NKC

Happy paddler at NKC over Christmas

2010-12-28T10:07:00.000Z

Who says it was too cold to enjoy paddling during the cold weather. Remember to say "Hi" to Smiley when you see him there!

Nottingham Hasler Race 2010

2010-05-22T21:24:00.003Z

I don't suppose that Norman knew it would be the hottest day of the year so far when he fixed the date, but the weather was pretty good for this year's Nottingham Hasler Race. We ended up with more entries than in the past few years and the whole day was very enjoyable. There was a good turn out from club members, with many people doing their first ever race. There was also strong support for helping with the organisation.

Well we all know what the inevitable is here...

OK Shaune you can let him come up about now.

Come on duck we can beat this one.

OK Julie, I reckon we can get you promoted here.

Come on Dave, we can win this.

This is fun.

Thanks to Tim N for the photos - more at http://picasaweb.google.com/nottmkc/NottinghamHaslerRace2010

More photos by Jane at http://picasaweb.google.com/jamillar/NottinghamHasler2010

May Regatta

2010-05-10T13:45:00.001Z

You could have been forgiven for thinking it was the December regatta or that it was a surf competition. Saturday was punctuated by regular capsizes followed by rescues from the motor boats. NKC members, particularly the juniors, were completely unphased by it all. Well it's pretty much what they're used to on the Trent, just a bit more consistent.

Boys D K4 500 metres

The only one who took a swim can be forgiven as he is an ex-triathlete and was obviously suffering from deprivation as far as the swimming was concered.

Sunday was much better, but there was still the odd mishap.

Results soon

Tim in action again

2010-05-05T11:55:00.002Z

Despite only having started training again in mid February following a lay-off after winning Gold in the 1000 metres and Bronze in the 500 metres at the Beijing Olympics, NKC member Tim Brabants was up there with the leaders in both 500 & 1000 at the April regatta. He also managed to win the 5km race by a hair breadth. Tim was caught in action by fellow club member Leonard Bobcek. see Tim in action again at Holme Pierrepont on the weekend of Sat/Sun 8/9th of May.

New Mixed Record for DW

2010-04-04T13:22:00.004Z

The record for the Mixed K2 on the non-stop 125 mile Devizes to Westminster canoe race has been broken by NKC pair, Harriet Farish & Paul Enoch. Their time of 17 hours 30 minutes 31 seconds beats the previous record set in 1994 by nearly 5 minutes.

Not only that, but Paul and Harriet finished in 2nd place overall and first Civilian crew, a really outstanding result for a Mixed pair. As far as I can tell from the race records this is the highest position ever for a Mixed crew.

Portaging Oakhill Lock -Froxfield

Paul and Harriet also break our own "club record" in the placings for Senior K2, previously held jointly by Brian Newbutt/Dave Hewlings in 1994 and Dave Phillips/Kath Nadal in 1981. These 2 crews both finished in 6th place.

So in a year that saw a quarter of the Senior K2 retire including our own crew of Craig Duff & Mark Burton, this is great result - well done Paul & Harriet

Photo: Jane Millar
More photos
Results

Waterside D 2010

2010-03-22T10:17:00.005Z

There were only 3 Nottingham enties for the 35 mile final race of the Series. I say entries, there were only 2 starters, with Tom having gone to the extreme of hammering his head against a piece of bathroom/kitchen furniture to render himself senseless in order to avoid a greater ordeal. Making a cup of tea? Ha! So a No Show for Becky and Tom.

Josh was rather muted, even at the start, as the realisation that he was about to do 112 x 500 metres all in one go gradually dawned on him. That's about 55.5 km further than he claims is "his distance."

Volume was down to about half normal by the end, even when his result became clear. No doubt it will soon pick up again as 4th place in a time of 5:23:24 is something he will want known. However, that was not the best, as his overall performance on the whole series left him in 2nd in Senior K1, an outstanding performance for a 500 metre sprinter. Not only that, but his technique was spotted by more than one old hand, who wondered if he could really be a Nottie paddler with such a relaxed, efficient style. So really well done Josh - bragging rights mate. Mind you next time you finish a marathon before the end and claim it's because you're really a sprinter, we will all know the truth, after all you've got the teeshirt to prove otherwise.

Craig and Mark looked fresh at the start and apart from a serious twinge in Mark's back looked the same at the finish. Craig still only had one thing in mind and they overtook her somewhere along the course to make his day complete. They went off the scale of possible speeds I had considered likely over the 1st 16 miles, but then settled back to one slightly faster than I would have predicted. Mark accepts all food and drink offered, although I've not tried steak and chips yet. Craig did better this time and didn't spit out anything whilst in sight. Reports of a flasher in rural Berkshire should be discounted as myth.

Their place of 8th on the D race in a time of 5:28:06 was good enough to get them into 4th in the series in Senior K2. Well done to them and to Josh as it is quite some time since Notties finished so well in the series.

Well done too to all NKC members who did any of the races, as the turn out in 2010 has been better than for quite a few years. If you haven't yet had a go, well, there's always 2011.
Waterside D results
Series results
Thanks to Ollie Harding for photos

Waterside C 2010

2010-03-08T08:46:00.010Z

Waterside C saw less NKC paddlers, but there were still enough to need a minibus and car. Setting off from Nottingham in dark freezing conditions is becoming a habit.

The temperature gauge wizzed up and down between -6 and a steamy -0.5 all the way to Pewsey, where it finally stuck on -2. This obviously meant that the paddling race turned into a running race for much of the 1st third.

Josh was the only K1 but produced a steady performance for 9th Senior K1. He was considerably quieter as he hove into view at the finish than when he set off, but still going strong.

Chris & Zyggy had been first Nottie crew away, but the running was very demanding on them, although they finished strongly for the conditions as one of only 4 Junior/Vet crews to complete the race.

Becky & Tom also turned in a good performance to come 9th in the mixed race, but went straight to the top of the leader border for the broken rudder trophy. The spare in the back of the boat was obviously worth carrying. Shaune and Cathy did well to finish just behind them in 10th despite the mismatch in leg stride on the running. Considering that it was a bit longer than your average Canoe Polo pool, Shaune was looking remarkably fresh at the end and Cathy was sufficiently relaxed to sunbathe in the car park briefly. (Sorry no pics)

Paul and Harriet paddled steadily through the field with little incident apart from the need to negociate the packed portages full of Sunday afternoon spectators to win the Mixed K2 class.

Craig and Mark started well, dropping very little time over the frozen sections and working steadily through the field. Craig's clockwork ran down about 16 miles down the course, just after Hungerford and the field started working their way back through them. A few more turns of the key needed for Waterside D.

Mark managed to look fresh all the way down probably due to the steady fuel supply welded to his back.

All NKC crews finished. The day looked to be a beautiful spring one, but the thermometer says, "No!" The organiser summed it up on the Waterside website, "That was a tough one. Respect to all who finished."

Results

Thanks to Ollie Harding for the photos

Waterside B (2)

2010-02-22T15:43:00.000Z

Photos from Ollie Harding's Waterside B Album

Would you want to sit on this wash on a cold day without a spraydeck?

See all Ollie's paddling Albums http://www.flickr.com/photos/paddling

Waterside B 2010

2010-02-22T09:04:00.003Z

Watching the Winter Olympics till late at night all week didn't help prepare for racing at Newbury too much, but was definately an asset for the drive there. The slips, the slides, the snow ...

Everyone was on time, loaded and on the road before 6:30. Well I say road, my choice of using the A46 may not have been best, as the car tyres never touched the actual road for the first 20 miles or so. When a snow plough we were following turned off, I wondered if we were going to be marooned near Leicester until the thaw set in. Fortunately that happened before we reached the A43.

Newbury by contrast was almost summery and seemed warmer than it was for Waterside A, 2 weeks ago. The good weather obviously attracted a few paddlers out, with over 250 boats racing.

Zyggy and I cannot be said to have had our finest race, although there were people for us to to catch and overtake all the way, nor did we finish last in the Junior/Veteran class. I was a bit disappointed not to beat 7 times World Champion, Ivan Lawler and his junior partner, who not only won our race, but were 3rd fastest boat on the water. Dave and Tadek were much quicker than we were, finishing 3rd in the same class, and I don't suppose they minded being beaten by Brian Greenaway, another legend of the sport and his junior partner. Dave and Tadek were only 3 minutes down on them. Our 6th was almost 1 hour slower than Ivan's time.

Meanwhile, Tom and Becky were putting in a far better performance than on Waterside A ... they finished. Tom obviously had new legs, or perhaps it was borrowing Geordie's aging boat that did the trick. 6th for them too in the Mixed class.

Craig and Mark may well have sorted their differences on portaging, although the boat still leaks, and the pump needs some serious maintenance. They finished 7th in the Senior K2 race dropping 2 places on their A result, but were the fastest Nottie boat on the water.

Josh was 12th in the Senior K1 and 2nd fastest Nottie boat.

I console myself with the knowledge that across the classes, over 70 K2s were slower than we were, one of them over 2 hours slower!

That's about it, Spring had almost returned to the Midlands, making the journey home almost effortless. Josh, Tadek and Zyggy were completely hyper when they should have been sleeping blissfully - at least there was little chance of feeling tired driving, although Craig didn't seem to notice.

Waterside A 2010

2010-02-07T23:14:00.005Z

I suppose after the weather we've been having, Waterside A could be described as sultry. Not that I was out in beachwear, even Ricky found long sleeves to wear, but some people still seemed to think shorts and tee-shirt were right for the event.

Ricky pushed me round and wanted to sprint the last mile, but a mixture of old age, cuts, grazes and bruised ribs made anything like that a bit sore. The ribs had nothing to do with Waterside, but Monday's "basketball." Non-contact - hahha!

Meanwhile back in Wiltshire/Berkshire the rest of the NKC lot were having their own traumas. Perhaps worst off were Tom and Becky who knocked it on the head with about 5km to go - they'd actually done the hard part, when Tom's legs failed to communicate with the rest of him, making things like running or steering a bit grim. (Some of us old fogies live our lives like that Tom, perhaps age is catching up with you early.)

Andrew, steering by the stars, his sat-nav, dead reckoning and Craig's course directions, negociated the 13 miles in just over 3 hours. He managed without following too many of Craig's recomended detours, although he will be turning up for technique sessions with Craig this week, alongside TB apparently. Andrew was slower over the shower/food section of the event than the paddling and missed the bus home, but hitched a ride in a passing car.
This gave Mark and Craig the chance to discuss why Mark was finishing each portage just as Craig was getting out of the boat.Obviously a bit of technique practice needed somewhere in that K2 then.

There was a generally good turn out by the Notties, so there was still chance for some glory, with Paul and Harriet winning the Mixed event in under 2 hours.

Chris and Zyggy managed to beat me and Ricky by 7 seconds, but were still shown as seniors on the results. Craig and Mark actually did OK, despite their claims of some slight lack of coordination, finishing as 5th senior crew. Steve and Duncan, 10 minutes behind them were 11th (out of 33 crews.) And actually Chris and Zyggy were 16th if a veteran and a 12 year old can be counted as seniors.

Cathy and Shane (nee Shaune) were 9th in the Mixed race. Mark and Martin were going well in the Veteran race and finished 13th.

Thanks to Dave and Jane for their driving and support. Without them, out lives would have been even harder!
Look out for the photo gallery link on the website.

Full results here

Photo Mick & Rick - Ollie Harding
Photo Andrew - Brian Gandy

Barrow Race thoughts

2010-01-16T20:00:00.007Z

"Why?" I asked myself as I drove through the persistent heavy rain towards Barrow. The temperature was about 4oC, mist hung over the fields, it was dark despite the time and everything just looked grey.

It could be that I'd said I would, or that the Soar would be in spate, or that is started and finished at a pub, serving bacon, sausage & burgers with decent facilities, or to support a local race or ... Who knows?

Max, Ricky & Julie also turned up, so I wasn't the only Nottie paddler there. I was going to be paddling an unfamiliar (heavy) boat - no rudder to help, in unfamiliar kit, buoyancy aid on a bit of river I hadn't seen for 30 years. I was still asking "Why?"

At the briefing, the question got louder - the canal paddle to the start was still frozen & kids had been seen walking on it so breaking through seemed unlikely. The river was so high that the footbridge just after the start was only passable by limbo dancers in low-line boats. This all meant that there was a long walk on an icy towpath & footpath to get below the bridge.

Getting the boat on the water, straight off the footpath was little problem, but getting into the Wavehopper that someone had stuck thigh bars to unequally was. However the footrest was adjusted, it was impossible to put equal pressure on both legs, so steering was a bit grim in one direction. Why?

The banter at the start sort of took my mind off the burning question, but being last off with little chance of catching anyone gave time for it to return.

The first 200 metres reinforced the question - shoulders stiff, needing to steer hard with paddles, breathing hard ...

I remembered places as I passed them, but in such quick succession that I was at the next before I had time to take them in. Yes, that's why. It's fun, the water's flowing fast, it's passing quickly, it's a bit of a challange today, it's different from my usual paddling.

No idea where I really came, Rick was first junior, Max 2nd, Michael 1st Senior, Julie 3rd (I think). I got a gong and a mug, not really sure what for, being the oldest, being 1st senior in a Whopper, surviving? Who cares. It was great to paddle with other people enjoying themselves, many in touring open canoes. The welcome made up for the cold weather. It was better to be out there, paddling, than stuck inside. That's why!

See course on Google Maps
See photos
See results on The Boat House At Barrow pub website (not done yet 17/1/10)

Mix & Match K2 Round the Loop

2010-01-01T10:36:00.005Z

A fair selection of members turned up to paddle Round the Loop on New Year's Eve at varying times. A chilly upstream wind only spoiled the sunny conditions over the last bit from the Suspension Bridge to the club, with some fairly lumpy chop.

