Anna Stishova: “I don’t care about cold water, or cold weather as long as I dress warm.” © AS for KayakingHijabi
Everyone has a story. Meet Anna Stishova whose teenage love of kayaking in Siberia helped her seek out paddle opportunities in the UK. Now she’s a kayaking instructor and a paddlesports leader taking out trips with kayakers and paddleboarders, despite being based first in Islington, then Bolton. Interview by Nicola Baird
Paddler Anna Stishova is the first person to be interviewed simultaneously for Islington Faces (which now features 372 people who live/d or work/ed in Islington, London) and Nicolabairdtalkssup.substack.com (about paddleboarding and the climate crisis)
The first time Islington Faces ‘met’ Anna Stishova, the hijabi kayaker, was on Instagram. At the time she was a #ShePaddles ambassador (2021-22 and went on to win British Canoeing’s Above & Beyond award and Engagement award in 2022) trying to get more women from disadvantaged groups on to the water. Anna asked if I’d thought of running women only paddleboarding sessions. My answer (in my head) was yes, but I haven’t got time to organise it. And do women want these only women sessions anyway? Now as well as writing for Islington Faces I’m also a #ShePaddles ambassador (2023-24) trying to get more women on to the water and Anna’s knowledge is invaluable.
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Since then, I’ve discovered that Anna used to belong to the same north London paddle club as me, Castle Canoe Club, although not at the same time. She’s still fondly remembered by kayakers there who love to do trips, just like Anna, and who were excited when she became a #ShePaddles ambassador.
That’s when I realised Anna would be a fantastic interviewee for the two blogs I write, sharing her experiences on www.islingtonfacesblog.com about when she first came to London in 2003 as a just about to turn 20-year-old from Russia, who later converted to Islam. Twenty years on she’s also the perfect person to talk to about ways she’s found to encourage more Muslim women to have a go paddling.
“I came for a summer trip from Russia and then decided to stay,” says Anna from her home in Bolton. It’s quiet there at the moment, as her three-year-old daughter is at nursery and three stepchildren are at school. “I was studying when I started working in Islington, mostly making coffee and sandwiches in coffee shops off Holloway Road,” says Anna. At the time her English was rapidly improving but her jobs included being a cleaner in Islington Arts Media secondary school, an interpreter for lawyers and a cleaner in Islington Town Hall. She says she enjoyed the last job, remembering herself with, “a fluffy duster cleaning the Mayor’s Parlour and all the beautiful furniture which looked very historical and grand.”
“At university we had learnt business English – so I had enough English to study, work and survive. And once in Islington, I knew how to improve it by watching the news, going to the movies and I’d always pick up newspapers left in the coffee shops off Holloway Road. That’s where I was introduced to Islam.” About the same time Anna the sci-fi fan “bought Lord of the Rings, because I’d seen the movie many times, and I read it with a dictionary as we didn’t have smart phones then.”
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Places Anna Stishova likes in Islington
- I liked living around Finsbury Park in the back streets. You’d meet lots of different people, it’s a very diverse community.
- Finsbury Park: I loved walking in the park.
- Castle Canoe Club, open Sunday mornings 10am-12.30pm and summer Tuesday evenings 6-8pm) was my first kayak club, I joined in 2011, and I did go on a couple of trips. “What’s good about Castle is the water is quite clean so if you want to learn how to roll it’s a safe place and I tried canoe water polo once or twice. Then I moved to Leaside because the sessions were at better times for me.
- Muslim Welfare House, in Finsbury Park, at 233 Seven Sisters Road, was my first mosque in the UK and they gave me the books and everything.
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In those early years in the UK she moved around Islington often and remembers how much she liked Finsbury Park. But for years she had no idea that kayaking in London was possible. “I was busy studying. Then I converted to Islam, got married, and the community was women who are sitting at home being housewives, no one spoke about the outdoors. I didn’t think about it,” she says.
But Anna was missing something. “I did kayak when I was a teenager in Russia and went rafting in Siberia on white water and flat water. We used big, foldable kayaks with an aluminium frame that you assemble and then put the fabric over, so can disassemble them and take them on the train, because on Russian trains you couldn’t take plastic kayaks, as they won’t fit into the luggage storage. These kayaks could have two or three people sitting in them and take all your food for a week’s expedition.”
