Soar "Resolution" New Year Race

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

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

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

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.