Tuesday - Clifton & other things.

Had there not been a BT engineer fixing the club phone & the proximity of a fire engine, one wonders what the outcome would have been for the club & for Ray Sims! As it is, the disaster is confined to his workshop & we express our sympathy with him, but are grateful that it was just his workshop & not him that went up in smoke!
The river is back to normal & suddenly everyone was out in K1s again. Congratulations to Shobhanaa for taking over a minute off her PB.
Rumour has it that Hayleigh did a World Record too, but the times book is nowhere about to confirm it!
Beth C had a small select group out tonight too, with Laura in a K1 for the first time. Beth said she looked so comfortable in it that you wouldn't have guessed it was the first time.

Wednesday July K4 10km Race

Considering the recent weather & height of the river, paddling on Holme Pierrepont was a pleasant relief & 9 K4s turned out to race. The inclusion of the Fast Track Women's members added a different dimension, however it was not entirely popular.
It was a bit of a lottery as to which one of the women were in which boat & how skilled or fit they were, which led to a real inbalance in the crews & for some a very disappointing & uncomfortable race. For most it was just a "paddle round" with little satisfaction. The only real race at any point was for 2nd, 3rd & 4th places in the last 250 metres.
The inclusion of "whole" crews with clearly inaccurate handicaps also caused some consternation & there were mumblings about the value of continueing the races with such bias introduced into a situation, that in previous years had given a better balance of crews & fairer competition to all concerned.
This concern was expressed from the level of junior up to top senior & may herald the end of the enthusiasm for these popular monthly events. Several paddlers declared that it would be their last K4 10km race due to the unfairness of the crews/handicaps. The varying, but cumulative discontent stems from a variety of gripes that can be summarised as:

• Apparently the old criteria of being able to do under 60 minutes to Clifton Bridge in a K1 as the minimum eligability (or a recent & reliable marathon ranking) has been thrown by the wayside & the races are now open to all.
• The inclusion of inexperienced paddlers makes the boats seriously uncomfortable to paddle 10km in.
• Crews made up from paddlers that are not included in the "mix & match" are usually hard to handicap & are either at a huge advantage or a huge disadvantage & really only end up with a time trial.
• The benefit & pleasure of being able to paddle in a crew that is balanced against the others is being lost.
• The benefit & pleasure of being able to paddle in a crew including paddlers much better than yourself is being lost.
• Most people that do the races are there for an event, not to train to paddle in a K4 & feel that the two should be separated.
• Anything that biases the crew composition unduly reduces the competitive & social elements of the events.

Comments based on other, but less general feelings have also been muttered, but perhaps these can be overlooked. It would be a great shame if these events faded away through a loss of enthusiasm. The benefits, including introducing many to the delights of K4 racing & given the average club member, who would get little chance to race in a competitive crew, with more experienced paddlers, would be lost with them. Perhaps the last in the 2007 series on August 29th will see how many were just feeling a bit sore & how many feel that it is no longer for them.

The results of the July event can be found at http://uk.geocities.com/nottinghamkayakclub/resultstore/K4July07.htm

Clifton & more high water

The weather looked & felt summery, but last night's Clifton Time Trial was done on winter level water again. Cathy & Martin, paddling together for the first time were the only PB, but Baggy & Alison deserve a mention for only being a couple of seconds short of theirs. Numbers were slightly depleted & most people opted for K2 or a White Water boat. Some turned at the Toll Bridge including Beth C who took Ricky, her one & only junior paddler in a K2.
The other juniors all turned in good times, with Shobhanaa & Lizzie doing a time that would have probably meant a PB at normal summer levels.
Well done to everyone for just being there.

Another international result from Hayleigh

Having worked out how to navigate around a confusing Spanish website, it's now possible to give a link to the most recent results from Hayleigh who came 3rd in yesterday's Senior Women's K1 race. You can download the full results at http://www.fcylp.com/fichacomp.asp?ref=238

International results

NKC Members have enjoyed considerable success in international competitions over the past few weeks. Go to the club website for links to each of them. 6 club members have competed & one been involved in coaching. http://uk.geocities.com/nottinghamkayakclub/recent/page2.html

The most outstanding is of course Tim Babants becoming European Champion in Mens K1 500 metres. He added this to the Silver medal he had already won in the 1000 metres. Lucy Wainwright paddling with Abby Coulson also managed 8th in their final

The club website also has links to the Junior World Wild Water Racing Championships where Michael Sims managed an 11th & 14th place. By far the most entertaining link is to the report from this trip where the exploits of Michael & Agent Orange in the colonies can be enjoyed. http://www.wildwater.org.uk/events/racereports/juniorworlds2007.htm

There are also links to the the World Cups Marathon in Denmark, where Hayleigh Mason, Vicky Surrage & Harriett Farish also turned in good results. Lastly there are links to the international races in Spain, where Hayleigh Mason has again been racing this weekend. It helps to be able to read Spanish & the website changes every time you look at it, but if you poke around a bit, you can find the results downloadable as pdf files.

