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