Thursday, September 5, 2013

Plans for major outdoor sports festival unveiled

PLANS to stage the UK’s first outdoor multi-sport festival in Llangollen have been unveiled by organisers.

Chester-based registered charity River Legacy, which provides funding, facilities and support for paddle sports in England and Wales, will host the event called FLO – Festival Llangollen Outdoor Sports – in the town from November 15-17 this year.
Centred on Llangollen International Pavilion, the event aims to bring together what River Legacy describes as “the highest concentration of talented, outdoor specialists from across North Wales, providing a range of activities in order to provide a fun and exciting weekend festival”.
The charity says it will feature activities from running to climbing, swimming to boating, zip-wiring to cooking and have “something for everyone”.
Plans for FLO were outlined by River Legacy representative Steve Wales to members of Llangollen Chamber of Trade and Tourism at their meeting in the Hand Hotel on Monday evening.
He said: “This will be a festival for all outdoor sports. There is a  phenomenal amount of talent in this town and the region in sports such as biking and climbing and we want to bring all that together.
“The idea is also to bring business into the town. We will have a campsite but we are also doing what we can to bring people into the town – we really want the whole town to benefit.”
Mr Wales stressed the event was still in the planning stage and said more information was available on a special website set up for the event at www.flo-llangollen.com
This describes how the International Pavilion will be the hub of the event and will host a range of ‘come and try’ activities, including kayaking, climbing and a zip-wire.

There will be the opportunity to try mountain-biking on an artificial track, and Canoe Wales will be providing equipment for people to try out a triathlon.

According to the website, food and drink and live bands will be providing entertainment all day along with films and lectures.

From the pavilion Canadian open boat tours will be run down the canal and there will also be walking and biking tours.

At other locations there will be activities including tubing and rafting, caving, climbing and orienteering.

Mr Wales told the chamber there would be many family-friendly activities, including den building, nature trails, learning how to cook, shelter building and fire making.

He said tickets for the festival will range from £5 for a day zone pass to £55 entitling a family of four to take part in all the activities.

He added: “Our target is to bring 1,000 people into the town over that weekend. We also want it to become an annual event.”

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