Friday night

A stiff upstream breeze together with the rising river & persistant drizzle, made conditions more like those expected in November than July. NKC was almost deserted, apart from a brief appearance from Matt F, the only ones putting in a session in the absence of Dave to time Round the Bridges, were Wes, Mick, Kath, Sobhanaa, Beth, Sarah & Ricky who ploughed through the waves on the way to the Sluices & surfed back to the club!

Tuesday Night

The river is on its way up again & is back to the same level that it was 2 weeks ago, 3 inches above the "slalom pole boards" outside the club. Despite the conditions there were 3 PBs, from Michelle, Shobhanaa & Kath/Sarah. This obviously means more from them once the river gets back down to normal again. More torrential rain just after the race & more on the way suggests that this may not be for some time yet.
Big thanks go to Nick, who took the younger juniors up to the Toll Bridge in the absence of Beth.

Soar Valley - a few more pictures

Des & Tony in Div 7/8 K2
Kath & Donna also in Div 7/8 K2

Heather obviously not feeling quite herself in Div 7.



Simon in the same race who took a refreshing swim at the bottom turn.


Unfortunately no pictures of Dave Belbin who had a tough race against Neil Blackman of Soar Valley in the Div 2 event.
Look out for more Soar Valley pictures on the Gallery Blog in a week or two.

Soar Valley - Higher Division K1s

In Div 4 the race for first & second was between Tom & Jon Tye of Worcester. It appeared to be a gentlemanly affair with Jon waiting for Tom after the portages to share the work with & so he had someone to burn off at the end

Apart from the start, the Div 6 Race seemed to be about Cathy sitting around waiting for the rest to give them a chance. Her recent Leg op meant that the organisers let her paddle past the portage & then held her back for 30 seconds while the rest portaged, which must have been quite frustrating. A good result for her in the end though.



In Div 5, Antoni seemed to enjoy his leisurly paddle round.

More Soar - 5/6 K2

From the start it looked as though 5/6 K2 was the race to be in!
As they came back for the first portage it was clear that Baggy & Alison were well clear, in fact they were so fast that by the time the camera was ready, they had gone past!
The struggle for 2nd & 3rd was the real race, with very little in it.


And as they reached the finish ... oops is that 2 K1s fighting it out ... oh no it's OK, it's Marish & Geordie just ahead of Attila & Julie from Leamington.

Soar Marathon

Soar was another enjoyable day, although it was a shorter day than usual with the race being close to NKC. I enjoyed my race, especially as there were so many Nottingham paddlers on the water racing at the same time as me! Plus, there was a lot of support from the bank for both the lower and the higher division paddlers. Everyone had good results; in particular there were lots of people finishing within the top three for their class! I'm afraid there are no photos from me this time.

Soar Valley Marathon - Lower Divisions

It was the best turn out from NKC at any of the Midlands Marathons, with entries in most classes. There were also good results at all levels. For a change there were also several photographers there, so this is only the first of several posts to record the day. These pictures by Marish show some of the lower division events.
Div 7/8 K2 had 4 Nottingham entries. Left to right they are Kath & Donna, Beth & Sarah, Mick & Ricky (4th from left) Tony & Des.
Mick & Ricky managed to get a good start & were joined by John & Louise Clive from Gailey & Beth & Sarah. They managed to get away from the rest of the field & kept that order to the end.
Heather & Simon got good starts in Div 7, but a swim at the turn meant Simon dropped down the field. Heather also mooched round the course, taking in the sights.
Shobhanaa's was one of the best performances in the lower divisions, coming first in Div 8 & hopefully being promoted to Div 7.



Tadek turned out for the Lightning race & was yet again our only Under 12 paddler.

More photos to follow ...

Friday Night Round the Bridges

Only 9 people did Round the Bridges in the rain tonight including 1 Lightning paddler & 1 other junior. Shobhanaa was the only one to manage a PB with a time of 6:50. The other juniors & Lightnings did a leisurly paddle to either Clifton or the Toll Bridge, preferring to save their energy for The Soar Race on Sunday. Thanks to Norman who subbed for Dave as timekeeper on a humid & very damp evening.

