Llan set to go with the FLO

* White water rafting is one of the sports featured in FLO.

THE UK’s first outdoor multi-sport festival gets under way in Llangollen later this month.

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.

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”.

According to the FLO website – www.flo-llangollen.com – on the Friday afternoon, from 2-4.30pm, the pavilion and its programme of activities will only be open to local schoolchildren.

On the Saturday, the pavilion will become the hub of the event and will host a range of ‘come and try’ activities, including kayaking, climbing, biking on a pump track, segways, abseiling from the balconies, paintballing, bushcraft skills and mountain yoga.

The nearby River Dee will be the setting for an extreme slalom event, starting at noon.

The Sunday will see a programme of lectures on a range of outdoor themes from 4pm.

These will include Rob Moffat on his kayaking expedition to Borneo and Lawrence Crossman Emms on mountain biking photography.

A charity raft race will see competition starting at 10am, and an hour later will be the start of a fell race.

Visitors to FLO are expected to use local hotels and a campsite run by River Legacy will be open from 4-9pm on Friday for registration.

Entry to the event is £5 for which you can try a wide range of activities.

Organisers say their target is to bring 1,000 people into the town over the weekend and for FLO to become an annual event.