, deer. The deer population's growing, so they're just beginning

to talk about the need for a cull.

There are hoards of wild boar in the woods.

Other than that, there are eagles, buzzards,

and of course, the symbol of the regional park, the Cornish Chough.

The Cornish Chough?

-The Cornish Chough.

-I never expected that.

Oh, a little scramble.

A little scramble here. It's not technically difficult or anything,

but just enough to make you use your hands from here.

Yeah, quite often I just say, you know, give me your sticks, throw them up or something.

And people feel a bit more secure.

At the same time, I've had a number of clients, who come through.

They would never have attempted this at home.

Oh, look at that - four legs good, two legs bad.

In terms of tradition, is there a tradition of music in this particularly area?

-Well, Puccini was born just down there.

-Of course.

And everybody has a point of view about opera.

Our plumbers used to come in singing opera. Everybody goes, everybody has an opinion.

There's a summer festival of Puccini's works down on the lake, and that's part of the fun.

There are summer festivals in every little town.

Some of them are medieval, and everybody dresses up in medieval garb.

The thing that ties them all together, of course, is food.

They're very keen on their food.

So am I. I can understand.

Well, I think we're being rewarded for our patience, Jamie.

Wait a few minutes and it changes, a bit like Scotland, you know.

Anyway, this is what I came for.

What you're seeing at the moment is a ridiculous amount of growth,

but it's also a very exciting time.

Every day, you can see something new bursting into life and that's...

quite invigorating.

In the summer, it tends to dry off. You get,

not extreme heat, because we're quite high here, so you do pick up

the little breezes and things, takes the edge off the heat.

And this is where a lot of the Italians come to escape the heat down in the plains.

So, we're quite lucky, but you can guarantee a good couple of months of good, strong sunshine.

Is there anything that would tempt you back to Scotland?

An interesting question, because most people ask, what do we miss?

And of course you miss friends, you miss family,

and unbelievably, you miss that steady Scottish drizzle.

-You don't, do you?

-I do, yeah,

because the rain here tends to be quite torrential. There is something magical about Scotland.

What a fantastic climax to a walk. This is so impressive.

It's a spectacle.

Monte Forato, eh?

Beautiful. Yeah. There's a little group of hamlets over the way there called San Pelligrinetto.

And legend has it that San Pelligrino had a fight with the devil here,

and he picked up this enormous boulder, and threw it at the devil.

And such was the force of his throw, that when the devil caught it,

he was thrust through the ridge here and created this arch.

I tell you, Jamie, this has been, it's been a fantastic walk. What now?

We have to get down off.

-A big, long knee-trembling descent.

-It's a knee cruncher, this one.

Oh, well, let's do it, maybe we'll get an ice-cream at the bottom.

Oh, yeah, good idea that. Or a beer, perhaps.

Oh, well, both.

We'll be rejoining Cameron McNeish,

as he explores more of hidden Tuscany later in the programme.

Back here at the riverside at Grandtully, we're now on to the single-bladed canoe classes,

where competitors kneel in their boats.

And as Duncan and I discovered earlier on, that's not too comfortable.

There's an ongoing bicker between the Canadian and the kayak paddlers,

which is the more technical discipline, and everyone has their own opinion.

I would say, as a Canadian paddler,

the obvious difference is that you've only got a single blade,

so what a kayak can do on two blades, the Canadian athlete must do on one,

which inevitably I would suggest, makes things a bit more difficult.

The Canadian athlete kneels, because anyone who's sat on anything in water, will realise that

the higher you sit up in the boat, or whatever you're sat on, the more unstable you become.

But by being a little bit higher, it also gives you greater range of the strokes.

-You can reach further and more powerfully.

-It not only enables you to be a little bit more powerful,

but enables you to do on one blade, what another athlete might have to do

with two blades, or a combination of strokes.

Olympic silver medallist David Florence hasn't been able to make it to Grandtully this year.

He's already got a place in the British team, but there's still fierce competition,

as canoeists battle it out to join him in the squad.

Today, everyone's chasing vital points.

I've had quite a poor start to the season and some those races

in Wales that are natural rivers as well, I've had some trouble

with hitting the rocks on the bottom.