Tuesday sessions - Clifton

Beth C had her growing group of young juniors down, eager to paddle again.
The river was nearly back to normal level, the breeze was not too strong & the temperature mild. There was a reasonable number of K1s & K2s down for the Clifton time trial. As always, there was some contentious handicapping & a little serious "chopping up" in the groups. Alison improved her PB by several minutes in her new K1 which she was able to get out and race at last. Beth W & I took nearly one and a half minutes off ours. It was my second fastest time in K2 with anyone since 1984. Thanks Beth!

Shropshire Results

Shropshire results can now be found on the NKC Website, the Marathon Website or click here.

Sunday - More of the same.

The weather was the proper summer weather & the river was a little more manageble. Trent Lock to the club at a leisurely pace was a delight. Lunch & chilling at Beeston weir completed the pleasure.

Saturday - "The Expedition"

Shobhanaa & Beth steered excellent courses despite the extremely high water & the weather was the best we have had for several days. I can't add anything else, except the evidence!




Photos Sarah & Mick

Paddling on Saturday or "The Expedition!"

Our pleasant trip today took us on the canal as far Beeston, where we portaged on to the river to continue upstream past Barton Island. The section after Beeston provided the best parts of the paddling, as we were on less familiar water and somewhere that none of us have paddled since doing the Trent k2 race last October. Plus, we decided to stop and have our lunch/picnic just after passing Barton Island. This made an entertaining hour or so, with a few jokes! Of course part of our lunch was Kath's biscuits, which filled us up until we got back to the club later on in the aftertoon.

Tuesday - Clifton

The rain held off until after the race, but the river remains fairly high.
It was again a night for K2s, with Steve & Alison yet again managing a PB. The earlier groups seemed to cope with the conditions a little better than last week. There was considerable hacking & hewing going on in the middle group & a few people had fairly bizzare start times. There was obviously a strong competitive streak amongst the faster crews, with boats being dug out of cobwebs & covers amidst strong suggestions that people were appropriating seats! Tom proved that paddling a K1 half a metre above the water is not his only aim in life, by approaching it from the same distance below the boat. He was the only paddler to attempt to negociate the 350 metres between Trent Bridge & the finish line, lying on the back deck of his boat!
Beth C had a good group who coped with the conditions well.

Some more photos from Shropshire

Shropshire

The racing at Shropshire made another excellent day for the five of us that went from NKC. Plus, we had some pretty good results with 4th & 5th from Kath and I, and Beth and Sarah in the 7/8 k2 race. Perhaps the best result was Mick's win in his k1 in Division 5, which Beth and I predicted, even when we saw that he was out at the back of the group just after the sprint start! Kath and I had a very enjoyable race, and I'm glad that the start was split into two groups, as the turn seemed chaotic enough with only three boats there at the same time as us. Aside from that, both of us were happy that there was no need to go through any of the narrow bridges in a big group!

Shropshire Race

The Shropshire Paddlesport race is a new one on the Midlands Hasler calendar. It was worth a trip to see what it was like. The welcome was warm & friendly & they were generous with prizes.
Entries were mainly in the lower divisions with split starts for some classes. Beth & Sarah went off with the first 4 in Div 7/8 K2, while Kath & Shob took the second start.


The course for the lower divisions is a short 4 miles with a number of very narrow sections, but a wider area to turn. There were a few entries in Divs 4, 5, & 6 K1 with only 2 in the 5/6 The higher divisions did the same course as the lower ones & then carried on past the club over 3 locks to a turn again in a wider basin, before returning over the locks & back to the club. For people who have done Waterside they were easy, with only one slightly high (60cm) drop. Most of the mud on the course was around the clubhouse, so was no problem to the competitors, but like Glastonbury is all part of the fun for spectators.
Lightning paddlers did a shorter course which is ideal for young paddlers with access on the towpath for the entire length. The fun race & Lightnings got higher entries than most other Midlands events & they clearly have the foundations of a lively & successful racing club in the future.
Despite a few very heavy showers, the weather was mostly warm with quite a bit of sunshine.

The ladies did their race & managed a 4th & 5th place, then lazed around in the sunshine while I did mine.
I squeezed ahead of Mark Clive in a most enjoyable & civilized race. Having dropped the rest of the field, we did "bit & bit" until nearly the last lock & finished within a second of each other.
He just beat me at Leamington & it was a pleasure to race against him again. It shouldn't be long before he leaves me for "dead" & gets promoted to Div 4 and onward.

Despite the 200 mile round trip to Oswestry it was a good day out, yet again in excellent company.