| Tom Haywood |
 Name Tom Haywood Age 20 University & Course Imperial College London, Chemistry, 2nd year Kayaking Experience I've been paddling for about 8 or 9 years now at any opportunity that I could. I've done most of my paddling in Europe including the UK, France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Norway, and Montenegro. I also spent 2 months of last summer boating around the Indian Himalayas. Favourite River Nandakini in India, near Rishikesh. An absolutely fantastic 25km run of perfect continuous grade IV/V, with warm clear water; when I was there at least. Last Swim...? To my upmost embarrassment it was on the selection weekend on the Cwm llan. Scariest Moment Boating? On the Pindar in India one of my mates had a swim on a fairly jazzy section. I started to chase him to get him out. As I got closer I saw the rapid got much bigger and nastier just downstream, there was no way I could paddle it blind so had no choice to get to the side and try to scout. I watched my mate get a beating down the whole thing so much so that he was only just able to hold my boat when I finally got to him at the bottom. What are you most looking forward to about the Expedition? Seeing the culture, and stopping off at all of the little villages along the rivers that most normal tourists would never think of going. What do you think is going to be the biggest challenge on the Expedition? We are going in monsoon season so river levels could be a real issue at some points. So why Vietnam/Laos? Not much has been done there boating wise before. Also from what I have heard the people are meant to be some of the most friendly and culturally rich in the world.
|