Winter Race 2 - November

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

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!

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

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