Experienced and Established
Established in 2012 Rapid Horizons is an experienced outdoor adventure activity provider and professional paddlesports centre, offering activities and courses in the Peak District, Lake District & North Wales.
Rapids range of adventure activities and paddlesport courses are developed to entertain, educate and inspire.
Jon
Rapid Horizons was founded by experienced and accomplished kayaker and coach Jon Best.
Jon's passion began on the water at the age of eleven but escalated quickly by the age of sixteen when he was selected to represent Great Britain as a member of the GB Freestyle Kayaking Team. He then quickly became one of the Uk's top Freestyle Kayakers and continued to compete internationally until his retirement in 2009, having achieved British and European Cup titles.
After retiring from competition Jon continued to travel and began working as a kayaking coach, river leader and raft guide.
His work gave Jon the opportunity to paddle in some of the most beautiful and diverse locations in the world whilst gaining a vast amount of qualifications and experience within the paddlesport industry.
After returning to the UK, Jon saw an opportunity to provide water based activities with the aim to make sports like Kayaking, Canoeing and Rafting accessible in the areas around the Peak District and North Wales. His passion was to pass on his knowledge and experience to people who may not otherwise have thought about jumping into a Kayak to enjoy a gentle paddle or take to a Raft and crash down a white water river.
Jon is the Director of Rapid Horizons and is a British Canoeing paddlesport coach, leader and National Association Trainer for British Canoeing. Jon delivers white water safety and rescue training, is a White Water Leader, Stadium and River Raft Guide provider, he also works as the Technical Advisor for to numerous outdoor centres based in Nottingham and Derbyshire.
Emily
Emily is a passionate outdoor enthusiast!
With a degree in Outdoor Education and qualifications in paddlesport and equine Emily brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team.
Her love of outdoor adventure activities, led her towards a career within the outdoor industry where she gained a passion for canoeing, kayaking, caving, climbing and mountaineering.
Emily manages logistics, bookings and delivers tours on the River Derwent in the Peak District
Emily is a kayaking coach and has paddled many rivers in countries including, Spain, France, Canada and Costa Rica.
Talc
Malcolm 'Talc' Durham has been coaching and paddling for over thirty years, from grass routes up to the elite level of the sport.
His passion started with Kayaking, then progressed to Canoing and Rafting, Talc has travelled to various countries to train and assess people in these disciplines throughout the years.
He has been managing teams and activity centres in the UK and abroad enjoying the variety of locations this allowed him to paddle in as well as multi day canoe and rafting trips as time permitted.
Talc is a Rescue 3 Instructor trainer having trained and assessed instructors for various fire brigades/ Hart teams (SRT instructors) as well as WRT instructors for various white water based Instructors.
His passion is to coach and ensure that his candidates learn and have fun whilst doing so.
All in all he says "its just nice to be on the water enjoying wherever it is."
Awards
Rapid Horizons is ranked highly on Trip Advisor for adventure activities in and around the Matlock, Derbyshire area, it's also achieved the Trip Advisor certificate of excellence award 7 years running!
In 2019 Rapid Horizons won 'The Adventure Awards' Best Rafting Experience in the UK award.
Licensing
Rapid Horizons is Licensed by the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority.
AALA is the licensing service for outdoor activity centres for young people in Great Britain.
Part of the Health and Safety Executive AALA inspects the safety standards of outdoor activity centres and issues licenses accordingly.
Rapid Horizons is a British Canoeing Delivery Partner.