In 2019, Anna completed Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race (125 miles, 77 portages) as a Junior-Vetertan K2 team with fellow Muslim Turkish-Romanian paddler, Sirin Arif Gisel. “Crossing the finish line by the House of Parliament and Big Ben was really surreal and emotional,” she says. © AS for KayakingHijabi
In 2011 Anna went to see her family back in Russia. “I was invited by the same people who I did my teenage trips with, and that reminded me of the fun of the kayaking. So, when I came back from that summer in Russia I knew I needed to find a canoe or kayak club, so started looking around. I found Castle Canoe Club and got into white water. I’d never tired those plastic kayaks before, but thought they were fun and quite quickly I bought a white water kayak from one of the club members. Pete. I was really into it and hired a coach and was doing really well,” says Anna who even went to Lea Valley White Water Centre “just to see how I’m going. I was really enjoying the white water.”
In 2019, she also completed Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race (125 miles, 77 portages) as a Junior-Vetertan K2 team with fellow Muslim Turkish-Romanian paddler, Sirin Arif Gisel, after two previous attempts in 2017 and 2018 as a single kayak. “Crossing the finish line by the House of Parliament and Big Ben was really surreal and emotional,” she says.
But potential paddling disaster struck after she had a baby. “I worked in a warehouse and somehow I did a lower back injury, a slipped disk, and I couldn’t sit in a kayak any more. It is slowly getting better – it’s almost two years, and it still hurts if I sit in a kayak. When the injury happened in February 2022 I couldn’t sit properly let alone sit in a boat, so I had to think quickly how to get back on the water.
“Paddling is my escape place and anti-depressant – it’s where I let my steam off; it’s my meditation place and my me time and suddenly that was all gone. Luckily just before the injury happened I bought five paddleboards to take my husband and step kids out. Kayaking wasn’t an option as they do not fit in a car so bought cheap SUPs. Then my back went, and I thought when I’m a bit better maybe I can tolerate paddleboarding as it is so versatile. You don’t need to sit down. You can stand up or be on your knees and still your lower back is straight. That got me back into paddling and it saved me from depression.”
Anna Stishova, the hijabi kayaker was a #ShePaddles ambassador (2021-22) and went on to win British Canoeing’s Above & Beyond award and Engagement award in 2022 trying to get more women from disadvantaged groups on to the water. (c) Anna Stishova/British Canoeing
Q: How did you enjoy being a #ShePaddles ambassador (2021-22)?
“I’m quite self-critical so there’s always room for improvement. It was a good platform to advocate for more women from under-represented communities to get them involved in Paddlesports. When I did my #ShePaddles ambassador the badge helped me to go and speak to people and ask for funding and push for some projects.” Anna also spoke to the Muslim Sports Foundation hoping to fund boats in Bolton, where she moved in 2019, and get more of the 3 million Muslim women in the UK into paddlesports.
She’s proud about one of British Canoeing’s filming projects, see here, and says, “My husband and baby can also be briefly seen at the beginning of the video. Also, a fellow Leasider – Noah Dembele – a young black paddler in a racing boat next to me on the lake. He is in the GB squad now. “I’m very proud of this young person, we all saw in the club how hard he trained.”
- See this great piece by Anna, shared with British Canoeing, Considerations for Muslim paddlers https://gopaddling.info/considerations-for-muslim-paddlers/
Anna Stishova loves to paddleboard and kayak. She says, “Once you become a mum it’s not the end of the story.” © AS for KayakingHijabi
Q: What ways did you get more Muslim women paddling?
“First, I spoke to Anderton Centre (the outdoor activity centre near Bolton where Anna now works as a paddlesports instructor). They offered to do some sessions for women and a paddle Eid event and BBQ. It was very popular. This was followed up with four kayak sessions with 20 places each. Then I went to the Muslim Sports Foundation and said I’d like to do something more regular and applied for funding for a Muslim Girls (and women) Paddlesports Cub running for over a year. We had sessions on High Rid reservoir once a month which was popular enough to be changed to twice a month, and then eventually moved to Lower Rivington Reservoir (Anderton Centre’s main base).
