Several of the WWR squad did good times including Dee from Gaily, Tim from Burton, Jon from Soar Valley and Jessica also from Soar Valley. Rex and Harriet both did good K1 performances assuring them of top 10 places in the overall series.
Zyggy and Shobhanaa were back together again for the last race.
Geordie and Tadek managed to finish this race with their best place.
Paul & Laura reached winning form despite their harder handicap, ensuring Laura's place as the overall winner of the series and one of the 20 point tee-shirt winners. Paul, now a veteran, finished second in the series, having won it as a junior in 1981/2 and as a senior in 1996/7.
Thanks to Jane for the photos.
There were 5 NKC juniors in the top 10 overall and 10 in the top 20. This is the best junior performance for several years, with 15 doing the series altogether.
The series is rising in popularity again and more K2s are entering, perhaps reflecting the fact that more of the younger juniors are entering again. As a comparison:
2004/5 - 45 took part with 8 juniors none under 12
2005/6 - 55 took part with 8 juniors 1 under 12
2006/7 - 64 took part with 9 juniors 2 under 12
2007/8 - 80 took part with 15 juniors 4 under 12
More people entered in WWR boats this year too.
Of the top 5 placings, only Harriet in 4th place managed it entirely in K1.
Of the top 20, only 4 were K1 entries.
There are moves to change the rules over K2 entries in the future, but perhaps we also need to consider class trophies for different classes to take into account the participation. Although there were a large number of guest Wild Water paddlers, Tina, Dave, Gary, Chris, Pat, Pete, Ben & Michael also paddle their Wild water boats during the winter. It would be interesting to consider which of the 80 paddlers would not enter at all if they did not do K2. Not only the under 12s, but most of the 13 year olds and many veterans would also be discouraged by rules that discriminated against K2s, yet it has to be admitted that the results this year, show an inbalance between K1s, K2s & WWRs. Of the 6 races, 4 were won by K2s, 2 by K1s and none by WWR boats. And ... should we also have a guest trophy for the best placed non-NKC member? Some of the WWR paddlers attend a number of our events regularly, especially those from clubs in the Midlands. After all these years, we still charge no entry fee for the series and that obviously needs taking into consideration.
Some juniors have said that they feel the race is not encouraging the right people. What do you think? If you don't offer helpful suggestions about how this long established race series can be improved, don't complain about the handicapping system or the outcomes.
The major series trophies are still only open to club members winning them, in case people are wondering why they did not take one of the overall titles.
Finally, we all need to thank Dave, for yet again organising the whole series, doing the calculations, applying the rules and sitting there in all weather to do the timing. Thanks also to George who deputised for him while he was away.
Full Series results: http://uk.geocities.com/nottinghamkayakclub/resultstore/winter_races_07_08.htm
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