Here, I guess, I'm a bit more aware of it, and being careful

where I know it's shallow.

I tend to try and not think about the competition

at all and just think of it as just another training day

and just focusing on the first few gates and once I'm off then,

that's me on my run, focussed in.

Today's conditions are very tricky for the C1 canoeists and at the end

of their first time down the river, no paddler managed a clean run.

Under-23 competitor Adam Burgess was fast, but he picked up

eight penalty points, so came in third place with a time of 111.07.

Aaron Cruickshank, another under-23 paddler, started off well,

but with four penalties, he came in second in 109.62.

Thomas Quinn picked up two penalties,

but he was fastest down the course, so he's currently sitting in first place with a time of 102.13.

But the big surprise on this run is last year's winner, Adam Marshall.

He went round a gate the wrong way and that's left him trailing in 15th place.

Remember, it's the fastest time from either run that counts.

So all this could change on the second run down the river.

There's everything still to play for.

So this is Aaron Cruickshank.

He's lying in second place after the first run and he had

a penalty in his first run, so he's a fast boy down this course.

In the blue and white boat,

favoured by the Olympic silver medallist David Florence.

In fact, that is one of David Florence's own boats

he's paddling just now.

Aaron, an under-23 paddler for the CR Cats, that's his club.

Now, going through the fastest part of the course here,

which is 6, 7 and 8, but very, very bouncy, as you can see.

Some competitors who are used to competing on our artificial course,

are saying the river in that middle section,

bizarrely enough, is a fairly bouncy section,

and the bow of the boat really goes flying about all over the place,

slapping off the waves.

But Aaron Cruickshank is keeping this pretty clean.

Very nice, and a lot of shouts of "Go on, Aaron!"

He's a talented paddler, this guy, really, really good

and really fast, to be in second place after his first run

with a two-second penalty is impressive. He's got what it takes to win here.

Will this be the run? Oh, a hit on 15, though.

Tried a little limbo to get through.

It didn't work. Caught it with the buoyancy aid.

Right, he'll work hard now.

He'll know he's got a two-second penalty to make up.

Will it be enough for him?

A fast run, but in fact, the judges decided that Aaron

touched two gates, and that made a total time of 108.22.

Not enough to push Thomas Quinn off that top spot.

Ryan Westley starting the second run

and that's clean in the first two,

and it's quite a complex bit of water here.

He looks like he's got that nicely done.

Very tight through and neat through to gate 4

and then you have to keep high here.

There's a little wave - got to either let the boat ride over that,

or kick across the river before, to get lined up for these three downstream gates,

making sure the boat and you don't get pushed up by one of the pillows

into these gates.

And a quick ferry glide.

You need to tilt the boat slightly with your hips,

so that the upstream edge is lifted above the water.

Stops the risk of capsizing, as I discovered yesterday.

So, a long, strong pull into this upstream gate, which

is looking pretty strong in the lower part of the course so far.

So he's leaning downstream and the water pushes the boat around.

And he's messed that gate up.

Looks quite good, well spun.

And then 14, 15 and 16.

Just a little zigzag, snaking its way down the central part

of the river here in Grandtully, and then tough little pull

into that 17, which sits in a bit of an eddy.

It's very slow water there. And the slow water means

you have to apply more power to get into the lower part of the course.

And that's a good run from Ryan.

His total time, including a two-second penalty is 108.67,

just slower than Aaron Cruickshank's second run,

but enough to push him up to third place.

And here's our leader after the first run, Thomas Quinn.

Well, what's he doing here? Looks to be...

Oh, he's missed the gate!

He's out. He's missed the gate.

Oh, that's really disappointing for Thomas Quinn.

He missed the gate at the top there. It's a 50-second penalty.

He knew he was leading after the first run.

Disappointing, because he will have wanted to improve on his first time,

but he won't be able to.

It's all over for him.

With his first run time of 102.13, he's still sitting in the top spot,

but there's still two paddlers to come.

So, into the top part of the course, there's Adam Burgess,

who's lying fourth after the first run on this course,

and he's got two downstream gates

and then quite a difficult spin.

