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sport · Wednesday 12 August 2026 · 6:30pm 
Her Outdoors Week: Teenage Girls Paddleboarding Taster
At Vicarstown Canal · Grand Canal, Vicarstown, Co. Laois
At Vicarstown Canal · Grand Canal, Vicarstown, Co. Laois
Laois Sports Partnership runs a stand-up paddleboarding taster session for teenage girls on the Grand Canal at Vicarstown on Wednesday, 12 August 2026, the day after the adult kayaking session in the same Her Outdoors Week programme. It is aimed at girls aged 12 and over who have not tried SUP before, giving them two hours on the water in a supervised, social group setting.
The session runs from 6:30pm to 8:30pm on the flat canal water, with boards and safety equipment supplied and instructors on hand throughout. It sits inside Laois Sports Partnership’s wider Her Outdoors Week, a week of taster sessions each August built around getting girls and women into outdoor activity, alongside the adult kayaking session, stretch and wellness sessions, and other programming across the county. Because the group is on the water together, numbers are capped for safety, so early booking matters; sessions in previous years have filled up well before the date arrived. Participants should wear clothing suited to getting wet, bring a change of clothes, wear a wetsuit if they have one, and wear high-visibility clothing for the roadside part of the session.
Vicarstown sits on the R427 at the Grand Canal crossing, about 25 minutes by car from Portlaoise. Parking is available near the canal bank; participants are asked to arrive at least 10 minutes early to get kitted out before the session starts.
Vicarstown is built entirely around the canal: a boat-hire base, towpath walks toward Athy and Monasterevin, and the only parkrun in County Laois on Saturday mornings nearby. There is more to see in Vicarstown and across Co. Laois.
Heading to Vicarstown Canal in Vicarstown? Laois has plenty more to see. Read the Vicarstown area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.