Ian, the chairman & Des set off with Jimmy just after 9:00 as Chris was getting off the water.

The juniors with a few extras did my normal 9:30 session making up for the shortage of the regular "mums" this week. Tadek and Olivia talked their way round, a discrete distance behind the nearest boat. Zyggy and Harvey worked solidly all the way. Ozzie made sure that he and his mum were well at the front from start to finish and Ricky pushed me the distance. Noah was the youngest by far and managed the 10 miles with his dad in considerable style, reaching the club well ahead of everyone except Ozzie & Alison.

Shob & Kath opted for going to Beeston up the river & back so Kath could avoid portaging, while Adam set off to do the Loop alone, just as we headed for the showers.

Well done to all the juniors who turned out, thanks to the seniors who partnered juniors.
Some members may well want to do the usual Mix & Match K2 on Friday evening, but those of us who did the extended version in lieu on Thursday morning, propably got the best deal.

For those who have never done The Loop and want details click here.

New Year's Race

2010-01-01T10:19:00.003Z

This year, the Resolution Race on the Soar was a little before New Year so that we could do the Frank Luzmore K2 as well. It was sad to see such a low turn out this year, but not from NKC. Banbury made up the majority of the race and fortunately the organiser paddled or Soar Valley would not have had a single entry.

They were there doing the rest of the stuff, like starter/finisher, marshals at the key places and cooking the hot food.

The Chairman set a good example by winning the K1 race and Norman & Des did the same in K2. There was enough water in the river to use understern rudders on the old river bed and to make it interesting, but not so much that the measuring weir was a raging torrent. In fact, the wind blown chop on the Trent is probably more demanding.

Andrew deserves a mention as he finished just as the prize giving did, but was in time to collect his can of beer prize. In fairness he did do further than most of us and his GPS track shows that he took frequent detours and managed to make about 10.5 miles. On the other hand, having done the race quite a few times over the past 30 odd years, I only travelled 9.7 miles.

The facilities are not placial, but the very relaxed and friendly atmosphere at Soar Valley together with the "rustic" course, mean it's worth doing if only to shake off the Christmas cobwebs and burn a few calories - make it one of your resolutions to be there next year. Details will appear on the NKC website.
Results here

Two Broken Rudders? Trent K2 2009

2009-10-25T16:49:00.001Z

Well I remember better Trent K2 races and I remember worse. Worse would be the years when there were blizzards, head winds, a hole in the boat, broken paddles and one year when my partner and I were so unfit that the last 5 miles seemed to last for days.
Better would be any other Trent K2 in the last 20 years! It was nothing to do with my partner, as the boat ran well apart from the last bit and there was no way we could keep it moving in a straight line for more than 50 metres or so.
We were never going to be with the leading boats as some of the other crews have obviously escaped the promotion opportunities in the last month or two (little do they know ...) we did however settle into a small group well down the field before the 1st portage. The rest had obviously not been listening at the briefing because they all chose the difficult "get in" at Sawley, while we jogged slowly to the comfortable beach portage about 100 metres further down the bank. Steve from Leighton Buzzard was well ahead of us at the start of the portage, but there was just a chance we could get with him if we were .... oops, rocks! I'd taken too narrow an angle in my haste to get on the wash. That was rudder no. 1. No worries, I always have a spare in the boat on such races. The wing nut was a bit rusted on and it took considerable force to undo it and get the spare out. Remind me to use a plastic one in future. Then I couldn't get enough slack in the rudder lines to get the wheel onto the new rudder until I noticed that they were snagged under the buoyancy. All this on a desert island in the middle of the Trent with the rest of the races going past us. I spotted the back markers in the A race slide by, well before we were back on the water.
Fortunately there was a crew in the B race who were only a little faster than we were, so we had a decent wash nearly to the Cranfleet Cut. This got us past the back markers in the A race. We also had a reasonable portage despite the height of the "get out." It was a bit of a lonely plod to Beeston, but we were going reasonably well until the portage, when ting the spare rudder caught on the step and we lost no.2.
Donna agreed to carry on and we tacked our way the 5 miles to the finish line, having gone aground on the shallows by Monkey Island on the way. We had swapped places at that point and I ended up with Donna's seat and my knees by my chin. There must be something odd about her anatomy if she can sit on that seat for more than 5 miles - I will never speak in the same pitch.
We weren't last and we finished before the prize-giving and before everyone else had gone home. As I said not the worst Trent K2 I can remember doing, but definitely not the best. Thanks Donna, I hope you can promise me that we will only have "an adventure" every alternate race we do together.

Lincoln 2009

2009-10-12T08:20:00.003Z

I needed a break from moving the club website from uk.geocities to Google and the allotment has had loads of time recently, so what better change of location than Lincoln Hasler race.
It was a mixed day as far as weather was concerned, with warm, bright sunshine, sudden sharp showers and wind. The usual Lincoln interest was provided on the 8 mile course by the low bridges at the end of Brayford Pool, but most people seemed to get under with reasonable ease.
My race was not the most enjoyable ever, getting dropped in the first half mile, however the company of Jamie from Leamington stopped it being a boring drag. He's probably about 45 years younger than me and it won't be very long before he's disappearing into the distance too. A couple of changes of position added some spice, when we were caught and dropped by a Burton paddler, only to recatch him and drop him just before the finish.

The real action was going on at the head of our race where Norman was coming 2nd and in Div 3 where Ian was also in the medals. Damian managed a place in Div 8, but no promotion, while Ricky got both in Div 6.
For sheer value for money, Andrew, who is ranked Div 7, so could do the 4 mile course, opted to do Div 6 and the 8 mile course, but missed the turn buoy about 200 metres from the finish and did the 12 mile course instead!
Then it was a rush back to Nottingham for the club Annual Award presentations.

More photos from Caroline on Picasa.

Surfing Weekend

2009-07-14T07:46:00.004Z

A whole collection of NKC families and individuals made their way to that sufing paradise of the north east coast .... Satburn-By-The-Sea. The weather was kinder than the forecast suggested, the surf was as big as the predictions, but not as well formed. None of this altered the determination of those there to have a good time. The motly collection of kayaks, sit-on-tops and boogie boards took to the sea en masse on Saturday, with some die-hards only getting off the water for a bite to eat and a drink before getting out there again.
Some of us had already done a session on the biggest surf on Friday afternoon, all did at least one session on Saturday and most could not resist another one on Sunday & Mick did all four.

So a new generation has been introduced to the delights of Saltburn and camping at Runswick Bay and most are sure to return now that the bug has bitten. The prize for the most waterlogged should be shared by Eddie & Matt who were hardly out of the water long enough to swallow the hastly lunch that parents insisted on distracting them with.

Thanks to Gilly for the coaching. Thanks to Caroline for the photos. The rest are in the Picasa Album or the NKC Gallery.

Shropshire Paddlesport Hasler Race

2009-06-29T09:16:00.004Z

The Montgomery Canal at Queens Head near Oswestry was the venue for this week's Hasler race. As with Hereford, only a small group of Nottingham paddlers made the two and a bit hour trek to race. The weather was hot, the canal was narrow, but the welcome warm. The refurbishment of the old Green Barn is well under way, so facilites are likely to be much better in future years.
For a change there were no trophies for NKC, but the 4 of us managed to score 61 points, giving 4 Hasler points. The Host club scored the 10 points and Worcester scored 9 points leaving them only 5 points behind us on the Midlands Hasler Table.

For the rest of the details use the links below.
Race results.
More photos.

Hereford 2009

2009-06-23T08:14:00.004Z

An early start, a long drive and weather that was cooler and wetter than Nottingham was all worthwhile for the success of the elite band that made the journey. Damian was 2nd in Div 8, Mick & Ricky 2nd in Div 5 K2 after a close race with Jon Cave & Ellie Andrews of Worcester. Alice won Div 6 just 1 second up on John Talbot also of Worcester.

The rest of the photos: click here.
Full results: soon.

Hot day at Burton

2009-06-19T10:04:00.004Z

After the cold damp day at the Hasler finals last year, Burton was back to what we expect for this year's Hasler race. There were a number of new competitors with Sandra and Jane both doing their first Div 9 race. Olivia won her first Div 9 race, while Kath and Geordie won Div 7 K2. 28 Nottingham paddlers represented a good turnout for us and gave us the 10 Hasler points.

The day is best described in pictures on the Picasa Album. Photos by Mick, Caroline & Simon http://picasaweb.google.com/paddle2live/Burton

For those interested in the results, go to http://www.marathon-canoeing.org.uk/results/Burton2009.htm

Much later ...

2009-05-21T13:47:00.005Z

The other important event last night was Shob's 18th celebration with NKC. After the K4 10km was over, those few who could stand joined those who hadn't raced to help Shob become a senior.

Mini K4s

2009-05-21T13:40:00.004Z

Meanwhile ...

While the gladiators were battling it out over 10km, 5 boats full of mini K4s were practicing skills at the boathouse end of The Pond.

May K4

2009-05-21T07:48:00.008Z

Despite sudden downpours, there was a good turnout for the May K4 in the Ken Phillips series, with Paddlers from Nottingham, Lincoln, Loughborough, Burton, Wey & Leicester. The K3 stroked by Matt F sadly suffered equipment failure, otherwise, they looked in danger of being in the medals.

Here's the short version of the video - longer one available on request.

Meanwhile, more photos in the Picassa album. http://picasaweb.google.com/nottmkc/K410KmRaces?feat=directlink

Results on NKC website. http://uk.geocities.com/nottinghamkayakclub/resultstore/K4May09.htm

Worcester Marathon 2009

2009-05-11T07:10:00.002Z

The conditions were good, the turn out from the vets and juniors was better and 2nd place in the points was even better. Best was reserved for Lightnings who managed 1st place in their point table with only 5 paddlers. Well done to Kasia, Stani, Max, Abbie & Ozzie. Results http://www.worcestercanoeclub.org.uk/Worcester%20Hasler.htm
Great Pictures from Jane at http://nkcgallery2.blogspot.com/

Anker Valley 2009

2009-04-27T08:35:00.012Z

A slightly chilly wind was offset by beautiful sunshine and the shelter for most of the course made race conditions fairly pleasant. Spectating was less comfortable than paddling and I ended up doing 3 separate warm ups. My boat was even less prepared than I was, as the rudder lines snapped as I started my warm up on the water. Having just made it to the line in the old pale blue club Javelin that Nip had just vacated for his Div 8 race, the Div 4 start left me bobbing behind the rest of the field. The two local paddlers were obviously not at their peak as I would not normally expect to catch Simon or Gordon these days. However, I had a very enjoyable paddle, finishing with a sprint where Simon just squeezed past in the last 10 metres for 3rd place. James Cordery of Wey won Div 4 ahead of Bruce Blackman of Gailey.

Other Nottingham paddlers shared 4th place in their races too - Kath & Donna in Div 8/8 K2 and Abbie in Under 12 Girls to name a few.

Geordie & Tadek managed a great 1st in Div 7/7 K2, so did Tom in Div 6 K1. Nip managed a 2nd place. The teeshirts, that Anker Valley have presented as prizes for a few years now were once again in evidence.

Mention goes to Damian & Caroline, completing their first ever Div 9 race without mishap.

Lincoln & Banbury clubs dominated the prizes in both the Under 10/12 races and the Division races. It was another enjoyable day all round and I heard no complaints from any Nottingham paddler. Thanks go to NKC parents & Gilly for help with transport, support & safety.

More photos can be found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/nottmkc/AnkerValley2009#

The results will be on the Marathon Website at: http://www.marathon-canoeing.org.uk/results/Results.html

DW 8

2009-04-13T23:41:00.003Z

Having zoomed up to Nottingham & dropped the girls off I continued nearly to Manchester to finish the last 2 days of holiday with Donna & Kath, following the rest of the race remotely. Fortunately, Jane also recorded the 2 days with her camera. http://nkcgallery2.blogspot.com/

Craig dropped from 15th to 18th on day 3, behind Graham Holmes, but again finished in about 6 hours 15. On the last day he picked up again, finishing in 17th place in an overall time of 20 hours 32 minutes 33 seconds.

A very good result and well deserved.

I'll add the video soon.

DW 7

2009-04-13T22:40:00.004Z

I was up pretty early (4:30) filling flasks & reorganising the car. Craig was a little while later (6:00) and the girls half way through the day (7:30). The incorrect finish meant no individual timed start for stage 2, but the starter very kindly let Craig go just before the first of the timed ones. The timekeepers assured us that they would continue to investigate the accuracy of the time to Newbury and were very patient considering that we kept popping up and asking if it was sorted out yet. They had over 90 time corrections to do for other crews for the tunnel alone.

Craig headed into Day 2 with a time of 6:16 still standing and a promise to try and work it out from the timers. During the day there were 2 phone calls from them, but both came while I was driving and finding time to ring them back between driving and running was not easy.

The parking at some of the locks was more scary than the driving or running. While half way over the bridge to Marsh Lock, Beth phoned to say that a police woman wanted the car moved. I ran back the quarter mile towards the car, but just before I got there met the police woman and gasping for breath asked if I had parked on the yellow lines, apologising. She asked which my car was and she confirmed that I was one of the few in the half mile melee who was not, but said it was obstructing traffic! Then she looked me up and down and completely changed, asking if there was an event on! I swallowed my urge to laugh, cry or yell hysterically and told her what it was and what I was hoping to do. And ... she said OK, leave it there. I could have kissed her, but realised that would probably get me arrested and ran off back to the lock. Craig's dad had rung me from foreign parts to enquire how he was doing and wish him luck, and I mentioned it to Craig as he was half way over the bridge on his run. This clearly cheered him up. I didn't mention my blossoming relationship with a WPC.