You have to tip the boat downstream,

spinning the paddle, come across the rough water into the upstream gate 4

and then another crossing of the main part of the water.

Lots and lots of air in the white water there.

And that looks very nice - he took a very nice line, quite low

into 6 and 7, and the bow is pointing downstream

and he's doing very, very well.

This is a nice strong run

from No 3, Adam Burgess.

Just has to kick the boat up.

There's a fast bit of water there,

and that's nicely done too.

Quite complicated paddling.

Lots of little strokes there to get you in the right line

and then a pull down into these two upstream gates.

So, not really a full ferry glide, you ride on this rough water,

hit the gate. Oh, he's just tapped it with his paddle.

He was a bit too quick.

The paddle was a little too high.

But a very, very solid run so far.

Into the downstream, taking up with your left shoulder.

A quick pull into the red gate.

A little slow, there. He might be tiring a little bit

in the lower part of the course, but Adam, a very strong paddler,

and that looks like a good run.

A fantastic run there for Adam Burgess.

With two penalty points, his total time is 100.87 and that means

he's currently lying in first place, with just one paddler left to come.

At the top of the course, putting the power on is Adam Marshall.

He will be very disappointed with his first run, because he managed

to go round a gate the wrong way and got a 50-second penalty,

so really, his first run didn't count at all.

It's all about what he can do here and he's putting the work in.

Big stroke, big fast power strokes, as he comes down to 6.

He'll turn it round and then use the power and speed of the river,

to get in to 7. Get in the right place, as you come down into 8,

and that's pretty fast, that's looking good for Adam Marshall.

There's a little break out for the upstream gate.

Oh, and a big clatter there!

That's just a bit disappointing for Adam.

Got to put that behind you and carry on down through the course.

Gate number 13, he managed to go round the wrong way last time,

so he's approaching 12 now.

And he'll have been told what he did wrong last time.

And he'll know what to do.

Think about it, Adam.

Yep, he's done it right this time, so that's him all the way through.

He's got a two-second penalty, but if he's fast enough,

it should be enough for him.

You can see he's working so hard to get well on this one.

Oh, a little bit of that spin there, which could have slowed him down.

This such a hard gate here, 17, because you're energy levels

are getting low by that point.

Oh, and he's just chucked it. What's happened?

What has happened there?

Oh, my goodness! He's massively disappointed.

Smacked the water with his paddle. He must have missed the gate.

I'm not entirely sure what happened with Adam Marshall,

but he was just furious with himself there.

And that shows the pressure these guys are under.

Adam Marshall had a fast run, until those last two gates, then it all went wrong.

But no-one's quite sure why he decided to quit.

So, at the end of the race, the results look like this.

Adam Cruickshank finished in third place with a time of 108.22.

Thomas Quinn's first run time of 102.13

was good enough for second place.

But the winner today, with that fantastic second run

is Adam Burgess, with a time of 100.87.

It's always my favourite site to race, so it means a lot,

and I've never won a premier race up here before, as well.

My grandma's from the area as well, so she's very proud.

I guess I'm coming into form a bit now, like I had a good selection last weekend, for the under-23 team,

won this race today.

I've already got my wildcard going into senior selection, so yeah,

I'm feeling really good to go and challenge those guys for the places.

Well, were going to leave Grandtully now and rejoin Cameron McNeish in

the hills of Tuscany, where I hope he's having a great, wild weekend.

The Apuane Alps region's an undiscovered gem, but it's not just the mountains that are fantastic.

The whole way of life here is somehow slower and a bit more relaxed.

But there's no shortage of adventure in this wild weekend. Oh ho ho!

Ooh! Whoo! Whoo-hoo!

Whoa ho ho!

That's quite hard work. It certainly is.

Wow, Jamie, what a view.

-Not bad, is it?

-Oh, it's wonderful.

That's the Apuane, where we were walking. This is a little bit more gentle,

though it doesn't feel like it.

It's kind of like the Cairngorms in the West Coast.

These are softer and rounder.

And they're quite jagged.

I wouldn't like to mountain bike at those tracks over there.

