DW 2008 - Senior K1 - Harriet

For anyone doing DW or Waterside for the first time, Harriet is a good model for portaging. Most slower and novice paddlers or crews generally seem to get out too early and back in early, perhaps due to the lack of experience of their support crews. This always causes a "clag up" of bodies around the portage. If you do as Harriet does, and get out late and in late, it avoids these and usually gets you round the slower crews plodding the portages with more ease unless there is a width restriction along the lock.

Obviously if the bank has places that are clearly easier to get in and out they too tend to be cluttered with hangers on. Anyway, it was a pleasure to watch Harriet portage down the canal. Here she is at Froxfield Middle Lock ...



... and again at Hungerford, with Paul & Richard doing one of the important support jobs of feeding the paddler. It's possible to see inexperienced supporters making a variety of basic mistakes in the way that they feed paddlers. It always shows when when supporters are paddlers themselves, or very experienced. They stand in the right place (out of the way) step beside or in front of the paddler when they are back in the boat (might seem obvious, but ...) say helpful things cheerfully (you should hear some of the things supporters shout at their crews - I would hit them) and stay out of the way of other competitors. The best example of getting it wrong that we saw this year, was one of the junior crew supporters who tossed a piece of food at each of the paddlers in a K2 as though they were sea-lions and managed to get one paddler's food in the water and one paddler's food on the deck of the boat in front of them, nicely out of reach. At night time it is the inexperienced ones who always wield the brightest torches and dazzle every passing paddler and supporter as well as their own crew.



Here are Paul & Richard M again at Kintbury after a drinking bottle change.
The end of the first stage, just before Newbury Lock. I'm sorry we couldn't follow Harriet down all the stages as it was a pleasure to watch her. Having trained with her for several of the sessions during the winter, it was appropriate that the "cheering section" followed her down a stage of her successful race. Thanks Harriet.

All photos by Mick & Sarah. (Any more that people have of Harriet, Richard, Fern & Cathy, can be posted by sending them to the NKC e-mail address or one of the Bloggers.)