There were more misunderstandings between me & the SatNav during the day and it was lucky not to get thrown in the river. Yet again it was reassuring to have Beth as human navigator. Why I bother with the electronic one with her there I'm not sure. Shob was also there when needed, complete with banana chunks, go juice bottles & jam sandwiches. Craig was fortunate to have their support. I was even luckier or I would be sedated with stress right now.

Craig continued to make very good progress, close to the 20 hour schedule I'd come up with. We actually saw him at the last place on our list, but at a distance, as the traffic in Henley meant we were moving slower than he was and it was a long run to the lock.

At the finish, we had some time to spare, despite having to park a quarter of a mile from Longridge, between the 2 hairpin bends up the hill! We lugged his giant kit bag with us and still with time to spare went in search of the timekeepers who had posted notes for us to contact them. They needed evidence that Craig (No 217) had finished about when I thought. I told them all I could remember. Unfortunately the paddler mistaken for 217 (211) had given similar details. Then ... then ... Beth said that she had videoed the finish and thought that the crew before Craig was also on the video to back our claim! For the 2nd time it the day I was tempted to throw my arms round a woman and give her a kiss. (Stress gets me this way I suppose - or at least the relief does.) I handed my DVCam over and they took a copy from it. I didn't learn until later, that this resulted in a time correction for Craig of about 13 minutes. I think Craig owes Beth a hug too!

He finished the 2nd day in 6 hours 15 minutes and while he set up camp, I handed over to Jane & Ricky, emptying the car of about half the kit. That was it for us, we followed Craig's progress via the internet and texts & phone call to & from Jane. (See DW 8)

DW 6

2009-04-13T16:20:00.005Z

In the very early hours of Friday morning, the support crew rose somewhat blearily from bed or floor and got final items ready while Craig carried on dreaming for a while. Eventually, a little like a Chinese puzzle, everything and everyone fitted into the car and rolled South Westish for a 100 or so miles. All the "check in" bits went smoothly with some friendly advice from Ian White & Paul Ralph. (Well you may as well ask the real experts.)

Craig was so eager, that he set off before I was even aware that he was on the water, so his start time was guessed by how far he had got down the canal. (20 seconds actually)

He was running close to his schedule and all the usual frenetic activity of supporting followed as we rambled around the Wiltershire countryside aided by Mark Burton. The SatNav got lost a few times and was quite frustrating as it kept trying to make us go back to an early portage for about 20 miles and I couldn't work out which! Fortunately, Beth mostly didn't get lost as frequently and in the rain & drizzle & mud our progress was mainly towards Newbury. On the canal, Craig's progress was entirely towards Newbury, so we met up at most of the prearranged places, poured carbo-drink down him & poked jam sandwiches in the general direction of his face, some of which found their target, other fed the ducks.

After missing a turning, I casually reversed into a grass bank and modified the back of the car a little - the bank remained unchanged. I didn't like to mention too frequently that the brakes felt rough, but my driving was mostly more sedate than usual. I suspect it was just the ABS working in the slippery mud, but the gears got more hammer than the brakes until I was sure they were going to stop us when required.

Graham Holmes, from Rabbit Independant Paddlers (No. 215) accompanied Craig for much of the day and he deserves special mention, having started 30 seconds ahead of Craig and finished a few minutes behind him. Quite apart from very gentlemanly dropping off the wash and moving round the back to change sides, so we could feed Craig, he finished with a correct time, an important fact as will become evident!

It was rather disappointing and unsettling to find that there was some dispute over Craig's finish time when we got to Newbury, but after registering our disagreement (well mine really, I'd better not blame anyone else) Craig, Beth & Shob went for a high priced Newbury pasta after pitching their tent. I settled down to boil kettles, wash the food & drink containers, mix more drink & do all the missing calculations on the schedule to confirm the time I was certain Craig had done. The "evidence" that confirmed my suspicions about the time problem, was Graham's of 6 hours 6 minutes, which made made nonsense of the one they eventually gave Craig of 6 hours 16, about 10 minutes behind Graham.

The 3 campers returned with tales of Shob's "thrifty" treatment of the pasta bill before turning in and I settled into my sleeping bag in the back of the car, dreaming that people were nicking the paddles off the roof, trying to steal the filthy, slimy, dripping bits of kit like paddling shoes and "camel pack" from where they were draining (drying was out of the question) under the car and messing around with the times & positions in the senior K1 race.

For a more interesting account of Friday & Saturday, come back in a few days time for the film version. Meanwhile, thanks to those mentioned above for the advice, in Mark's case serious running bits, like Crofton locks and Graham for being there. Thanks also go to Beth and Shob for catching the odd photo & video clip between jam sandwiches. (Particularly Beth for the video - see DW 7)

DW 5

2009-04-09T20:42:00.002Z

Well that's the rest of the supporters assembled. Just need to see if they fit in the car with the kit at 4:30 a.m. Craig looks relaxed enough. That's good, his body is quite unaware of what is about to happen to it! Mind you on his weekend off relaxing, it coped with a 40 mile run through the Peak District, so DW should be just another day at the office.

DW 4

2009-04-09T15:55:00.002Z

That's my kit & Craig's shoehorned in- just Beth & Shob & their kit to go. Oh dear! I forgot the 1000 jam sandwiches Craig will eat in the next 4 days.

DW 3

2009-04-09T14:49:00.003Z

Well the boat fits even if Craig's kit overflows the dining room. There was no way I could lift it. A good job he doesn't have to pack it all in his boat!

DW 2

2009-04-09T10:43:00.002Z

Reached the trimming it down stage. Easy with my own kit - just don't take it, sleep under the car in a plastic bivvi bag. A bit harder with support kit. Craig is doing the same with his kit. But his is vital, mine comfort!

I decided not to take the vacuum cleaner, or blowlamp, or gym balls. If my back is bad, the sacro-iliac belt will have to surfice.

Skinned the fibre-glass kit, rudder repair kit & spare parts down too, after all it's only one boat that might need fixing. No extra wooleys for me or extra waterproof coats.
The car is nearly ready - fuelled, watered and inflated. Packing has commenced, but can't continue until Craig brings his kit.

DW 1

2009-04-09T08:25:00.005Z

Most of the kit is ready & is starting to gather ready for packing. From the forecast, it looks as though it will be a wet DW. Keeping the fibreglass resin, Deepheat and meths apart from breakfast & Craig's paddling food is the main issue at the moment. The dining room and office are getting more cluttered by the minute!

Waterside B

2009-03-02T10:24:00.004Z

The only time I remembered my camera was at 5:30 a.m. just before we set off to Newbury, however, with the stiffness and soreness from Waterside A nearly forgotten, there were just as many NKC members turning out for Waterside B.

For those interested in all the results go to the results page. http://www.watersides.fsnet.co.uk/current-b-res.htm

However, if you want to know how our day went, read on ...

It was a slightly later start than for the A race and everyone was there & the trailer loaded on time. There were several Waterside "virgins" opting to do the 17.5 mile downstream/upstream race. Michael (ears featured above) wanted to know what to expect and Norman, sitting next to him, who has been doing Waterside since the 1970s gave an explanation that he thought would be appropriate to a White Water paddler. "Imagine going down "Serpent's Tail" ... 3 abreast ... then imagine paddlers coming towards you ... 3 abreast." This is probably the most apt description ever, especially for the section leading up to Aldermaston. Michael paddled with Tadek (age 12) in the Senior Mens K2 and came 12th out of 44 starters in a time of 2 hours 47 minutes, a great performance by them.

The next newbie would be Lynda - the blonde head on the right - who has done minimal training, just come back to serious paddling after a break of 3 children and about 20 years who was doing Ladies K2 with Cathy - the blond head on the left. She had some novel plans for combatting the dreaded numb bum that might have won prizes in a Renaissance beauty pagent and soaked up enough canal water to fill a bucket. They came 2nd in a time of 3:03:16, so however hard it felt Lynda, it was a pretty good first Waterside for you!

George & Bryan deserve a mention after their second waterside this year with "equipment failure." It was the footrest on Race A when some amazingly good luck in finding bits of wood and steel just the right length allowed them to mackle up a replacement and complete the race. This time it was the seat which partly detached itself from the boat and swivelled round, needing constant attention at portages. Are they doing Race C? I wonder ...? No I won't even think about it! Despite their tribulations they managed 4th in the C2 race out of 22 starters in a time of 3:11:26. Another good performance.

Alison and Norman in the Mixed K2 race, had a good run despite Norman thinking it was hard. 5th out of 30 in a time of 2:45:28 is a pretty good result and much better than some of the crews half their combined age. (I can't reveal what it is, but not quite 100) Alison not only remembers how many portages they've done (I remember the first 3 or 4 and then lose count) but revealed that they had overtaken 121 crews during the race.

Richard Golder & Richard Meyer made their own ways to Waterside, and we only saw them in passing (literally) on the water. 6th and 12th out of 28 in the Senior Mens Race was a reasonable performance although both would have preferred higher no doubt & have been in the past. I don't know about Richard G, but I know Richard M had not done that much training for the event. Richard M's account of his novel approach to tackling the low swing bridge would take too long to relate and would be much better on a video.

Craig was 8th out of 15 in Junior K1 in 3 hours 3 minutes including 2 swims as well as paddling and running, so he made it into a triathlon. I don't think he meant to though.

Chris & Zyggy (aged 11) were 6th in the Junior/Veteran K2 in 3 hours 1 minute. Zyggy was still standing at the end although he did sleep most of the way home. I wonder how school went on Monday morning? Chris looked OK though!

Shob & I were only just ahead of them in the same event, coming 5th in 2:53:50 which is the same time I did with Beth last year. However at the swing bridge, we had not had the benefit of Richards novel approach to negociating it and went for the more classic ducking ... at least I did! Shob obviously was not quite so successful and managed to bang her head. The extent of the damage was not obvious until she took her hat off to get changed, revealing a a mass of matted blood and hair ... and a split over an inch long (2cm.) A quick trip to the local A & E got it glued - the bridge has not yet been inspected for damage.

I owe you Shob! The photo on the Paddlepics website shows that we were in time and paddling well! http://www.paddlepics.com/watersides/wat%20b%202009%20pt%201/index_17.htm (IMG_9909) So it didn't stop her stroking the boat really well and giving me a good race even though neither of us were aware of the blood trickling down her neck for over two and a half hours. Well perhaps because we were unaware!

Hot race; cold air

2009-01-14T14:28:00.004Z

Clifton time trial on a Tuesday night is turning into a spicy event. The number of top UK paddlers past and present seems to increase every week, despite cold, damp and general economic depression. This week saw Tim Brabants, Jonny Schofield & James Block all out in K1 together with the usual diehard club paddlers. You need to be pretty quick to get the washes, but they are there for those who want to try. It may be dark and chilly to the majority of the Nottingham population, but on the Trent at 6:00 on a Tuesday night it's scorching hot and illuminated by flashes of gold!

Gold Medalist at Clifton Time Trial

2009-01-07T14:43:00.003Z

It was probably the coldest Tuesday night of the winter and all the usual crazies turned out to do the time trial, but we were warmed by the presence of our most successful member who showed up to let we mere mortals have a glimpse of the Gold and Bronze medals won at the Games. (See earlier post.)

But his reason for being there was far more important than to just warm our hearts, as he had promised Zyggy that he would do K2 with him & you don't let a keen 11 year old like him down whatever the weather, whoever you are.

They did about 37 minutes, but hey, who cares about the time, not everyone is lucky enough to do the Clifton time trial with an Olympic Champion.

A real pleasure to see him again. Thanks for the picture Jane, more on the NKC Gallery at http://nkcgallery2.blogspot.com/

New Clifton "World Records"

2008-10-17T12:11:00.002Z

There are several things that need reporting here in the way of events and results, but one that is worth noting before it goes un-noticed is a new "World Record" for the Clifton Race. It's all the more important because it is the most long standing.

The the oldest Winter World record has been broken - twice by Matt Lawrence in Sprint C1 he did 39.04 this week and 40.55 last week. He also set a new All Comers C1 world record at the same time.

Previous best times for the overall record were James Lee 39.12 and for the Winter, Willy Reichenstein 42.05 way back in 1979. Both previous best times were done in daylight as well.

For those not familiar with C1 paddling, it indicates just how good Matt is. He is the best C1 paddler we currently have in this country and we are fortunate that he is paddling with us at the moment. As he is recovering from illness and probably not yet back to full fitness, just imagine how good he will be in the future.

Fladbury

2008-09-29T08:06:00.004Z

Fladbury was the 2nd marathon of the new season - the weather was good, there was a reasonable turnout of Lightnings, juniors & veterans. Despite the absence of almost all the club senior paddlers, we still managed to be second club. The full results are on the Marathon Website at http://www.marathon-canoeing.org.uk/results/Fladbury2008.htm

The actual day is best reported in pictures. Here's one to whet your appetite - the rest are at http://picasaweb.google.com/nottmkc/Fladbury

World Marathon Championships & Tour de Gudena

2008-09-29T07:55:00.003Z

Congratulations to Harriet Farish for her 10th place - sorry no further details yet as no results seem to be on the Marathon website.

Congratulations also to Rich Golder on his 4th place at Gudena in Denmark. Go to the Marathon website (see sidebar) for report and more details. Richard has moved closer to Burton on Trent and so will be racing for them in the future, but as a valued member and past NKC Chairman, we still offer him our wishes for his continued success next season.