I think I'll give that a miss, but this is good. This is lovely.

A few pot holes. Ow! Ow! Ow!

Even when you haven't been on a bike for a bit, it's all right.

How popular is this area, not for people like us,

but for serious mountain bikers, the guys who are really into it?

-Oh, it's growing in popularity.

-Ouch!

There are some steep descents and lots of rock hopping at nights.

-You've even got the terminology.

-Well, my brother did a lot of it.

I've always thought he's rather mad. This just confirms it.

Whoa, sorry, Jamie.

One of the delights of staying at the Col Di Lavacchio, is that Jamie's partner Ailsa is a cordon bleu cook,

which doesn't help my waistline, but sure does taste good.

The only trouble is, she's coerced me into cooking today's authentic pizza.

That's the bad news for everyone.

The good news is that that there's a superb outside oven,

fired up and ready to go.

This is proper pizza, Italiano style.

At the moment when you singe your eyebrows, your fringe, everything.

-This looks quite energetic.

-Yup, round,

-and firm.

-OK, yes.

Don't be scared of it.

Give it lots of flour,

crispy, not stodgy and filling.

And you want to be able to eat a whole pizza and not really notice that you've had it.

-Right, I'm going to spread some semolina on here.

-Semolina?

-Yeah.

-What does that do?

It's just, well it doesn't absorb it, so it's easy to pick it up.

I haven't had semolina since I was a kid.

Right, so there's your demonstrator.

OK, that's what I've got, that's what I thought I've got to aim for.

-Another one, identical and yeah, get stuck in.

-OK, thank you.

OK, here we go. You got this now, isn't it good?

Note the action. Maybe I'm not putting enough pressure on.

That's better, isn't it?

Now this is, this is getting a bit more oblong than round.

Oh, that's better.

How's that coming? What do you think?

Good. Keep going.

-Can you remember the first pizza you ever made?

-We'd only made pizzas

in a conventional oven and of course you make them up and you put them on a tray

and you put all the toppings on hours in advance.

We couldn't get the paddle underneath, as it all goes soggy.

And so the whole thing was a complete disaster.

I think we ended up making lots of calzone. That's pretty good.

-Is that all right?

-Yeah, that's good.

-OK, Jamie, I think we're ready for the fire.

-OK.

He's putting the fire to the side, so that you can put the pizza on to the hot floor of the oven.

-And that's what you're cooking on, straight on to the hot stone.

-Now can I start spreading this one?

Yes, you can just give it a sort of mix and then put a couple of spoons on.

It's olive oil, rosemary and garlic.

Wow, it's smells absolutely great.

And that's before it's even cooked.

-That's masses of...

-Is that too much?

Verging on it.

It'll be challenging to lift it up.

Will it?

Yes. This might be your, your...

-Bete noir?

-Yeah.

-Can I help you put some of these on then?

-Yes.

Oh, no, I'm getting peckish.

So, we're going to put some of this on.

And then,

now, if you put it in.

OK, I want you to put it in there, about there and you just shove.

Is that a technical term?

Yeah. Just, that's it. Good. Excellent.

Wow, it's puffing up round the edges.

Yep, yep, you want it to be brown like that all round.

What we might have to do now in a minute is just slightly turn it.

What sort of temperature are we talking about here?

400 Celsius.

Oh, gosh, yeah.

Right, there you go. In again.

Just, get it right on.

-Give it a shove.

-OK, ready, here we go. Look at that!

-And voila.

-Very good.

-That's not bad, is it?

That is not bad for a first attempt.

Isn't that good? Do you think I might have cordon bleu potential?

I don't think this is cordon bleu really,

but I can see you could start up a pizzeria in Newton Moor.

-You think so?

-Wouldn't that be great, with Pete.

-A new career opportunity.

-Look at that, isn't it good?

-Ooh, am I trying it?

I just say, go on, yes, yeah, I dare you. Yeah, good.

Well done, me! And you, Ailsa!

And to find out more details about Cameron's Wild Weekend,

including information about how you get to the Apuane Alps,

with all the news about what we're up to, follow us on Facebook.

