It wasn't that long ago that I had agreed to go along to a media white water rafting session Lee Valley White Water Centre - the only brand new London 2012 venue to open to the public ahead of the Games.

However, I had not given too much thought to the event so on my journey to the venue, I decided to have a quick scan over the itinerary I had been sent.

Other than the usual directions of how to get the venue and the fact that you needed to be confident in open water, it all seemed pretty basic stuff until one line jumped out at me.

It said: "Please take the time to read our Terms and Conditions and Safety for Water Users Leaflet. You will be asked to sign a declaration on the day that you have read these documents."

Having been unaware that either of these documents even existed, I began to feel a little worried. However, I calmed down as I reassured myself that I was a fully capable swimmer and that it would be very bad press for the good people at the Lee Valley White Water Centre to let me get seriously injured or drown just days before the venue opens to the public.

I had been to the venue once before to see the Princess Royal officially open the course at the end of last year but as I turned up for the second time on a sunny morning, I was reminded of just what a stunning location it was.

The water is crystal clear, the backdrop is a stunning green due to the surrounding tress and there is almost no noise other than the running water.

However, the first time I had arrived, I had done so without the intention of rafting on it and as I began to get closer to the main part of the course, I started to feel distinctly uneasy once again.

I didn't remember how steep the drops were on my first visit - or maybe I just hadn't cared - and as I started to think about it, I reached the seemingly obvious conclusion that any course designed specifically for an Olympic Games is bound to be rather difficult.

In fact, the Lee Valley White Water Centre has already been hailed as one of the best and most challenging in the world and at the weekend was selected to stage the prestigious 2015 International Canoe Federation (ICF) Canoe Slalom World Championships which will be the first major post Games championship for any London 2012 venue.

I was not put at further ease by the facts I was handed as I arrived.

Over 13,000 litres of water a second powers down course, enough to fill 75 bath tubs every second or an Olympic sized swimming pool in just over three minutes.

There are also five extremely powerful water pumps, each weighing five tonnes or the same weight as a fully grown elephant.

With these highly uncomforting thoughts in my head, I headed down to the immaculate changing rooms and was handed my wetsuit.

It took a long while to squeeze into the skin-tight wetsuit, which leaves very little to the imagination, and had I know it would be so fitted, I would have probably done a few press ups before I got there.

However, there was little time to worry about that as I was handed my helmet, my lifejacket and along with five other media colleagues, sent to our instructor for the ride - Bob.

Bob was an extremely nice guy but not someone that I would want to hear delivering a speech in a crisis as you will soon see.

"Right guys," Bob said, "I'm going to need you to sign this form to make sure you have read all the safety documents in case you get badly injured or worse and you're also going to have to listen to me carefully as we go along.

"Make sure your hand is over the end of your ore so you don't hit the chap next to you and knock him out and when we are in trouble; hold on to the rope outside for dear life because that is you best friend.

"And if you remember nothing else, remember that if you fall out, don't try and put your feet down as you will get seriously injured.

"Just put your feet facing forward on top of the water and let the currant take you down however much you get the urge to panic."


With those pleasant words, we set off.

It was an extremely pleasant sensation as we set off in the calm warm up area until Bob said we needed to practice capsizing the raft to learn what happens before we got onto the main course.

"If you get stuck under the raft, there will be a little bit of air in there but you have to get out as quick as possible," Bob said in a manner I was becoming quickly accustomed to.

We hurled ourselves over and the icy water hit with such force that I temporarily forgot where I was.

Fortunately, I wasn't under the raft and so I climbed back on shivering as we started off again.

Luckily, the sun quickly warmed me up but I didn't have too much time to rejoice as it was then that were made our move to the ramp that takes you to the Olympic Course itself.

The ramp is very much like the start of a rollercoaster that takes you very slowly upwards towards your fast, steep and inevitable drop.

But suddenly, halfway up the ramp, I realised I had a major problem.

The strap holding my foot in place had broken and therefore I had nothing tangible keeping me in the raft.

"Bob," I shouted, "My foot strap has broken."

"Okay, well hold on tight to the rope and we'll fix it at the end," he replied.

I didn't have long to digest his ridiculously unhelpful advice before we hit the drop at the top of the course and went headfirst into a huge wave.

As I was looking for the rope, I had not anticipated the wave at all and I ended up swallowing nearly half of it.

Coughing and spluttering, I had barely recovered before I was met with the second steep drop in less than two seconds.

Such was the force that my oar came back and hit me straight in the face, cutting open my bottom lip.

Determined to recover from my diabolic start to the Olympic race course, I powered hard into the third wave and despite nearly being dislodged from my seat, I was physically unharmed.

I was slowly starting to get the hang of going into waves and predicting the right way to lean when our raft hit one of the blocks and turned us backwards.

We were now powerless and thing didn't get much better as I heard Bob yell from the back of the raft: "Get down!"

Less than a second later, I knew just why he had shouted as we plummeted backwards off what was around a six foot drop.

It certainly took my breath away for a few seconds but it was actually quite fun.

Having tackled the course in probably the slowest time in history, we were given another run at it and began to enjoy ourselves.

The waves were still enormous and the currants extremely fast but it was nothing if not exhilarating.

All too quickly, our two hour session was up as we headed back to the changing rooms.

I headed straight for a warm shower feeling tired, injured, a little nauseous but delighted to have taken on the London 2012 Olympic course.

The Centre opens to the public on to the public this Friday (April 22) and I would urge every adrenaline junkie out there to have a go.

It is like a great theme park ride only more chaotic, more unpredictable and actually a great physical work out - which explained why all the Olympic canoeists in attendance were in such great shape and able to make the wetsuit look far better than I did.

For me, the venue made me realise that the whole point of the London 2012 Games is to have a sporting legacy in place for the future and to have such an amazing facility that will be in place long after London 2012 is over is certainly something to point to in order to silence the remaining critics of the Games.

During the London 2012 Olympics, the Lee Valley White Water Centre will host five days of thrilling canoe slalom competition that will see the world's best athletes compete in front of 60,000 spectators.

But to get on the course ahead of the Olympians themselves, tickets are available from £49 ($80) by clicking here.

If you have the stomach for it, you'll have a great day out.

Tom Degun is a reporter for insidethegames