The Interclubs Regatta

2008-09-29T07:35:00.003Z

The weather was poor, I'm afraid to say the turn out by most of our paddlers was poor considering that the course is right on our doorstep and from the point of view of the Lightning paddlers, the organisation was disasterously poor. However the performances of those who attended made up for both these factors to some extent.

It was of course mainly veterans and juniors racing and with some outstanding efforts from amongst them we managed to squeeze into 14th place. It seems that the scorekeeping was also poor and a quick check showed that we should have been placed 12th. The matter has been taken up, but so far no response from the organisers.

Our main cause to celebrate is the success of the Lightning paddlers. On the Saturday, our most successful paddlers in both Under 10 & Under 12 boys were denied a final despite much slower paddlers being included. However, they proved their point on the Sunday by producing medal winning performances.

The Lightning efforts, together with their consistent results and considerable participation during the season gave them the Runner Up place in the Lightning Cup. We offer them our congratulations.

Full Results can be downloaded from the Wey Kayak Club website by following links for Sprint then Results. http://www.weykayak.co.uk/

Sorry the weather made photography almost impossible, so no pictures.

Just Another Tuesday

2008-08-28T13:39:00.004Z

So after all that we return to just another Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. and just another Clifton 5 mile time trial. The only really notable performance came from Tadek who returned from holiday and produced a PB.

More photos on http://picasaweb.google.com/nottmkc/Clifton

Gold

2008-08-28T13:10:00.005Z

Well unless you've been asleep, out of the country and away from all sources of news, you will have noticed that one of our members - Tim Brabants opted out of doing the Nationals at Worcester with the rest of us and went off with another NKC member to paddle in China. Tim managed something that no other British paddler has ever done - win an Olympic Gold medal at 1000 metres! He followed that with a bronze in the 500 metres, just before some of us went out and strolled round 4 miles at Worcester.
Our congratulations go to him on something that is unique in British Sprint canoeing & places our sport up there with others like cycling, rowing, sailing & swimming.
Let's not forget to congratulate Lucy Wainwright too. "Only" coming 7th in an Olympic final is one of those acheivements that most of the rest of the sprint paddlers in the World would love to have managed. It is put in context when you look at all the members of Team GB who didn't make finals, who finished lower down the rankings than 7th, or the rest of us who are never likely to get selected to represent our country at the very highest level. For those who may have missed previous news, Lucy is already European 200 metre Champion, so comgratulation Lucy on your results.
For those intersted in more details go to http://worldclass-canoeing.org.uk/wcp/wcp-standardtemplate1.aspx

National Marathon Championships 2008

2008-08-28T01:32:00.004Z

A fairly large club team attended the Nationals at Worcester over the August Bank Holiday. Fortunately several people had cameras with them and the paddling is best viewed in the web albums on Picasa.
First the ones from Shobhanaa http://picasaweb.google.com/nottmkc/NationalMarathonChamps
Beth, Mick & Kath took a few too
http://picasaweb.google.com/nottmkc/Nationals2

Here are a few of the ones Richard took.

http://picasaweb.google.com/nottmkc/Nationals3
Some good results were produced, most notable from Hayleigh, Harriet & Tina. Dave Belbin, Norman & Mick also featured in the National Champs Masters age group medals. There were also medalists in the Divisional races. Shob, Leanna & Craig also featured with divisional prizes in the National Championships youth age group races. Full results here http://www.worcestercanoeclub.org.uk/nationals_entriessofar.html
Congratulations to all those attending as the club gained 7th place overall.

Sunday paddle

2008-08-07T08:24:00.005Z

Craig, Alice, Ricky & Leanna turned up complete with picnic, to do a slightly extended paddle on Sunday. Our journey took us up the canal to Beeston, up river nearly to the edge of the caravan site at Thrumpton just below the portage for Trent Lock, at a steady pace. Hunger seemed to be gnawing despite it still being the morning, so we turned downstream and stopped on the small beach just above Barton Island for lunch.

The younger paddlers amused themselves in a variety of energetic ways including investigations of the how to swim a tippy boat from the middle of the river to the bank,

cross country running across grassy fields

...and an in depth study of alluvial deposits - their deposition & distribution ...

I rested.

The paddle back was as incident free as the first stage and at a similar pace.

Altogether an enjoyable day out that also happened to include some serious training efforts totalling over 15 miles!

July K4 10km

2008-07-25T00:43:00.004Z

It was a mostly calm, warm and sunny evening for the July K4 10km. There were 7 crews with paddlers from Nottingham, Lincoln, Chelmsford, Leicester & Chester paddling. There were varying standards of steering the turns, wash hanging and timing in the entirely mixed crews. Only one boat had a time handicap, with a crew ranking total of 18 (I think) against crew rankings totalling 22, 23 & 24. In theory, they should have caught the "pack" and very nearly did catch the 6th placed crew, however their turns probably added about 200 metres to their course each time and with 7 turns during the 4 laps, obviously paddled about 1500 metres more than the rest.

The two leading crews reaching the finish line.

The evening was also an opportunity for the under 12s (some under 6!) to develop their skills in the Rocket mini K4s further down the course.

Go to the Gallery for more photos http://nkcgallery2.blogspot.com/
Results here when available
Photos - Mick

Excitement - the alternative to Soar Marathon

2008-07-17T13:25:00.004Z

Just a pointer to some great photos from last weekend's trip away for the families that went with Julie, Rex and Gilly! While the rest of us swam or paddled at Soar. Look at the pictures and then say which you would rather do? Click here http://nkcgallery2.blogspot.com/

World Cups II

2008-07-14T00:10:00.002Z

Meanwhile at Crestuma in Portugal, Harriet Farish (in K2 with Nicola Taylor - Elmbridge ) came 4th out of 7 starters, 4 min 42 sec down on the winners. A good British Result.

She races again next weekend as part of the GB team to the IV Castilla y Leon K4 International Grand Prix, at Valladolid and Sanabria, Spain.

We wish her success again.

Soar Marathon 2008

2008-07-13T23:23:00.004Z

The weather improved enough to make it the most like summer that we have had for a couple of weeks. Neil Blackman, the Soar Valley race organiser, proved that it doesn't take a cast of thousands to produce a good race, with only 3 of them running the whole thing. Altogether it was a good day out for those who raced.

Apart from the Nationals at the end of August, it was the last opportunity in the Midlands for individuals to qualify to race at the 2008 Hasler Finals. However, despite it being the closest race apart from our own and the last chance to score Hasler points for the club, the fewest number of NKC members to attend the Soar Race in the past few years, made it a little disappointing for us.

Other clubs, like Burton, Lincoln & Gailey had clearly made an effort to turn out as many paddlers as possible and with 20 odd Lightning paddlers, there were around 90 competitors in total. Like most Midlands races this season though, K2 competitors above Div 7 were almost non-existant, and Div 9 was much lower than would be hoped.

Those NKC members who did attend had mixed fortunes. The hot sunshine raised the temperature quite high, making the water seem inviting and we topped the swimming table with ease. However, good results were produced by Ian in Div 4, Norman in Div 5, Shobhanaa in Div 7, Ozzie in the Under 10 Lightnings and Heather & Alison in Div 8 K2. Kath & Donna were also in the Div 8 K2 medals.

Let's hope a few more NKC members make it to Ironbridge for the first qualifying race of the 2009 Hasler season on 10th August.

More NKC Successes - Members in the News

2008-07-11T08:24:00.005Z

The news has been full of NKC Members recently.

OLYMPIC KAYAK SPRINT SELECTIONS

Perhaps Tim Brabants & Lucy Wainwright are the most notable, having been on local TV, National TV & the papers. We wish them success.

Also in the news:

INTERNATIONAL MARATHON RESULTS

Paul Enoch & Richard Golder - Senior Mens K4 Trophy Prince of Asturias at Pontevedra in Spain - 20/21 June with Jamie Mayers of Runcorn & Richard Forbes of Solihull.
5th international crew.

Harriet Farish - World Cup 1, Brandenberg, Germany 14-15 June. K2 with Nicky Taylor of Elmbridge Canoe Club. 8th senior women K2.

LOCAL NEWS

At yesterday evening's presentation for the Rushcliffe district sports awards at the Arena, Harriet Farish won the Senior Sportsperson Of The Year out of the many candidates (5 were shortlisted) in a high quality field. Tim Brabants was the speaker at the event and a film was shown of his last years 1000m world championship K1 race to an excited audience. In Harriet's absence - she has gone to race in Crestuma this weekend for another World Cups Event - Norman Mason, the NKC Captain, collected her trophies from Tim).
Also shortlisted were Michael Sims as Junior Sportsperson Of The Year (for last year) and David Phillips as Volunteer Sports Coach. Both of these were in the last 5 in very tough competition.

NATIONAL SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIPS

At the National Sprint Championships last weekend, Tim Brabants became the Mens A K1 500 metres Champion. Laurence Garton won the Mens D Class Championships in both 1000 metres and 200 metres.
Good performances were also produced by our Juniors in the Under 14 Age group. Both Boys and Girls events had over 40 competitors from clubs all over the country and the Girls races also had representatives from Holland and South Africa. Ricky Millar produced good times, while Alice Cobb & Leanna Bold both reached finals. Leanna's result was notable as it was her first season paddling & she came 6th in Final 1 with a paddler from Frisia, Amsterdam & another from Natal Canoe Club, South Africa just ahead of her in the 500 metres.
Only two of our Under 12s paddled at this event, taking part in Lightning, Hody K2 & Mini K4 events. Congratulations to Max & Megan on their first Nationals.

Activities - Shropshire

2008-07-01T09:37:00.005Z

There are still things going on at the club, like busy Friday nights with a good turn out each week from the juniors, several casual paddlers and a few seniors doing Round the Bridges time trials. Club members did well at Burton & Hereford Marathons too, as can be seen from the results on the club website. Lightning activity at Regattas has been the best ever, with good results in the Lightning, Hody K2 & Mini K4 events. Again details can be found via the club website & downloaded.

Perhaps because everyone is so busy paddling, we do have a shortage of people writing blog entries about it or taking photos, so to get it going again here are a few pictures from Burton, Hereford & Shropshire & a brief report.

Burton saw a good turn out by parents, supporters, veterans, juniors and Lightnings with excellent results. Hopefully there will be a few more pictures on the Gallery Blog before the end of the summer.

Two car loads made it to Hereford for a very windy day's racing.

Finally this weekend, the journey to Shropshire proved to be far easier than that to Hereford and although narrow, the racing there proved to be worth the Journey.

It was a bit tight for the Div 7 K2 start, but our two crews managed to stay out of trouble and get to the front group with little difficulty. The two Lightning paddlers each with their Div 7 junior partner, performed particularly well. Despite some interesting turning and an unfortunate collision, they finally finished in 2nd and 3rd places - an excellent result. Mick's Div 5 race was less crowded, but the younger ones shot off, leaving him to warm up on the first mile. After Matt (from Burton) dropped Mark (from Gailey) 2nd 3rd & 4th places came together in a group. By the finish, now fully warmed up and with fortune smiling on him at the 6th portage, Mick also managed to gain 2nd.

Hopefully there will be more photos on the Gallery of other activities soon.

Champions

2008-05-23T07:17:00.008Z

While Nottingham Marathon was going on, some NKC members were doing great things elsewhere:

At the European Sprint Championships in Milan ...

Tim Brabants - added yet another title to his impressive array - European Men's K1 1000 metre Champion (Report http://www.bcu.org.uk/bcu/bcu-newsitem.aspx?NewsItemId=864)
Lucy Wainwright - became European Women's K1 200 metre Champion (Report http://www.bcu.org.uk/bcu/bcu-newsitem.aspx?NewsItemId=865)
Hayleigh Mason -was in the Women's K4 500 metre crew that came 9th (Jess Walker/ Anna Hemmings/ Rachel Cawthorn /Hayleigh Mason) and in the crew that came 4th in the Women's K2 200 metres with Rachel Cawthorne of Wey Kayak Club.
(Milan Report http://worldclass-canoeing.org.uk/wcp/wcp-newsitem.aspx?NewsItemId=586&Level1MenuItemId=2)

At Southampton Marathon Assessment Race ...

Harriet Farish - was qualifying for a place in the team to go to World Cup 1, Brandenberg, Germany 14-15 June. Where she will partner Nicky Taylor of Elmbridge Canoe Club in the Senior Women's K2.

Paul Enoch & Richard Golder - have also been selected to take part in the Senior Mens K4 Trophy Prince of Asturias at Pontevedra in Spain - 20/21 June with Jamie Mayers of Runcorn & Richard Forbes of Solihull.

Nottingham Marathon (3)

2008-05-21T16:44:00.002Z

Portages & finishes

Nottingham Marathon (2)

2008-05-21T16:26:00.002Z

The Div 9 & Lightning starts

Nottingham Marathon (1)

2008-05-19T12:41:00.003Z

The weather was very pleasant for the annual NKC Marathon Race. Tim took so many pictures that it will tale several post to include some of the best. There will be a CD-Rom at the club for all those who want to copy some. Meanwhile here are the first of the starts - more to follow. The provisional results are on the website at: http://uk.geocities.com/nottinghamkayakclub/resultstore/Hasler08.htm

Could you ever doubt that Geordie was enjoying the race?

Busy Weekend 15th - 18th May

2008-05-13T00:51:00.006Z

A reminder to all members that the club are running their Hasler Marathon Race on 18th May. If you're not racing, there are jobs you can help with or come and cheer our paddlers on.