For every event we cover on The Adventure Show, there are many more we could feature.

A particularly unusual one involves the local community

in the beautiful surroundings of the West Coast village of Gairloch.

The Tollaidh Triathlon is now in its third year and has a real sting in its tail.

It's the brainchild of Paul Tattersall, one of Britain's top climbers, who now lives in the area.

Given his background, you might think he designed the event

especially to help people like himself.

It should be a climber that wins.

I don't want to see some fast runner who's not a climber

winning the Tollaidh Triathlon.

The event is made up of a 10K run,

followed by a 22K bike ride,

and then it's that climb against the clock, which makes for a spectacular finish.

Perhaps not surprisingly, in its first year, race organiser Paul Tattersall was the winner.

But insiders say he needs to do more this year to retain the title.

He hasn't been cycling much over the winter.

But he's... Well, he hurt himself running the other day, so...

I don't know.

-It's not looking good, is it?

-What makes this event special and also gives it some needle,

is that it's the local people and their friends who compete

to test themselves against each other.

And the nerves are beginning to show.

I cycle every day, but never, I've never raced, ever.

Paul's kind of talked me into it, really.

I started climbing and got to know him pretty well, and it's...

Yeah, I didn't do much before I started climbing, so it's really been good to -

the fitness is going to be really good for me, anyway.

My daughter's just told me to calm down, which is not a good sign.

Anyone can be the champ. The champ is just the fastest time.

So with male, female, junior, everyone's in the same melting pot.

It's a lot of effort.

Listening to us, you wouldn't think so, but I think

people try pretty hard, actually.

It's more fun, you know, fun gained through the competition, but it'll be good.

And they're just out there to try hard and it actually doesn't matter.

Nobody's bothered really who wins.

Nobody seems to have told the competitors that.

At the first transition, from run to bike, there's a strong competitive edge.

-Where's my bike?

-This bit's going to be savage. So we'll see.

Still looking forward to this?

That hurts.

I'm tired. That's the worst bit for me though.

I can enjoy this bit, maybe.

I'm giving them a chance.

I'm still talking.

It's hard work.

What are you doing?

I've four years' preparation and training, going and getting a puncture right at the start.

-It's really flat.

-I'll see you later, folks.

We're just taking it quite chilled out really. We're quite relaxed,

we can finish in 13 miles, doesn't matter what time we do it in!

So it looks quite nice. It looks like a very nice cycle, actually.

Pretending to know what I'm doing.

It is very windy though.

I'll get behind you.

This is hard.

Way out in front, 33-year-old David Wilby is setting an incredible pace.

Runner up in last year's triathlon,

his main passion is cycling,

so it's not surprising he's in his element on this leg of the race.

But there's still the climb to come, where anything can happen.

This event may be short, but it is brutal.

-Can't believe I have to run up that hill the now.

-Yeah.

Terrible. Where am I going, over that stile?

The clock doesn't stop till the competitors touch the crag and the race organiser is flagging.

You want to feel what my calves feel like!

Rock climbs are graded for their difficulty and the harder the route,

the more points you get, but you must complete the climb in under five minutes.

So this decision could make all the difference to the leaderboard.

Go on, Stuart.

You get two attempts to lead a route.

And the harder the climb is in difficulty, the more minutes you get knocked off.

For example, there a 6B up there, you'll get ten minutes knocked off for it.

There's a 7B, you'll get 25 minutes knocked off for it,

off your run-cycle time.

Bit of a mistake there.

Went on the wrong route, so 7A.

I thought I was on a 6B!

It wasn't good.

The minute you touch this rock right here.

No, come on! Start again.

You're touching the rock.

When I lose to my daughter, I might call it a day.

And that's almost it for this year's triathlon.

All that's left to work out, is the final times and this year's winner

of that prestigious trophy, the Golden Carabiner.

The champion this year, David Wilby.

And confirmation of that result, the champion this year is David Wilby.

Well done to him.

Back at Grandtully, it's time for one of the most competitive events of the day.

The men's kayak has the largest field and once again,

the Scots are right of the top of this class.

We do really well at these events,

so what makes a great paddler?

