July K4 10km

It was a mostly calm, warm and sunny evening for the July K4 10km. There were 7 crews with paddlers from Nottingham, Lincoln, Chelmsford, Leicester & Chester paddling. There were varying standards of steering the turns, wash hanging and timing in the entirely mixed crews. Only one boat had a time handicap, with a crew ranking total of 18 (I think) against crew rankings totalling 22, 23 & 24. In theory, they should have caught the "pack" and very nearly did catch the 6th placed crew, however their turns probably added about 200 metres to their course each time and with 7 turns during the 4 laps, obviously paddled about 1500 metres more than the rest.



The two leading crews reaching the finish line.







The evening was also an opportunity for the under 12s (some under 6!) to develop their skills in the Rocket mini K4s further down the course.

Go to the Gallery for more photos http://nkcgallery2.blogspot.com/
Results here when available
Photos - Mick

Excitement - the alternative to Soar Marathon

Just a pointer to some great photos from last weekend's trip away for the families that went with Julie, Rex and Gilly! While the rest of us swam or paddled at Soar. Look at the pictures and then say which you would rather do? Click here http://nkcgallery2.blogspot.com/

World Cups II

Meanwhile at Crestuma in Portugal, Harriet Farish (in K2 with Nicola Taylor - Elmbridge ) came 4th out of 7 starters, 4 min 42 sec down on the winners. A good British Result.

She races again next weekend as part of the GB team to the IV Castilla y Leon K4 International Grand Prix, at Valladolid and Sanabria, Spain.

We wish her success again.

Soar Marathon 2008

The weather improved enough to make it the most like summer that we have had for a couple of weeks. Neil Blackman, the Soar Valley race organiser, proved that it doesn't take a cast of thousands to produce a good race, with only 3 of them running the whole thing. Altogether it was a good day out for those who raced.

Apart from the Nationals at the end of August, it was the last opportunity in the Midlands for individuals to qualify to race at the 2008 Hasler Finals. However, despite it being the closest race apart from our own and the last chance to score Hasler points for the club, the fewest number of NKC members to attend the Soar Race in the past few years, made it a little disappointing for us.

Other clubs, like Burton, Lincoln & Gailey had clearly made an effort to turn out as many paddlers as possible and with 20 odd Lightning paddlers, there were around 90 competitors in total. Like most Midlands races this season though, K2 competitors above Div 7 were almost non-existant, and Div 9 was much lower than would be hoped.

Those NKC members who did attend had mixed fortunes. The hot sunshine raised the temperature quite high, making the water seem inviting and we topped the swimming table with ease. However, good results were produced by Ian in Div 4, Norman in Div 5, Shobhanaa in Div 7, Ozzie in the Under 10 Lightnings and Heather & Alison in Div 8 K2. Kath & Donna were also in the Div 8 K2 medals.

Let's hope a few more NKC members make it to Ironbridge for the first qualifying race of the 2009 Hasler season on 10th August.

More NKC Successes - Members in the News

The news has been full of NKC Members recently.

OLYMPIC KAYAK SPRINT SELECTIONS

Perhaps Tim Brabants & Lucy Wainwright are the most notable, having been on local TV, National TV & the papers. We wish them success.

Also in the news:

INTERNATIONAL MARATHON RESULTS

Paul Enoch & Richard Golder - Senior Mens K4 Trophy Prince of Asturias at Pontevedra in Spain - 20/21 June with Jamie Mayers of Runcorn & Richard Forbes of Solihull.
5th international crew.

Harriet Farish - World Cup 1, Brandenberg, Germany 14-15 June. K2 with Nicky Taylor of Elmbridge Canoe Club. 8th senior women K2.

LOCAL NEWS

At yesterday evening's presentation for the Rushcliffe district sports awards at the Arena, Harriet Farish won the Senior Sportsperson Of The Year out of the many candidates (5 were shortlisted) in a high quality field. Tim Brabants was the speaker at the event and a film was shown of his last years 1000m world championship K1 race to an excited audience. In Harriet's absence - she has gone to race in Crestuma this weekend for another World Cups Event - Norman Mason, the NKC Captain, collected her trophies from Tim).
Also shortlisted were Michael Sims as Junior Sportsperson Of The Year (for last year) and David Phillips as Volunteer Sports Coach. Both of these were in the last 5 in very tough competition.

NATIONAL SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIPS

At the National Sprint Championships last weekend, Tim Brabants became the Mens A K1 500 metres Champion. Laurence Garton won the Mens D Class Championships in both 1000 metres and 200 metres.
Good performances were also produced by our Juniors in the Under 14 Age group. Both Boys and Girls events had over 40 competitors from clubs all over the country and the Girls races also had representatives from Holland and South Africa. Ricky Millar produced good times, while Alice Cobb & Leanna Bold both reached finals. Leanna's result was notable as it was her first season paddling & she came 6th in Final 1 with a paddler from Frisia, Amsterdam & another from Natal Canoe Club, South Africa just ahead of her in the 500 metres.
Only two of our Under 12s paddled at this event, taking part in Lightning, Hody K2 & Mini K4 events. Congratulations to Max & Megan on their first Nationals.

Activities - Shropshire

There are still things going on at the club, like busy Friday nights with a good turn out each week from the juniors, several casual paddlers and a few seniors doing Round the Bridges time trials. Club members did well at Burton & Hereford Marathons too, as can be seen from the results on the club website. Lightning activity at Regattas has been the best ever, with good results in the Lightning, Hody K2 & Mini K4 events. Again details can be found via the club website & downloaded.

Perhaps because everyone is so busy paddling, we do have a shortage of people writing blog entries about it or taking photos, so to get it going again here are a few pictures from Burton, Hereford & Shropshire & a brief report.

Burton saw a good turn out by parents, supporters, veterans, juniors and Lightnings with excellent results. Hopefully there will be a few more pictures on the Gallery Blog before the end of the summer.

Two car loads made it to Hereford for a very windy day's racing.

Finally this weekend, the journey to Shropshire proved to be far easier than that to Hereford and although narrow, the racing there proved to be worth the Journey.

It was a bit tight for the Div 7 K2 start, but our two crews managed to stay out of trouble and get to the front group with little difficulty. The two Lightning paddlers each with their Div 7 junior partner, performed particularly well. Despite some interesting turning and an unfortunate collision, they finally finished in 2nd and 3rd places - an excellent result. Mick's Div 5 race was less crowded, but the younger ones shot off, leaving him to warm up on the first mile. After Matt (from Burton) dropped Mark (from Gailey) 2nd 3rd & 4th places came together in a group. By the finish, now fully warmed up and with fortune smiling on him at the 6th portage, Mick also managed to gain 2nd.

Hopefully there will be more photos on the Gallery of other activities soon.