Meanwhile our thoughts are with NKC's top sprint paddlers, as 3 of them are representing Britain at the the European Championships in Milan. Tim Brabants, the current 1000 metre World Champion, is doing Mens K1 500 & 1000 metres. Lucy Wainwright is doing Womens K1 200 & 500 metres and Hayleigh Mason Womens K2 200 metres & K4 500 metres. In addition to this, Rosy Gray, one of our club Life Members, is acting as an official at the championships. Full team details here http://www.marathon-canoeing.org.uk/newsletter.asp

Congratulations to Harriet Farish for her 4th place, only 6 seconds down on the winner at last weekend's GB marathon assessment race in Chester. Richard Golder was 8th in the Men's K1. Full results here http://chestercanoeclub.org.uk/chester_1_ass_08.htm

Leamington Marathon 2008

2008-05-11T15:41:00.005Z

Only Craig & I made it to Leamington this year, and as it's hard to paddle and photograph, it's just a brief report (hooray) with no illustrations (boo). The lower divisions did the same course that they have done for the past few years, but higher divisions started downstream from the club at the Avon/Leam confluence.

The only downside to the race arrangements this year, were that the starts made it impossible for any juniors, or Lightnings to be accompanied, helped, supervised, or chaperoned, if everyone else was paddling the course with their start a considerable distance from the club. This severly limited us this year as all the parents of the beginner juniors and Lightnings who wanted to paddle, also paddle themselves. The Google Earth photos of the course were good and the simple course diagram easy to follow - the best I've seen.

I can't speak for the Div 2 & 3 paddlers who had 4 laps of the same bit of river to do, owing to the spectacular, but dangerous events staged at Warwick Castle during summer weekends. (Being moving targets for mediaeval artillery could be considered dangerous!) For Divs 4 -6, the actual racing was if anything better than the course we have come to expect. Club members had cleared the long portage "get outs" well and although the weir could be deemed by some, too dangerous to be done downstream, it was dry enough to be OK upstream. The additional bit upstream of the club, made up for missing the downstream portage. The biggest hazards actually encountered were, as always, the wandering "rowing" pleasure boats. These beetle around looking as though they are intending to go right, but go left & vice versa - they look equally confused about what we are doing. I do remember the punts at Oxford were worse, but it's marginal!

The damage we sustained to our understern rudder took place at the last turn where an underwater log leapt out and got us as we turned.

Craig's day was made when he heard a "piper" off in the woods and went to track him down after the race!

Leamington were welcoming and generous with their mugs as prizes (now blue on yellow to go with our yellow on blue ones.) The weather was spectacularly hot and even though Craig and I could have had a better race, the easy journey to Leamington was well worth the effort.
Perhaps a few more Notties could manage it next year.

Full results here http://www.marathon-canoeing.org.uk/results/Leamington2008.htm

May Regatta

2008-05-06T21:08:00.004Z

The May Regatta was a great weekend, with it being my second regatta I was a little more confident of what I had to do. The Javelin proved itself by winning the K1 500m and coming second in K1 1000m. It was good fun doing the 500m for the first time, and its over before you know it. Also I did K2 500m and 1000m with Ricky and I really enjoyed this, we were in a really snazzy K2 and we got great results with coming first in both events. It was great to have such a good partner and I hope to paddle with Ricky at the next regatta. There was no complaining about the weather it was perfect and it was great to watch other Nottingham paddlers compete and get into the finals. A big thanks to Mick for all the organising and being a great coach, and to all the people who helped and supported at the regatta. I feel it was a great weekend and we got great results from all the paddlers and bring on the next one.

Craig

May Regatta 2008

2008-05-04T21:29:00.006Z

The May Regatta this year was enjoyable for a number of reasons.
First, the calm, warm weather, made the racing so much more enjoyable, even with a little drizzle on the Sunday.
Second, watching Tim Brabents demonstrate so emphatically why he is the World Champion provided inspiration for us all. Our three top seniors, Tim, Lucy and Hayleigh all produced some great results, helping to progress their standings for international selection & success this year.
Apart from them and a new member, Paddy, in Mens D, and Michael in Mens B, that was about it for Nottingham Seniors.
We also had representation in the Masters classes from Tim, Pete, Mick, Rex & Ian with a string of good results for Ian & Rex in Masters A in particular, and a win for Mick in the Masters B 1000 metres.
However good any of these factors might have been though, it was the participation and successes in the Junior & Lightning classes that were the highlight of the event.

Leanna, doing her first regatta partnered with Sarah managed 3rd in the Girls D 500 metres 1st Final. Shobhanna reached the Girls D 500 metre 1st final in K1 and Alice reached the 3rd final of the 1000 metres. Ricky & Craig excelled themselves in their 2nd regatta, particularly with their win in the Boys D K2 1000 metres. Craig also produced excellent results in his K1 races.

It is hard to pick out the best Lightning performance from the club, but for me perhaps, the fact that we produced 2 full crews for the 1000 metres Under 10/Under 12 mini K4 was the most pleasurable. Well done to, Tadek, Zyggy, Ozzie, Amelia, Megan, Max, Harvey & Olivia

The support from parents also needs mention and thanks. It was great to see solidarity from parents of the older juniors at the regatta, cheering on the paddlers. The turnout by the parents of Lightning paddlers took me back to the great days of the 1970s, when NKC parents turned out in force to cheer and help at the regattas.
Paticular thanks needs to go to Julie, who organised the Nottingham Lightning paddlers, negociating with officials & sorting crews. She also managed to run up and down with the races and take a few photos.

The two Nottingham mini K4 crews on their way to 1000 metre start. Wouldn't it be great to have a couple of the boats at the club for them to train in too!

Mini K4 1000 metre start.
Photos by Julie

Full results as PDF file: http://www.bcu.org.uk/bcu/CoachingItemPDFs/upload_2147.pdf

Worcester!

2008-04-29T16:03:00.001Z

There weren’t that many paddlers from the club at Worcester on Sunday, but many people did well. Alice, Tadek and I paddled in div 9 and our race was the first of the sets of divs. Unfortunately Alice started next to a C1 which cut across a lot of boats and cut her completely off and Tadek also got held up but they recovered. But then Alice’s footrest broke and so Mick had to do a quick fix however Alice managed to over take four people!

The course had been changed to a new one which was easier as it was just up and down. Alison, Heather and Geordie, Kath and Donna also passed by on the race and they looked to be paddling well!

Afterwards we watched Rex win the div 4 K1, Mick do a great portage and Craig’s finish too! Not to forget Max’s fly by the finish line and win the under 10 lightenings!

As well as having a great race, the weather was lovely as it was forecast to rain all day although there was a bit of showers during div 4,5&6’s race.

My results were very pleasing as I won div 9 and was also promoted to div 7! Overall it was a great day and I’m really glad Mick talked me into racing, thanks!

Worcester Photo Caption Competition!!!

2008-04-27T22:19:00.002Z

I've promised that I'll add the first of these photos so that you can all click & zoom in on my face.

All suggestions for the caption to Rex please. Thanks for the photos Julie.

Worcester Marathon 2008 - Divs 4, 5 & 6

2008-04-27T21:53:00.005Z

We had no paddlers in the upper divisions, but Rex, Mick & Craig provided good results in their respective classes. Most Notable was Rex's outstanding win in Div 4.

Craig doing his first 8 mile race also aquitted himself well. His dead leg and other incidents on the only portage, were probably memorable from his point of view.

Not to be outdone by his dad, Max deserves a mention for his win in the Under 10 Lightning race.

The weather was generally good with a mixture of warm sunshine and quite heavy showers.

Worcester Marathon 2008 - Divs 7, 8 & 9

2008-04-27T21:10:00.002Z

It was an early start for some as the start times of the first races was very early for most marathons in the region. NKC was well represented in Div 7 K2 with Kath & Donna plus Geordie and Heather racing.

Leanna & Alice doing their first K1 marathon joined Tadek in Div 9, while Alison did Div 7.

Alice has a tale to tell - after the first 500 metres, her footrest & tiller dropped out, but fortunately, Craig was doing his guardian angel bit & spotted her in difficulties & summoned the driver/coach/repairman, to do some rapid, on the spot adjustments to the ailing system and then over 500 metres down on the last boat in the class, she carried on. Even then she managed to catch several of the tail enders before the finish. Tadek did a good steady race, paddling up from Under 12s, while Leanna produced an outstanding result by finishing 1st in a faster time than the Div 8 winner and consequently getting promoted to Div 7 ... on her 1st K1 race. She was the only person from the club who was surprised at this outcome, but also clearly enjoying her first real marathon K1 success.

Once upon a time & the death of canoe marathon ...

2008-04-27T20:54:00.002Z

Once upon a time, when the world was very young and life was still fun, there was a canoe marathon race course at Worcester.

I did something called National Championships there and it was fun. There were things called portages, that meant climbing and slipping up muddy banks, carrying boat and paddles. There were things called weir shoots at 3 different places and they were exciting.

And in those days many people raced and many came to watch the fun & excitement. The enjoyment was so great, that I wanted to do more and to learn how to climb banks without slipping and shoot weirs without swimming and paddle up fast narrow streams without being washed back. And so, in the fullness of time, I learned all these arts and it was even more fun. And watching was also fun.

As more time passed, canoeists forgot these skills and the ones called boat repair and they wanted easier things, with less challange, because it was told that canoeists from over the seas were not as good at the skills, so to make it fairer for them, we should make canoe marathon less demanding and less fun.

But the course at Worcester was still one of the best, with portaging around natural hazards, and so canoe marathon survived, slightly diluted but with some fun retained.

And yet more time passed and still it was too hard for some people, so more things were removed – concrete paths and cones and red & white tape replaced mud & fences and tree roots. They provided a portage around … provided a portage around … around … er … er … cones & tape.

And the course at Worcester survived, now quite insipid, a homogenised shadow of the course that first attracted me to the fun and excitement. It still had interest, beautiful, scenery, buildings and bridges, but I had no need of the skills I had learned.

And soon the thing called media and the spectre from over the seas, demanded that the fun stop, that canoe marathon was serious, not fun, that spectators wanted to sit at home, not traipse to things called weirs or portages. And so “laps” were born. And the course at Worcester was doomed.

Why go to Worcester? Wasn’t there a lake at Dorney and at Holme Pierrepont and “laps” could take place just as well on those. Media could get there easier, closer and the skills of canoe marathon were no longer needed, so why was the course?

RIP Worcester Marathon.

---------

Once upon a time there was something called 10000 metre racing in canoes and kayaks and it took place on lakes at places like Holme Pierrpont and it was fun. It had skills, different from marathon and it took place at regattas. It worked in” laps” and spectators could watch it and enjoy it. And soon the thing called media and the spectre from over the seas demanded that the fun stop, that regattas were serious, not fun, and besides it was too difficult to organise, or to take part … or something … and it faded away.
----------
In the hands of the great powers that be, and the media and the spectre from over the sea, two branches of the sport have dissolved, faded and vanished. The sport is not for paddlers, but the media and the spectre from over the seas.

Once I watched an indoor “cross country” running race. Once … and I slept through much of that. The media was there and spectators, but it was really just another indoor track run with a misleading name. No mud, no rain, no streams, no country to cross, no fun. And I’ve never seen it advertised again! Maybe it was not the wildest of successes.

Given the London or Boston Marathons to play with, the same great powers that twist and torture our sports, would have them run in stadia. Given the Tour de France and it would be ridden in velodromes, at different venues around France and spectators would not need to climb mountains, or travel great distances or stand out in the rain ….

And what of the legend of Pheidippides and his heroic 24.85 mile run bearing news? The term marathon, honours a legend of heroism, cross country, from place to place, not laps. Perhaps the new sport that is proposed should be known as Canoe/Kayak 40,000 metre racing or Canoe/Kayak Laps. The term marathon misleads and has a hollow ring.

And fun, and excitement, and challenge and skills could all be dispensed with, or at least groomed, and trained, and homogenised and diluted until …

Wii Paddling anyone?

Anker Valley

2008-04-22T16:17:00.007Z

The weather has been better at Anker Valley in the past, but there was still a good entry from Nottingham juniors and veterans, despite a reminder that summer has not quite arrived. Tadek, Zyggy and Ozzie managed 1 st, 2nd & 3rd in their Lightning races to start the day.

In the second set of races, Heather, Craig & Shobhanaa did the Div 7 K1

While Ricky did Div 9 K1 & Beth did Div 8 K1. Congratulations go to Craig on promotion to Div 6 where he will have the delights of an 8 mile race and portages in the future. He may even get to race Geordie, who did the Div 7 K2 race with Kath this time.

Leanna did her first ever Hasler race with Sarah in Div 8 K2.
In the longer events, Marysh and Alison raced Div 4/5/6 K2 and Mick did Div 5.

Despite the cold wind, Anker Valley once again proved to be a warm and generous host club and the Lightnings in particular had good results and were delighted with their tee-shirts.

Photos thanks to Mick, Rosie & Sarah.

Full Results: http://www.marathon-canoeing.org.uk/results/Anker2008.htm

Juniors in print

2008-04-22T16:01:00.006Z

Funny how the media think that Paddling and rowing are the same thing. The Shape Up Nottingham fitness campaign comes to watersports, or perhaps it is the other way round. So far the weather has not encouraged anyone to try paddling on a Sunday or Friday. Perhaps when the weather picks up a few more people will give it a go.

Good quotes from Richard and Harriet ... not sure about the other one!!

Gailey 2008

2008-04-21T09:01:00.006Z

The weather at Gailey was some of the best recently, with much of the canal protected by bank and trees. The bit before the Div 7,8,9 turn at the marina was the only really breezy bit on the way back from the 4,5,6 turn. I know many seniors are not that keen on canal races, but there are times when there are distinct advantages, despite shallow water and narrow bridges. The Trent was like the North Sea when we left and worse when we got back to the club.
A limited number of NKC paddlers turned out, which was a pity really, as there were good numbers in the lower divisions and as always we were made to feel welcome. Those of us who went, all enjoyed the day and Gailey were generous with prizes, encouraging us to return. Yet again, the race for me, was against Mark from the local club and it turned out to be a pleasant paddle with a 1000 metre sprint, won by him.