There isn't really a blueprint.

We have athletes here, you're obviously aware of Campbell Walsh,

who's not the biggest lad in the world, but he's very powerful.

We have some paddlers, we have another British athlete

who's been on the national team, Huw Swetnam.

He stands about six foot, two.

Weighs in at probably 85 kilos. So you have both ends of the spectrum.

So there isn't really a blueprint and that makes it a little bit frustrating for the coaches,

but it also makes it exciting and challenging, because you can never write anybody off.

If you look at Olympic gymnasts,

for instance, they're all very much of a muchness, in terms of size and shape.

Is that because canoeing is not that advanced, or is it still a sport where there's enough variance

on the water and enough variance in the courses,

that somebody one size will work well and another size will work well on another course?

I think it's exactly that. I think that in order to be a top performing athlete in the sport of canoe slalom,

you not only need to be technically and physically good,

but you need to be psychologically good and when you bring those three variables into it,

to varying degrees, then the outcome is always different. So you get a mixture of all sorts of athletes.

Rob Neave from the Stafford & Stone Club is currently in fourth place,

coming down clean in a time of 97.36.

In third place, with a time of 95.12, is under-23 paddler Joe Clark.

Huw Swetnam's in second place, with a time of 94.97.

And 4/100ths of a second faster,

Campbell Walsh just managed to take the top spot.

This is how it looks at the end of the first run.

But remember the winning time

can come from either run, so the race is still wide open.

On the course now is another paddler from the Stafford & Stone Club -

Robin Vasey.

Top section of the course gives lots of options for the paddlers to take.

There is a decision to be made about gates 3, 4 and 5.

Robin powers across to 6.

This really is a speedy part of the course, really fast water.

Does look like a straight line though them all,

but 8 is the one that's been catching people out.

But he's cleanly through that and looking pretty fast, as well.

Backwards through 10, get the speed back on for 11.

Began competing back in 1998, so he has lots of experience.

Scrub it off quickly for 12.

Now, this is looking pretty impressive.

Started paddling when he was nine. Loves the thrill of racing.

Important to keep momentum going on the downstream gates, 14, 15 and 16.

At this point, the body really starts to hurt with all that effort

at the top part of the course,

but this is looking a very fine, clean, fast run.

No penalty points. But can he beat those first run times

from Campbell Walsh and Huw Swetnam?

Yes, a great time from Robin, 94.88, puts him into the lead.

This is No 10, Rob Neave,

and he's one of the guys looking for that wildcard place

to be qualified for selection for the British team.

Looking to do something today,

looking to do something impressive today.

His first run was OK, but he needs to improve. He needs

to really get a move on in this run.

Let's see what he's got. That's good.

Cleanly through 6, 7 and 8...

..and nice and tight on 9. Very good.

Stay nice and high in the river for 10.

Yeah, he's through.

Good. So Rob's doing the job at the moment, but how's his speed?

A lot of time can be made up or lost in this bottom half of the course.

There's the two upstream gates, 10, 12 and 15, really sap your energy.

And number 14, 15 and 16, looks very straightforward...

In and out of the speed of the river and trying to keep control

without going too far down.

Yeah, Rob's managed pretty well there.

Ferry gliding across to 17.

Powering back up and then over 18

and on to the finish. But that's a disappointing run

for Rob Neave with a time of 100.59, including that two-second penalty.

He's not done enough to better his first run time.

So Joe Clark on the top of the course, the first

round time of 93.12, leaving him in the top five.

A Stafford & Stone paddler in the under-23 squad.

Looking very much today to try and get that wildcard place.

So far so good. Popped over that wave into a dip,

which then accelerates him out of the water.

Trying to use few, long, powerful strokes.

And then all the time using your knees and your hips to turn the boat

in combination with the paddle strokes one, two, three,

four, five strokes to come out of it, maybe a little bit too high.

And then turning the boat with his knees

around there, to line the boat up into the lower part of the course.

Pretty fast.

I don't think it's quite as fast as his first run.

He missed there, couple of 10ths, slightly slow coming out of that.

Lost too many strokes in here,

but good paddling all the same.

