Nottingham K4 10km - May 2007

Conditions were good for the first of this year's K4 10km races. Mixed crews with paddlers from Nottingham, Leicester, Lincoln & Soar Valley, fought it out. The early breakaway group of 3 boats were the eventual medal placings, with a 2nd group changing places throughout the race for the 4th, 5th & 6th places. Neil's crew, although fastest, had a handicap start that made it very hard for them to reach the action. They managed to catch Steve's crew before the finish.

Actually, most of the "action" took place in the 2nd group where a variation in steering tactics by the 3 strokes brought Dave Belbin's, Matt Enoch's & Harriett Farish's crews into actual physical contact on most of the turns. Nobody got heated about it, nobody changed crews, although they could have & nobody sustained serious injury.

For the actual facts & figures, click here.

The winning crew of Matt Foulger, Cathy Howell, Michael Simms & Des Storey

Nottingham Marathon May 2007

A warm and fun day for all! Among the Nottingham winners where Marish, Rex, RG and of course ringers Geordie and Alison!
A big thankyou to Laura who sold all the raffle tickets and made the club enough money to buy a set of training weights. So members after you next session no need to run off. 15 minutes of weights will have you fitter than ever!

Clifton

It was not a night for PBs. The wind was not really strong, the river was not really high despite the rain, but times seemed to be slow & the river felt like treakle. Kath & I started 30 seconds behind the 10 minute group & made very little impression on them until the embankment cross over before the Toll Bridge. We worked hard and caught a little more by the "power station" cross over where they crossed low & we crossed high. That halved the remaining distance in one go. The advantage of crossing in the deep water above the "shingle bar" was obviously quite significant in those conditions. There were only a few people down & several of them did K2. Craig & Beth W were the only juniors to turn up for Clifton although Beth C had 3 more in her group. Obviously half term holidays & revision reducing numbers there. Craig did K2 with George again doing about 40:30 with Dave & Geordie.

Friday Paddle

Having not paddled for about a week, the paddle downstream was quite relaxing, despite the many rowers that were on the water! It helped as the conditions were perfect and it was reasonably sunny, this also contributing to our PBs for Round the Bridges. Well done Ricky, who managed to stay in his boat despite colliding slightly with Josh going downstream, and for his round the bridges PB, during which he got pushed in towards the bank just after starting the effort!

Friday Evening

The river was full of rowers this evening. With the National Schools regatta on this weekend, there were dozens of crews out. I'm not sure which was most amusing, some of the crews lack of ability to stay out of each other's way or their coaches furiously shouting/peddling along the bank. Meanwhile, a few brave souls did Round the Bridges. Norman took some casual paddlers to Clifton & we accompanied a few juniors through the thick of the rowers! There were no collisions or even near misses apart from 2 eights nearly rowing into each other. Shob, Beth & Sarah opted for the downstream paddle as a relaxation from their week of exams.
When they got back to NKC, Beth, Shob & Ricky all wanted to do Round the Bridges & as Dave was just packing up, I timed them. All 3 managed PBs with Beth managing 2 in a row. They were not the only ones. Perhaps the added spice of a river full of wandering rowers contributed!

Tuesday Session

A beautiful evening, Beth C had 3 juniors for her session, 30 paddlers doing the time trial. Steve swam & still did a decent time, Wes retired sick. Cathy started late, but did a good time. Hayleigh did a PB! Kath did her best K1 time for years. The 14 minute group of 6 looked more like a Div 4 marathon start! I timed.
What else is there to say?

NKC Marathon 2007 (View from the Van)

There was a reasonable turnout for the race. Norman "briefed" the competitors before they lined up for their various starts. We sneaked away from results & watched some of the action. The Women's assessment race was the only start to lack discipline, all the rest setting off in good order.

Kat & Gilly got a good start in 5/6 Doubles.

.
All thoughts Heather had off not getting promoted disappeared the moment Jim said go, seen here (just) already in the lead of Div 8 Singles.



The Women & Junior Assessment Race were still fairly well together as they came to the end of the first 4 mile lap. At which point we had to retire back to the van to work on the results, which can be found on the NKC Website!
Assessment Results
Hasler Results
(Click to get straight to them!)
Look out for more pictures on the Gallery Blog soon.

Nottingham Marathon

It was the sunniest day for ages for Nottingham Marathon and good conditions.
My race, if anything was eventfull. I nearly fell in when Lizzy accidentally knocked my paddles out of my hands, I don't know how I managed to stay in the boat! Apart from that and afew other clag ups, the race was enjoyable, particularly upstream and I finnished 5th.
Well done everyone who raced.
Beth.

Friday Night

It was cold & blustery on the river for the Friday night session.
George's course turned out as normal, but Round the Bridges was cancelled because of the Forest match. This made parking & access to the club very difficult. Despite all that, there were still 5 juniors down for a paddle. Upstream & into the wind was hard, but the return journey was quick! That should be the last football match for a few weeks thank goodness! Just the weather to contend with ...