Full Results: http://www.marathon-canoeing.org.uk/results/Gailey2008.htm

April Regatta

2008-04-21T08:24:00.005Z

The weather reminded us that winter was not yet over, with hail, sleet, rain, snow and wind - in fact a typical April regatta. I wonder why people think sprinting is a summer activity in this country? Flat water racing - what's that? HPP was modified to be a wind tunnel at the rowers request soon after it was built wasn't it?

A few hardy NKC members turned out. Tim & Lucy did what we hoped they would in the men's & women's A races and we wish them continued success throughout the season.

If that's what Tim can produce with a bad cold, then imagine the result when he's well. Most people seem to be awe inspired at the drop of a hat these days, perhaps due to a real lack of magnificence in their lives, so I rarely use the term "awesome" due to its dilution in the common usage of English. However, I would actually consider Tim's performances to be awe inspiring, especially when the conditions during the regatta were cold, windy and sometimes miserable.

Hayleigh's K2 went particularly well too, with her racing up in Womens A for that, so we hope that she too continues her success during the rest of the season.

Sadly there was a shortage of juniors, although particular congratulations go to Craig and Ricky doing Boys D in their first regatta. They managed to make 1st finals in their events.

Congratulations go to Sandra for her performances and subsequent promotion to Girls A. Lets hope that her even greater successes in Wild Water allow a few more opportunities to sprint.

In his first season as a senior, Michael produced some good Mens C K1s and followed them up with a great Mens C K2 result paddling with Fern! Mike appears at the next regatta in Mens B.

It was good to see Ian Livsey back sprinting again, now Masters A and Tim Webb returned to racing. With Rex, Pete & myself, we now have a regular group of Masters paddlers in addition to the vast range of club veterans we could call on.

Full results can be downloaded from http://www.weykayak.co.uk/Sprint_Frame.html

DW, Good Times, as always!

2008-04-01T14:30:00.003Z

sorry im so late getting this in..better late than never though i guess, and i still beat beth!
Early morning once again, wasnt too bad though, bright and breezy as usual. This DW experience was definatley a different one to last time, however still very enjoyable. Great company and some great paddlers to watch! Well done to all you guys!
Thanks Mick for taking us once again, look forward to hopefully going next year.
My only complaint.......we had to go home too early! hey ho.
x

Lincoln 2008

2008-03-31T08:00:00.008Z

Perhaps because Lincoln is in a northern corner of the Midlands region, there seems to be a myth that the weather for the Lincon marathon is cold, wet and windy. A quick look at the photos from 2007 shows that this was not the case then and apart from a steady breeze, not the case in 2008 either, as you can see from pictures from this year's race.

This made for a near perfect start for some of our newer Lightning paddlers to venture into their first race away from the club. Like other canal races, it's a good course for Lightnings, with tow-path access for the entire length, plus a excellent vantage point at the end of the Brayford Pool.

They obviously enjoyed themselves despite only a small number racing from a few clubs. Numbers this year mark an increase in the Lightnings entering Lincoln, so let's hope this is a trend. Well done to Max, Harvey & Olivia. Lincoln were generous in their allocation of prizes, so cups all round.

At the other end of the scale, Rex had a good race coming 2nd in Div 4.

Mick enjoyed the Div 5 race, coming ahead of Mark from Gailey for a change, but as can be seen from the photo, caught by Matthew, a young lad from Burton, who had started in the Div 6 race, a minute behind!

Lincoln is one of the marathons in the Midlands that incorporates real hazards as a challenge, rather than streams of red and white tape on false portages. This adds to the interest not only for the paddler, but the spectator. Of course you have to do the 8 or 12 mile course to enjoy the succession of low bridges, but long may races like Lincoln survive un-homogenised, with their own character.

In the combined divisions K2 race, Norman and Cathy managed to come both first and last, much to the distress of the finishers and the results compilers.

Not wanting to miss out on the low bridges and the extra 4 miles, they finished the short course, but then carried on to do the most interesting bit of the race and crossed the finish line for a second time! No extra points I'm afraid Norm, the Hasler Race Management system has difficulty in allocating points equitably anyway, without people attempting to get two lots. Nice try though!

Thanks to Julie for the photos. Maybe more to follow.

Full Results http://www.marathon-canoeing.org.uk/results/Lincoln2008.htm

More on DW

2008-03-29T12:11:00.006Z

Thanks to Norman, some of the DW results that I'd missed or forgotten can be revealed. The double spelling mistake in the results database meant that any search for Nottingham or Butler, completely missed one of our best results ever! In 1988 the crew reported as J G Builer & I D Livsey of Noltingham Kayak Club was none other than Jimmy Butler & Ian Livsey in disguise. They won the Junior K2 in 15:53 which puts them in the top 20 Junior K2 times of all time.
I also notice that the Junior K2 record of 14:12:59, set in 1993 by A Richardson & S Jensen of NKC & Richmond still stands.
Thanks to Norman, we have more pictures from this year's race.
Boat checking at Devizes

The cheering section.
Norman, Mick & the girls.

Richard M winding Cathy up at Devizes ... or maybe just holding the boat.

Harriet ready to start, with Paul, prepared to leap into action.
Ooh! A last minute adjustment.
Rich G and Harriet somewhere in the first 16 miles.
Fern and Cathy just before the tunnel, oblivious that they are only 15 minutes away from a serious modification to their boat.

It can at last be revealed the magnitude of the miracle that Nigel and Norman performed on Fern & Cathy's K2 using only matches, meths and tape. More meths and it would have been a heap of cinders, less tape and it would have been 2 separate pieces of boat! As it is, the patch allowed them to paddle from Crofton to Newbury, a distance of 15 miles. Some slightly more long term repairs overnight, allowed Fern & Cathy to use it again on the following morning.
So just remember, the next time you make a bit of a crack in your boat, all is not lost!

Photos by Norman & Shobhanna

Back at DW

2008-03-28T13:01:00.000Z

After our trip to DW being one of the highlights last year, everyone was in high spirits for DW number 2.
There were afew new additions to the car. One being Mick's new sat nav which although I have to admit was quite helpful, doesn't provide all the fun of being lost in the middle of the night like my map reading did!
Shob, Sarah, Mick and I were also joined by Leanna who I really hope enjoyed the day and I'm sure will someday complete the race!
Watching the four day event was very different from the straight through race. It felt strange to be leaving so early but mainly because I really enjoyed the day. All the paddlers did brilliantly and I hope our cheering helped a bit. A huge well done to Richard and Harriet for doing so well; you were amazing, especially with the weather being so horrible.
Thanks again to Mick, without whom none of us would even know what DW was, let alone get to see it ourselves. Thanks guys for a lovely day.
I really hope we have lots of people racing next year, my best wishes and luck go to everyone hoping to have a go.
Once again, a big well done and thankyou to everyone. It was a great day.
Beth x

First Experience of DW

2008-03-28T09:55:00.006Z

Well it was definitely an early start to the day but everyone was surprisingly perky and bright for 4 o’clock in the morning! The drive to the start of the race didn’t seem that long and we were soon at the start of the race, we waited for Fern and Cathy to start but we unfortunately missed it and also missed there finish at the end but we managed to see Harriet and Richard’s starts.

Time whizzed on through the day as we followed and supported the crews round the course. (Driving in like the middle of nowhere is quite hard and I’m sure Nigel and Norman had a tough time finding places!) The crews looked to be doing well and Cathy always had a big smile on her face and seemed to really being enjoying herself!

We watched other crews and they had some odd boats and ways of portaging! There were always supporters standing by feeding the paddlers like pigeons which was quite a funny sight but some of the crews were really fast at portaging and were so swift!

Anyway it was a great day (only I think it finished too soon)! Well done and congratulations to all the crews paddling!

My View on DW :)

2008-03-27T18:34:00.005Z

Woooo I managed to get back into my blogger account!... Well the 4am start last Friday was definitely worth it as the whole day was very enjoyable and it turns out that we had in fact gone to cheer on both the winner of the k1 race and the winner of the ladies k1 race. So fantastic results for both Rich and Harriet- Congratulations you two!
The company was excellent, I certainly had a real laugh on the way and on the way home, hope everyone else did too!
Thankyou Mick from all of us for another great trip out to watch DW. Look forward to watching the race again next year.
:)

DW 2008 - Senior K1 - Harriet

2008-03-24T16:22:00.005Z

For anyone doing DW or Waterside for the first time, Harriet is a good model for portaging. Most slower and novice paddlers or crews generally seem to get out too early and back in early, perhaps due to the lack of experience of their support crews. This always causes a "clag up" of bodies around the portage. If you do as Harriet does, and get out late and in late, it avoids these and usually gets you round the slower crews plodding the portages with more ease unless there is a width restriction along the lock.

Obviously if the bank has places that are clearly easier to get in and out they too tend to be cluttered with hangers on. Anyway, it was a pleasure to watch Harriet portage down the canal. Here she is at Froxfield Middle Lock ...

... and again at Hungerford, with Paul & Richard doing one of the important support jobs of feeding the paddler. It's possible to see inexperienced supporters making a variety of basic mistakes in the way that they feed paddlers. It always shows when when supporters are paddlers themselves, or very experienced. They stand in the right place (out of the way) step beside or in front of the paddler when they are back in the boat (might seem obvious, but ...) say helpful things cheerfully (you should hear some of the things supporters shout at their crews - I would hit them) and stay out of the way of other competitors. The best example of getting it wrong that we saw this year, was one of the junior crew supporters who tossed a piece of food at each of the paddlers in a K2 as though they were sea-lions and managed to get one paddler's food in the water and one paddler's food on the deck of the boat in front of them, nicely out of reach. At night time it is the inexperienced ones who always wield the brightest torches and dazzle every passing paddler and supporter as well as their own crew.

Here are Paul & Richard M again at Kintbury after a drinking bottle change.
The end of the first stage, just before Newbury Lock. I'm sorry we couldn't follow Harriet down all the stages as it was a pleasure to watch her. Having trained with her for several of the sessions during the winter, it was appropriate that the "cheering section" followed her down a stage of her successful race. Thanks Harriet.

All photos by Mick & Sarah. (Any more that people have of Harriet, Richard, Fern & Cathy, can be posted by sending them to the NKC e-mail address or one of the Bloggers.)

DW 2008 - Senior K1 Richard

2008-03-24T15:10:00.003Z

Richard and Harriet started from Devizes at the same time and stayed together for the first 15 miles or so.

After Wooton Rivers, Richard was obviously portaging faster, because by the time he reached the start of the tunnel, he was well clear of Harriet. This meant that the 3 Nottingham entries were now well separated and the "cheering section" opted for following Harriet, hoping to catch glimpses of either of the other two. This was the last we saw of Richard as he disappeared into the tunnel.
Following his progress on the DW website though it became clear that having pulled out a 10 minute lead on Paul Wells, he was hanging onto it over the 4 days.

DW 2008 & NKC at DW

2008-03-24T11:56:00.007Z

Thanks to the great DW database of results at http://www.canoeraceresults.co.uk/, it is not only possible to see "copies" of DW finishers' certificates going back years, but search results by name, club, year and so on. Armed with the information from here, it is possible to see how NKC members have faired over the years.

Obviously Norman, with his partner Andrew was the first in 1971 and Kath was there to support Andrew! In the spirit of Capain Oates (Scott's polar expedition) Norm told his mum he was just popping out to go canoeing and that he might be "some time," and went off to do DW. We hope that this year, when he went to support Fern & Cathy, Judith knew that when he said, "See you later!" he meant several days later this time! Anyway, he and Andrew opened the NKC account with 24 hours 48 minutes and there would be plenty of crews who would be pleased with that, even these days.

Unfortunately, in 1973, the weather was even worse than this weekend, with bad icing in the Thames Valley and a head wind that blew steadily the wrong way from the start line onward, when Norm popped out again, this time with George. The decision to fish them out at Putney Bridge, just before the finish (5 miles), was not taken lightly. They were a good crew to support apart from George tending to fall asleep if you allowed him to stand still for a few seconds. In the end, it was a toss up between, hypothermia, exhaustion and water conditions that stopped them finishing against the turning tide in the early hours of the morning (as you could in those days.) Fortunately Pete Roney (NKC Chairman for several years) and Taff Jones managed the course that year, in 29 hours 4 minutes after chips, a pint and an overnight stop on the bank at Teddington, as they wisely waited for the next tide.

Heather & Colin were next in 1977, with Heather the first woman to complete the course in under 24 hours. They were followed by Kath who dragged 3 partners all the way in 1981, 82 & 84. Despite rumours, she stopped after 90 miles in 83 because of hypothermia, not because George fell asleep. That was another year of poor conditions and we just couldn't get enough leg warmers on her arms or woolly tops on her body, to allow paddling to actually take place. Thank goodness for modern thermal tops!

In 82 Kath & George had taken the club record time to 19 hours 48 minutes. Actually, Kath only agreed to race on the Wednesday before, as Heather had gone sick with food poisoning. (She was a caterer at the time!!!!) In 84 she paddled with Mick, so there was little chance of improving the club score due to his ability to doze off while supposedly taking "comfort stops!"

That was really the start of the "Golden Age" when NKC members had a go at getting the time down every year, frequently with Dave Enoch, George Oliver, or Dave McAllister-Hewlings in the boat, sometimes with two of them together. Most crews managed between 19 and 21 hours until Brian teamed up with Dave Hewlings and brought the time down to 17:25.