And now it's all a matter of just keeping up the power,

ignoring the pain in your arms,

trying to get rid of that lactic feeling of burn,

gritting your teeth and coming through the last gate,

to the finish. That's a great run for Joe Clark and 94.31 takes him

from third to current first place, but it's not over yet.

We've still Campbell Walsh and Huw Swetnam to come.

At the top of the course,

No 4, Huw Swetnam paddles for Norman & Peak UK.

Second place after the first run.

He's got it in the locker to win this. No doubt about it.

Hugely talented. He's won here before a few years back.

Knows this river very, very well indeed.

Not as well as Campbell Walsh, who's next to come, but

he has done well in years gone by, and he knows what to do to win this.

Really working hard. It's good to see.

No 4 on him. Such a lot of experience.

Competed in the British team for years, has Huw.

Just using the speed of the river there. And a little bit of a limbo.

This is good. This looks fast.

Keeping it nice and clean. You see how he goes through 10.

Facing downstream. Some of the paddlers in the past

have gone through that backwards and then you have to pedal it round,

and that all costs time, but Huw is doing it very sweetly indeed.

So what has he got in the last part of the course?

There's 13 upstream gate.

Power across to 14.

And you've got three in a row, a little S-bend.

14, 15 and 16.

Still a lot of work required to get round them though,

and then a ferry glide to 17, the last upstream gate.

And he's done that pretty well.

Looks impressive for Huw Swetnam, looks very impressive indeed.

An excellent time. 92.74, puts Huw into the top spot.

So, Campbell Walsh needs to give it everything he can to win this race.

And here's Campbell.

He'll really want to do well in this second round.

He hit a gate, incurred a two-second penalty.

And it is a joy to watch this boy paddle.

In a class of own. Look how high he is on that gate, in comparison,

he was a full two-thirds of a boat length ahead,

or higher up and closer to the gate than everyone else.

And it didn't even look like a bump there,

he just went straight through it.

And Campbell,

Olympic medallist,

didn't do too well in the last Olympics,

but everything is on line for the World Championships this year.

And only two and a half strokes there, where other people are taking

up to five or six to get through.

Very strong. You can see him flicking his hips,

as well as using the paddle to try and accelerate as fast as he can.

And a long, strong push off that rock

into the gate - 13.

And very fast. I mean, it is remarkable, the difference

when you watch somebody absolutely at the peak of their game.

And Campbell is powering through here. This is by far the best run

we've seen, I think, so far on the river.

A little bit slow there, maybe.

Slightly laboured, but...

coming through the last gate to finish in a time of 91.57.

And that's more than enough.

Campbell's at the top of the leader board, and this is how it finished.

Robin Vasey comes in fourth with 94.88.

Joe Clarke takes third place in 94.31.

A former winner here at Grandtully,

Huw Swetnam has managed a second place with 92.74.

But with a time of 91.57, that superb final run of Campbell's

shows why he is still at the very top of this sport.

It felt very, very difficult on the first run.

Physically, it's a tough work-out there, the water's quite fast today.

And the course designers have set a real physical challenge and I was suffering a wee bit at the bottom,

but the second run, I felt a lot better and actually bags of energy,

I was really happy with that second run, that was a good run.

And I was happy.

That's nearly it, but just before we leave you, some information

about next month's programme.

We will be giving you the best advice on what's the most appropriate gear

for heading out into the Scottish hills.

Some of us go to the tops of mountains. Some of us walk by lochs.

When you're heading out into the hills, what's the right kind of pack for your back?

What are the best kind of layers to keep you warm?

Or cool?

A jacket can set you back 350 quid.

Or you can pick one up for 50.

So what's the difference? How much do you really need to spend to get a decent pair of walking boots?

And what's the best stove to take for those nights out under the stars?

Starting next month in a brand new set of features, we'll give you

all you need to know about clothing and gear as we put it through its paces out and about in the hills.

Well, that really is it for this month's Adventure Show.

Next month we'll be heading north to Fort William for all the action from the Mountain Bike World Cup.

From all of us on the Adventure Show, bye for now and enjoy the great outdoors.

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