Tuesday Night

There were 36 doing Clifton time trial last night plus 4 on Beth C's session. It was the best part of the day & conditions were nearly ideal.
Fastest was Matt F on 36:00 minutes & Hayleigh was only 2 seconds short of her PB. Marysh was on track for a PB, but opted instead for a swimming demo outside the rowing clubs on the way back! For the rest there were 10 PBs
Beth & I took 40 odd seconds off ours & moved into the fastest Vet/Junior slot for this year. Kat/Gilly improved theirs & are now the fastest Ladies K2 for 2007. Mark H from Leicester, going faster all the time did a PB & has the fastest Junior K1 time so far (36:27). The other PBs were from Alison, Nick/Phil, Craig/George, Norman/Cathy from NKC plus Matt/Tom & Alex from the Leicester juniors. It was good to see the Leicester lads down again.

The earlier races in the day were in pleasant conditions, so Beth & Sarah got the most benefit in the Girls D K1 500m.


After 10:00, conditions made photos impossible. Mentions need to go to Hayleigh, Ralph, Laurence & Pete. Good to see Pete back racing in Masters C after all these years. See http://www.weykayak.co.uk/Sprint_Frame.html for the results.

May Regatta - Saturday

Well it certainly made up for being a scorcher at the April regatta. The photos from this weekend were mainly taken during gaps in the rain or from the shelter of a coat, as the Girls D K1 1000 metres shows.

My weekend was dominated by coming 2nd to Howard in Masters B K1s, although I can blame the result in the 5km race on a snapped rudder line. The 2nd lap without a rudder was not quite so much fun as the first. All of them were enjoyable races though. Thanks to Beth for the photos.
Mine isn't the only repair needed though. Shobhanna's was slightly more out of the ordinary. It highlights the need for proper weights, as the splits in the bottom of her boat that opened like a gaping mouth, were the result of the bag of stones under the seat pushing through. She actually deserves credit for finishing 4th in her 1000 metre final carrying half a boat of water.




Alice fitted a few races into her busy life, before heading off to play football for Notts. She was probably most pleased with the Girls D K2 she did with Beth, but did the Girls Lightning A race as well.

May Regatta

Saturday - My first race on Saturday was a K2 which I paddled with Alice. The heat was definitely the worst conditions of all the races I did over the weekend, the wind made it very wavey. However, it was nothing I hadn't seen before and Alice didn't seem to mind either! She was great to paddle with, really up for it and I hope she enjoyed it and will race again. We came 4th in our heat and final.
K1 wasn't bad either, I can't actually remember where I finnished in the final, 6th or something, it seems like ages ago. At least I didn't crack a hole in the bottom of the boat like Shob with her stones to weigh her boat down(sorry Shob!).
Sunday - The most memorable thing about Sunday was the rain, you'd think that canoeists wouldn't mind getting a bit wet but it does make paddling less appealing.
Thanks Sarah for probably the most fun race of the weekend - we finnished 6th in final 1.
So overall, the weather did not dampen spirits, thanks for the cakes Kath, they were fab as ever, hope you had a good birthday Mick.
Next weekend is Nottingham Marathon so cross your fingers and it will brighten up a bit :)...
Beth x

May Regatta

As a true Brit, i will first start and talk about the weather. It was rubbish really, didnt race on sat (happy birthday Mick) but came down and guess what it was raining, raced all day sunday and it pretty much rained allday,making it abit cold and not that appealing to race but still was a good day(race wise). had a pretty good k1 500m heat, coming 4th(i think) time being 2.46(i think again), got into final 3 and won and was faster than about 3 people in final 2 which was v good, time was 2.40 (i know that for certain :D) . then was k2 which i was very pleased with, went really well, heat was good and we got into final 1 and came 6th, which was really good and very enjoyable. thanks Beth! Was a fab day apart from the rain, but Micks good old camper was there to keep to dry, and Kaths lush biscuits and cakes were there to keep us well....happy and energised and just to generally be really nice, as usual. And of course all the people down to have a chat and a laugh with. A very enjoyable regatta :) :) Sarah x

Clifton Presentation Photo's 2007

.

Kath Nadal overall series winner.
Michael Simms Most improved junior.
Steve Bagshaw Veteran winner.

Pictures of the winners were meant to be taken but only a couple turned out, as our camera man Des was wasn't too good at pressing the button!

Round the Bridges & Junior Group

Perhaps the weather kept people away, but there were only a few people doing round the bridges & several of them were juniors. The junior/Lightning group paddled down to TS Orion before going back to the club to swell the numbers for one times Round the Bridges. Luke, Tadek, Ricky & Ozzy all did PBs. The evening was also punctuated by swimming!

Clifton Records 2007

The Clifton Bridge records for 2007 so far, are now on the NKC Website. Go to http://uk.geocities.com/nottinghamkayakclub/clifton/clifton07.htm

Clifton Time Trial

Although it was sunny, the strong upstream wind made the water fairly choppy for tonight's time trial. It was cold on the fingers too. With Beth C away, all the juniors paddled in K2, either with us old fogies, or together, with the exception of Craig. The 6 minute group seemed to be where the action was, with most of them finishing within seconds of each other.