In 1998, we did have a member in the winning crew of the junior K2. Last year, Kat & Gilly, racing for Loughborough Uni, won the Ladies K2.

Meanwhile, 1989, Adam Brewster started the NKC string of K1 runs in the 4 day race with 17 hours, 1 minute. James Treadgold, best known to us these days as the organiser of the Waterside Series, followed in 1991, but slower than Adam.

Then in 1993 came Jimmy Butler's legendary 14 hours 46 minutes. People get excited over 15 hour something times these days & make a fuss about Brian Greenham & Tim Cornish's long standing record "straight through" K2 time, but Jimmy's K1 record time, done in flood conditions also still stands. True, the organisers would probably cancel the race and send everyone home if the Thames looked like that nowadays - in fact they did once, so one is left wondering if anyone will ever beat Jimmy's record. He did do 15:07 the following year, so perhaps it wasn't too fluky! (Everyone got excited about Simon Fennimore's time of 15:13 last year, which was 3rd fastest ever.)

Apart from Jimmy, most NKC K1 attempts went down in between 19 and a half and 17 and a half hours. Paul did 17:20 in 1996 and also came 5th, so that puts Harriett's 17:27 into perspective (do you reckon he slowed her down a few times just to get that 7 minute edge.)

Also apart from Jimmy (3 times), as far as I can tell or remember, no NKC member did a K1 time quicker than 17 hours until Rich Golder did 16:32 last year. He got onto the record books, way down the list with that time. Well, let's get excited again - he managed to win this year in 15 hours 51 minutes 10 seconds, which brings him up to =12th fastest of all time. Jimmy & now Richard are the only NKC members to win the K1 race. Great result!!!

Now just let's think about Harriet! You have to go back to Anne Plant (Independant) in 1986, to find a Woman who was overall placed higher than Harriet, when she came 4th. Anne and Andrea Dalloway also did faster times than Harriet, but 17:27 is the 3rd fastest ever Women's time and the second highest Women's placing. (As far as I can tell.) It's the only NKC win by a woman in K1! Great result!!

OK so apart from celebrating Richard and Harriet's successes, where is all this going? Well start making your plans ... we can return to the Golden Age, with them and Kat & Gilly, showing us the way! There are 3 Enochs and 3 Nadals on the record books, are there more families out there ready to add to that list. We've never had many juniors do DW, perhaps that is set to change. Only a handful of members have won a class or sub-class. Now Richard and Harriet have done it in the same year, who's next?

More pictures on the next post I promise.

DW 2008 - Endeavour K2

2008-03-24T11:05:00.006Z

Fern & Cathy set off from Devizes while the "cheering section" were hiding from the cold & eating breakfast in Mick's car, but it wasn't long before they were tracked down to the Kennet & Avon canal, where like a few other people, they had gone for a little paddle. The first bridge where we spotted them could have been used as a wind tunnel for aviation purposes, the wind was so strong. We managed to see them several more times during the first 18 miles.

.
.
Apart from Newbury, this was the last time we saw them as they disappeared from the radar sometime between here, which is seconds before they plunged into the Savernack Tunnel and the end of Crofton a couple of miles later. Richard was getting rapidly further ahead once the portaging started at Wooton Rivers, Harriet was in the middle and Fern & Cathy were a bit behind her, so it was hard to see all the NKC entrants at any one vantage point after this anyway.

DW 2008 - The Cheering Section & Supporters

2008-03-24T09:25:00.005Z

With Harriet, Richard, Fern & Cathy racing, there were quite a few supporters and on the first day, the numbers of NKC members at DW were swelled by the "junior cheering section."

The sunny sky could mislead you into thinking that the weather was wonderful, but Beth wrapped in layers of warm clothing suggests otherwise.
Actually, there were strong winds, snow & sleet flurries & rain showers.

Paul & Richard supported Harriet and by her result, must have done a great job.
David Bailey (alias Norman) and Orange (alias Nigel) supported Fern & Cathy, together with Fern's dad. Between them, they performed minor miracles using only meths, tape & matches, on the tissue paper K2 that Fern and Cathy were using, shortly after this photo was taken!

DW 2008

2008-03-24T08:21:00.003Z

Having followed the race from the warmth of either ours or Donna's house, the reality got a bit remote, but the driven snow outside the window at New Mills and the broken slates, blown from our roof, remind me what it was like.

The conditions this year make the results even more outstanding than they would have been in a good year.

Congratulations to Rich Golder on winning the Senior K1 in 15 hours 51 minutes 10 seconds.
Congratulations also go to Harriet for 5th place. Harriet also won both the Ladies K1 and the University K1 sub-classes with ease in a time of 17:27:12.

We watched the first day from the tow-path and enjoyed watching the NKC paddlers as far as Newbury. Fern & Cathy managed to reach there despite a flimsy boat giving up the ghost at Crofton. Fortunately Nigel had a few tricks with meths and duct tape and the boat was revived enough to get to Newbury. Sadly the same trick didn't work with the crew on the second day.

Richard was mostly moving too fast for us to keep up with him, but we managed a few photos of Harriet that will appear here in the next few days. Hopefully a few more comments or posts will be added by other NKC members who were in the vicinity.

Full result on the DW website at http://www.dwrace.org.uk/index.shtml

Sunday Lunch (No.2)

2008-03-12T13:49:00.003Z

Thanks to Harriet for yet again organising the Sunday lunch after the last Winter Race. There was a bigger turn out of juniors with representatives from across the age range 7 - 17 alongside senior & veteran members and some of the national Wild Water squad. Great to see so many there again. The meal was at the Ferry Inn at Wilford this time and yet again offered good value for money if you had the Sunday lunch.
Thanks to Shobhanaa for recording the event on her phone!

Last Winter Race

2008-03-12T12:18:00.007Z

It was a fine day for the last of the 2007/8 Winter Series. The ranks of NKC members racing was once again swelled by the national Wild Water squad, giving a good field. Naomi, from the World Class fast Track squad was also there and did a great PB, taking minutes off her October time and coming second in the race. Several of the WWR squad did good times including Dee from Gaily, Tim from Burton, Jon from Soar Valley and Jessica also from Soar Valley. Rex and Harriet both did good K1 performances assuring them of top 10 places in the overall series.
Zyggy and Shobhanaa were back together again for the last race.
Geordie and Tadek managed to finish this race with their best place.
Paul & Laura reached winning form despite their harder handicap, ensuring Laura's place as the overall winner of the series and one of the 20 point tee-shirt winners. Paul, now a veteran, finished second in the series, having won it as a junior in 1981/2 and as a senior in 1996/7.

Thanks to Jane for the photos.

There were 5 NKC juniors in the top 10 overall and 10 in the top 20. This is the best junior performance for several years, with 15 doing the series altogether.

The series is rising in popularity again and more K2s are entering, perhaps reflecting the fact that more of the younger juniors are entering again. As a comparison:

2004/5 - 45 took part with 8 juniors none under 12

2005/6 - 55 took part with 8 juniors 1 under 12

2006/7 - 64 took part with 9 juniors 2 under 12

2007/8 - 80 took part with 15 juniors 4 under 12

More people entered in WWR boats this year too.

Of the top 5 placings, only Harriet in 4th place managed it entirely in K1.

Of the top 20, only 4 were K1 entries.

There are moves to change the rules over K2 entries in the future, but perhaps we also need to consider class trophies for different classes to take into account the participation. Although there were a large number of guest Wild Water paddlers, Tina, Dave, Gary, Chris, Pat, Pete, Ben & Michael also paddle their Wild water boats during the winter. It would be interesting to consider which of the 80 paddlers would not enter at all if they did not do K2. Not only the under 12s, but most of the 13 year olds and many veterans would also be discouraged by rules that discriminated against K2s, yet it has to be admitted that the results this year, show an inbalance between K1s, K2s & WWRs. Of the 6 races, 4 were won by K2s, 2 by K1s and none by WWR boats. And ... should we also have a guest trophy for the best placed non-NKC member? Some of the WWR paddlers attend a number of our events regularly, especially those from clubs in the Midlands. After all these years, we still charge no entry fee for the series and that obviously needs taking into consideration.

Some juniors have said that they feel the race is not encouraging the right people. What do you think? If you don't offer helpful suggestions about how this long established race series can be improved, don't complain about the handicapping system or the outcomes.

The major series trophies are still only open to club members winning them, in case people are wondering why they did not take one of the overall titles.

Finally, we all need to thank Dave, for yet again organising the whole series, doing the calculations, applying the rules and sitting there in all weather to do the timing. Thanks also to George who deputised for him while he was away.

Full Series results: http://uk.geocities.com/nottinghamkayakclub/resultstore/winter_races_07_08.htm

Waterside B, Yipee!

2008-02-12T15:46:00.000Z

I decided to have a bit of a trip out and go and be a spectator/photographer at Waterside B :)
It was a very pleasant day, although it did seem abit strange to not be racing. I went on a bit of a walk down the course and did abit of reading of my book (very relaxing in the sun) whilst everyone else was racing. Well done to everyone who raced, you all looked like you were going well!
A very nice day, definatley worth going! x

Waterside B

2008-02-10T22:34:00.001Z

It was a bit of an early start for some of us this morning, but we were on the road in good time to get Craig on the water an away for his first Waterside. He managed 10th in a time of 3:33:23 - not bad in a Trimmer!
It was a first for Fern too in Ladies K2 with Cathy and they were 2nd in 2:54:00

George and Bryan managed one place better than Waterside A - 1st in C2 in 3:01:39

Ian was 7th in Senior K1 with a time of 2:25:58

Mick and Beth improved on their last year's time with 4th place in the Junior/ Veteran class in 2:53:01.

The weather was warm, sunny and completly calm, unlike most of the Watersides I can remember and people could almost be forgiven for thinking it was spring. There was enough flow on the Kennett to make the river sections interesting. It was altogether an enjoyable paddle although Craig did sleep for a considerable part of the journey home.

Special thanks to Sarah who came along and took the photos.

Full results at http://www.watersides.fsnet.co.uk/current-b-res.htm

More photos at http://www.paddlepics.com/

Sunday Lunch

2008-02-05T10:05:00.001Z

After the 5th Winter Race, about 30 members and families ate Sunday Lunch at The Larwood & Voce near Trent Bridge. Most were accomodated at the long table, but "the outpost" was not far away and far from lonely. (You can just see Nigel.) The food was good and the portions excellent, with rapid service once they started. Many thanks to Harriett who got this started and did the leg work.
This is a pleasant venue for such events and very close to the club, so I look forward to the next one after the final Winter Race of the series on March 9th. Remember to book! It's hoped that more of the junior members can be present at this event, with a dozen now attending the gym sessons and about the same doing the Winter Races.

Thanks Julie for bringing the camera and Hayleigh for the photo.

Winter Race 5

2008-02-03T16:15:00.000Z

The slightly bitter wind didn't put 38 paddlers off doing today's race. There were no startlingly good times, which seemed to be all rather slow, but there were some good performances and a few changes in the Series leader board.

Laura bagged Paul as the best partner, finishing 2nd in the race, but moving into top spot on the leader board. Zyggy also got it sussed with Shob away, getting Dave B to partner him and he now moves up to 2nd in the overall points. (Don't forget, only the 4 best scores count.) My calculations show that any one of 13 people could theoretically win the series, 8 of them juniors.

Fern turned in the best result today with a PB over 4 minutes faster than her previous one and she still paddled up the middle of the river, so there could be yet another even better result from her at the next race. So 20 points and a tee-shirt for her!

The 6th and last race is on 9th March, with all to play for.

Full Unofficial results at: http://uk.geocities.com/nottinghamkayakclub/resultstore/winter_races_07_08.htm

Meanwhile, about 30 club members followed today's strenuous efforts with Sunday Lunch at the Larwood & Voce - hopefully pictures soon.

Waterside A, Wahey!

2008-01-28T16:17:00.001Z

Waterside was an awesome race. i didnt really know what to expect, having heard many conversations and reports of the race from last year, i was abit weary, however i was very pleasantly surprised! I would say probably one of the most enjoyable races ive ever done, exciting, hard and challenging but also chilled and relaxing. The company was fab as always, and alot of laughs!!! Thanks Mick for racing with me, i hope u enjoyed it as much as i did!
p.s. check me out, writing the first blog! x

Waterside A

2008-01-28T08:15:00.001Z

There was a good turnout by NKC at Waterside A this weekend with entries in the Senior K1, Ladies K1, Mixed K2, Ladies K2, Veteran Junior K2 and C2. Hopefully there will be some personal reports from some of those taking part. Meanwhile here are a few photos of Ian in Senior K1, Hayleigh & Cathy in Ladies K1 and Mick and Sarah in Veteran/Junior K2.