“For the Muslim community in Bolton, which is mostly Asian, going somewhere in the cold is not in their tradition. So, when it’s cold they’d rather sit home – not to offend anyone, they are lovely people. I wanted to advertise to them paddlesports as a local outdoor activity where they’d meet new friends, try something new and boost confidence,” says Anna, now 40.
“The women need enough information online, or in a leaflet to know that they can think, ‘I will feel comfortable and safe to do it, and I will not get sick from it’. You need to say what you need to bring – warm clothes and how we will provide a changing room and a clean room if you need to pray. If you can provide a wetsuit that’s fine, but if not advise the women what to wear and don’t wear anything cotton so you don’t get really cold. If you’ve never done paddlesports, you won’t think about it. Paddlesports can be adaptable, you don’t need a fancy dry suit, just get a couple of pairs of warm leggings and waterproof trousers on top so if you fall in you will stay warmish. Wear woolly socks and old trainers so even if your feet get wet, you will stay warm. And if you are wearing a hijab you need to go and get a sports hijab which pulls over and stays on.
Anna is hoping to move up the paddleboarding and kayaking coaching ladder and be a race coach but concerned that this, “takes lots of time and money, and there are not enough providers”. Anna also reckons that: “If I had money to invest, then I’d be investing in a paddling hijab. There’s no white water one and if I fell in the scarf will go over my face! A hijab needs to stay nice and tightish here (she points to her chin and neck over the Zoom screen). As a beginner when you don’t wear fancy dry suits just tuck your sports hijab (costing £20-30) into the wetsuit as that’s a good solution. They do have motorbike balaclavas and for very cold times there’s a neoprene diving hood, both an alternative to a sports hijab,” says Anna showing off her sports hijab. “This is by Jog On, it was developed by an English Muslim woman Lynne Northcott who runs marathons, see Instagram @Jogonsportswear for info about her Jog On Sports Hijab”
- See this great piece by Anna, shared with British Canoeing, Considerations for Muslim paddlers which may be useful for your club https://gopaddling.info/considerations-for-muslim-paddlers/
Q: Any tips for running an Eid event in 2024?
Eid is the celebration after the month of Ramadan which will start around Monday 11 March in 2024. Eid al-Fitr will be near 9 April. While the second big Eid, Eid-ul-Adha 2024 begins on the evening of Sunday 16 June and ends on evening of Wednesday 19 June. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zhjjf4j “I don’t do our Eid paddle on Eid as that’s a celebration and a family event so people are busy. I do it a week or two after.” Now based in Bolton she did a trial Eid paddle in 2022 and then the next year organised a whole day where women could swap different crafts, share snacks and eat together over the whole day. “I wrote to lots of different brands to ask for Eid gifts, so we had Eid goodie bags for 30 people and a raffle where you can pull a free ticket (gambling for money is not permitted in Islam). It was a big event with a fancy sponsor for the BBQ meat (MyLahore).”
- See this great piece by Anna, shared with British Canoeing, Considerations for Muslim paddlers which may be useful for your club https://gopaddling.info/considerations-for-muslim-paddlers/
Q: What paddleboard do you use?
“I was given a huge 12.6 touring board with carbon paddle from Keiko Boards. I’m very grateful for this big board as once you become a mum it’s not the end of the story. I can put my bags and baby on it on a canal, and my 10-year-old stepdaughter! The longer the board the faster they are, and it allows me so much freedom. I can sit down if I get tired. As a paddlesports leader I need a huge bag with first aid, spare things for participants, etc, so I wouldn’t manage on a 10.6. I’ve also bought five boards for the family. My husband is still not very keen, but my three step kids really enjoyed going on canals and to Fell Foot, south of Lake Windermere.”
Find out more
- Follow Anna on Instagram at @kayakinghijabi
- Also see insta for @peopleofcolourpaddle
- @keikoboardsuk
Over to you
If you’d like to nominate someone to be interviewed who grew up, lives or works in Islington, or suggest yourself, please let me know, via nicolabaird dot green at gmail dot com. If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z index, or search by interviewee’s roles or Meet Islingtonians to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. Thanks for stopping by. Nicola