Photos by Tadek (See also NKC Website Home Page)

Winter Race 4

2008-01-14T11:08:00.000Z

They were the most challenging conditions of the 2007/8 Series so far. Some of us can remember even more extreme conditions over the years, but this was quite bad enough, with the water nearly to the top step outside the club and a gusty downstream wind. It was very similar to the first one I ever did in 1971 or 2 in a slalom boat. I think I managed some of it backwards and it took over 2 hours! Andy took the longest on this occasion twice as fast as that (I think he's about the same age that I was at the time!) He actually finished and scored points, although several were not so fortunate with 3 swimmers and several rescuers not completing the course and others retiring for other reasons. At this point, special mention must go to Pat, Ady & Ricky, Norman & Alison who helped Geordie & Tony out in a very brambly patch of "The Grove. " Pat in particular deserves thanks as he had already rescued Tom at the first cross over.
The juniors that completed the course deserve special mention, as strength on the last section to Clifton Bridge was the most important asset apart from boat control. Zyggy, Harvey, Laura & Tadek did well with their experienced senior partners, but the two crews who deserve special mention here are Beth & Leanna and Shobhanna & Zyggy as they were all junior crews. Beth and Shobhanna managed to steer & stroke for their younger partners in the most challanging conditions, with their skills developed at the training sessions during the high water in the summer being put to the real test. Sarah was the other junior who completed the race with Harriett and again they deserve a special mention as this was their first time together as a crew.
Two of the Fast Track girls raced and they also deserve paticular mention as they had paddled up from Holme Pierrepont just to start the race. That says something about their determination & skill already. They do need to learn to get closer to the bank going upstream in fierce currents, but it is a comment on their strength, stamina and will power that they made it to the club and finished the race like that.
As you would expect in such conditions, the fastest K1s, who normally find it hard to get to the front and score high points, benefitted from the conditions, with a win for Ian C, and 19 for Matt F & 18 for Jimmy. Altogether 40 people entered in 27 boats - a good turn out for such a day.
Full (as yet unofficial) results can be found at http://uk.geocities.com/nottinghamkayakclub/resultstore/winter_races_07_08.htm.
Please note that the date of Race 5 has changed to 3rd February as there is a rowing event on 17th.

Soar "Resolution" New Year Race

2007-12-30T20:22:00.000Z

Sub-title: Craig & Tony' swim, Leanna's first race & Beth & Shob's "Big Adventure"

Only 3 Nottie crews made the effort this year, which is a bit sad when we are less than an hour down the A46 from Leicester. Weather - fine. Company - excellent. Paddle - enjoyable. Craig & Tony swam, but after a quick crew re-arrangement continued, Leanna & I had a good steady paddle. In fact I should say excellent as it was Leanna's first ever race apart from Clifton. But Beth's story is more eventful than that! Scroll down to her account of the day!

Soar Valley New Year Race

2007-12-30T18:22:00.000Z

Before setting out for this 12 mile race I was told to 'think of it as an adventure'. Maybe this was more of a premonition than a piece of advice as the race turned out to be a pretty bizarre experience.
Shob and I got off to a good start, staying with Mick and Leanna and doing some good portages. We worked hard and had a laugh as we went.
Problems started on the way back when you have to remember which way you actually came from and Shob and I seem to have an inability to navigate our way along a fairly simple river. Shob seemed to think that all the giant 'all craft this way' arrows had got it wrong and twice insisted on me taking a wrong turn. I did as I was told and if it weren't for some fisher men telling us to go the other way, who knows where we would have ended up. The second time we made this mistake however (it seems stupid in hindsight but i think there was some sort of logic behind it), there was noone to tell us we'd got it wrong. We soon spotted the lock on the bit of river paralel to us that we should have been on. Deciding to use a bit of initiative, I had a great idea that we should climb up a big muddy hill covered in sticks and nettles and portage back over to the correct side. This might have actually worked if it weren't for Shob dropping her paddles in the water and only realising when they had floated out of reach. Shob ran off with my paddles to try and fish hers out of the water, leaving me to drag a K2 full of water up of a pile of stuff which was gradually collapsing under the weight.
Meanwhile, Shob was unable to reach her paddles and asked a man in a K1, who we later learnt was called Malcolm, to get them for her. He attempted to do so and consequently fell in. Leaving the boat, I went to find Shob looking guilty and Malcolm swimming to the other side. We helped him carry his boat and paddles and get back on the water in an attempt to make up for it all and thankfully, he was ok about it. So we went back, got in our own boat and paddled back with this guy to a crowd of confused NKC paddlers who had long since finnished their race with no such adventures.
Oh well, atleast it will be one to remember and an interesting start to 2008. We even came first in the ladies class! Thanks for another fun day :)
Happy new year!

Winter Race 3 - December

2007-12-16T15:47:00.000Z

The weather was cold, calm and dry again for the 3rd Winter Race in the 2007/8 series. After the recent high water, the level had returned to nearly normal. Of the 32 paddlers, 11 of them were juniors, with yet another "Lads & Dads" K2 appearing in the shape of Marish and Tadek who took first place and 20 points. Shobhanna & Zyggy were 2nd, Craig & Ricky 3rd followed by Beth & Leanna 4th, as all junior crew.
The equal leaders in the series are now Kath, Beth & Leanna, with Shobhanaa, Craig & Ricky as equal second. A quick glance at the leader board shows that 7 of the top 10 placed paddlers are juniors.
Full Official Results here http://uk.geocities.com/nottinghamkayakclub/resultstore/winter_races_07_08.htm

15km Race

2007-12-01T18:14:00.000Z

Cold, blustery and a bit dark, but a few hardy crews turned out for today's 15km race. Those in the A & B races did the full 15km or 3 laps of the Toll Bridge - Lady Bay Bridge loop, while the C race did 10km or 2 laps of the same course. Only Tadek & Zyggy turned out for the Hody race which was a much shorter course still.

It was good to see paddlers from Leamington, Lincoln, Solihull & Macclesfield make the trip to join us.

There was just enough light for a few pictures.

Results at http://uk.geocities.com/nottinghamkayakclub/resultstore/15kmk207.htm

Thanks to Norman for organising it, thanks to Cathy for the hot food.

Winter Race 2 - November

2007-11-19T09:16:00.000Z

Unlike Race 1, it was a bit of a miserable day for Race 2. Despite that, there were 32 paddlers eager to get out there. 18 of these opted to do the race in K2, 10 of these Juniors. Mick has obviously been asking Kath for tips about how to beat the handicap and paddled with Harvey, who was in a K2 for only the second time & they were back so quickly that they almost finished on Saturday! ... And yes Kath did manage to get back 2nd, paddling with Laura, but only just as it was a dead heat with Craig & Ricky. Perhaps most important was that 6 of the first 10 over the line were juniors.
Hayleigh moved into the top spot for Lady's K1 for the series so far with a time of 37:20 and Tom & Chris were the fastest boat on the water with a time of 37:19

The top of the leader board is now:

Kath Nadal 39 (K2, K2)
Beth Walker 28 (K2, K2)
Leanna Bold 28 (K2, K2)
Max Littlewood 26 (K2, K2)
Rex Littlewood 26 (K2, K2)
Ben Oakley 25 (K2, WWR)
Shaune Hicks 21 (K1, K1)

Full (Unofficial) results at http://uk.geocities.com/nottinghamkayakclub/resultstore/winter_races_07_08.htm

More Bonfire Paddle Photos

2007-11-14T22:48:00.001Z

Thanks to Mark of these pictures of Jonathan, James, Shohanaa, Beth, Kath & Mick, plus the raft that had over 40 paddlers in it!

Gunpowder Plot meets Cockleshell Heroes!

2007-11-05T00:25:00.000Z

It was a great idea of George's to paddle up to the Toll Bridge in the dark on the evening of the Wilford Bonfire. There were 44 paddlers altogether, from the Pool sessions, Holme Pierrpont Canoe Club, Dave's Casual Paddling sessions plus a handful of club members. Mark & Rachel brought Jonathan who had the grandstand view from the front of the Topo Duo, Gary was in a plastic GP, Ricky & James paddled playboats & we took the open canoes, some hot soup, fresh home-made bread, biscuits and cakes with a few Doritos, plus quilts and groundsheet and made a picnic of it. It was a lovely evening for paddling - even better for watching fireworks and picnicing! Kath & Shob paddled one boat, while Beth and I were in the other. George & Dave rode shotgun and signalled for help with a variety of parachute & hand flares and eventually the Nottingham Princess came to the rescue. Meanwhile, James was the only casulty when a paddle blade took out his tooth in the middle of a Mexican wave. However it did not limit his ability to out-shriek the "screamer" fireworks.
Thanks to George for organising it assisted by Dave & thanks to the rest who contributed to a different and enjoyable way to do Bonfire Night.

Trent K2

2007-11-04T08:02:00.000Z

There was a fair entry for Trent K2 last weekend. Unusually there were more in the C Race (Div 9 or more total ranking) than there were in the B Race (5-8 total ranking). This may have been due to the unusually low river conditions. The weather was a bit odd too. It started fairly bright at the start at Castle Donington, but by the time we were reaching Sawley, the wind was whipping up quite a chop and the sky was so black it seemed as though dusk was approaching. By the time we reached the club, the sky was blue and the sun was shining.

I don't know how other people's races went, but ours was as mixed as the weather. We got a reasonable start and Beth set a good pace, steering past the shingle banks, the groups of rock and the "clag ups" until a random rock leapt out and got us after about a mile. The rudder got bent and although we had a spare stowed in the boat, I was reluctant to stop before the first portage, so we lurched from side to side of the river on the most "technical" bit of the course. However, Beth did a good job and although we dropped gradually back until we were down to about 13th or 14th place, we didn't lose sight of the group ahead. A quick straighten and a good run at Sawley brought us back up to the second group. Once Beth discovered that the rudder was once more functional, she burned my arms off until we reached the group and not satisfied with that wanted to take the work up straight away.
After that, things went well again with some good runs and a bit of local knowledge on the portages and yet again an attempt to kill me off by Beth, we improved our position considerably.
It was a bit of a drag from Beeston to the finish, and not an impressive time compared to other years, but an enjoyable paddle.
I hope everyone else enjoyed the race too. Full results http://uk.geocities.com/nottinghamkayakclub/resultstore/trentk207.htm

First Winter Race

2007-10-30T07:44:00.000Z

A beautiful day with perfect conditions was a good way to start the Winter Race series for the 2007/8 season. Fortunately Steve was there with his camera although I know he would sooner have been able to race. There were 40 starters with the club ranks being added to with entries from the National Junior Wild Water squad and coaches in addition to the World Class Fast Track Women's squad all of whom aquitted themselves well.

But wouldn't you know that Kath would find a way to outwit the handicapper and paddle with Donna to be first back over the line to clock up yet another win! Mind you as she started doing Winter Races 37 years ago, she obviously has it completely worked out!

At the other end of the experience spectrum, special mention goes to Leanna in her first race ever, as she only started paddling in August and partnered by Beth managed to take the 19 points for second place. Tom Kay also doing his first Winter Race took 3rd place.

Max deserves special mention as he was probably the youngest competitor so far this year. With his dad Rex they were 7th boat home, picking up 14 points apiece. It was good to see Alice back after her enforced lay off. It was also very pleasing to see 7 of the club juniors racing considering that at least 4 of them were away on holiday! That doesn't count guests that were also juniors.

Full Results (Unofficial) here http://uk.geocities.com/nottinghamkayakclub/resultstore/winter_races_07_08.htm

K2 10Km Race - Saturday 13th October 2007

2007-10-19T08:04:00.000Z

The annual K2 10Km race took place on a slightly dreary Saturday afternoon although on the water the conditions were near perfect. It was good to see entries from both Soar Valley and Lincoln to swell our numbers. The 9 boats in the A race started so fast that the cameraman failed to get any pictures of them although we have the B/C start and the Lightnings.
Neil Blackman and Jon Folland of Soar won the A race, Norman Mason and Craig Duff won the B race, while Des Storey & Tony Malcolm took the 5 Km C race by default. Ziggy & Tadek Chmiel topped off their great season with another win, this time in the same boat! Full results at http://uk.geocities.com/nottinghamkayakclub/resultstore/K2_10_07.htm

Clifton - Tuesday

2007-10-03T21:19:00.000Z

The nights are darkening, but the conditions (apart from the midges) were excellent for some serious racing! Younger juniors partnering old fogies and World Champions added to the interest. Tadek had the pleasure and privilege of paddling with Tim Brabants, World Champion and did 36:36. Great to see that the very best amongst us can spare a little time for the rising stars of tomorrow! Everyone else there was envious and would have swapped places with Tadek. Kath paddled with Tadek's brother Ziggy and Mick paddled with Ricky. A good time was had by all. The Chmiel family cheering section was on the bank to keep us all going & Geordie discovered the secret of how to get the best club boats, by paddling with The President! Marish paddled with Heather, thereby giving the cheerleaders plenty of crews to offer their encouragement to.

Fladbury 2007 in Pictures

2007-10-02T06:26:00.001Z

Lightning finishes

Div 7 K2s

Div 8 K1s

Div 9 K1

Div 6 K1

Div 5 K1

Fladbury 2007

2007-10-02T06:03:00.000Z

If you were paddling at the club on Friday evening, you would be forgiven for thinking that winter had arrived. Sunday saw a return to summer for the trip to Fladbury. The club was well represented in the lower divisions and Lightning by veterans and juniors, with the only turn out in higher Divisions being Marish in Div 6 and Mick in Div 5, veterans again. Not one senior and nobody above Div 5, well let's not dwell on it, the old fogies and the rising stars managed good performances all round.
Particular mention needs making of Geordie paddling with Tadek in Div 7 K2, Ricky coming 8th in a good field on his first Div 9 K1 race, Craig 1st in Div 8, with Shobhanna 3rd in the same race. Heather & Alison managed 4th in Div 7 K2 while Marish also managed 4th in his Div 6 K1. Mick followed the season's form by working with Mark Clive of Gailey (13) to get rid of the rest of the field and then enjoying the shared work to the final sprint out, to come 2nd yet again. Creditable performances to Kath & Tony in Div 7 K2 & Beth in Div 8 K1 who came 6th despite a broken tiller bar.
In the Under 10 Lightnings, Ziggy was very impressive, as was brother Ozzie, while Tadek, having pushed Geordie 4 miles round the Div 7 K2 race, followed that up with yet another good performance in the Under 12 boys.