NKC New Year K2 Knockout Race 2014

Well done to all the members who turned up and raced on a miserable morning and in the process raised money for club funds.

Lovely weather - lovely day.

The evening was the best so far this year with near perfect conditions for Round the Bridges. Norman had quite a large group for the casual paddling & Kath accompanied the younger junior/Lightnings down to the sailing club. It was good to see Ben back after his illness in July. He couldn't find the old battered left handed wings he has used for a year, so used flats & ended up with one blade dropping off. Kath swopped him for her left handed wings & paddled back most of the way C1 style!
Shobhanaa & Beth did Round the Bridges with Cathy, Ralph, Graham and a few more. Ricky & I joined them after our paddle to the sailing club.
Cathy was rewarded by a PB, Shobhanaa, on Cathy's wash & Ricky clipped a bit more off theirs while Beth managed to take about 20 seconds off hers with her first time sub 7:00 minutes on my wash. I managed to prove that mine was not a fluke last week by equalling it!

Friday Night Round the Bridges

Considering that this was the first week for a while that the Trent has been back to normal summer levels for Round the Bridges, there was a "thin" turnout this evening. An added dimention of the Nottingham Water Festival offered a few extra hazards, with boats moored in odd places, a continual stream of narrow boats & rather too many little rubber boats wizzing round to make paddling above Trent Bridge a particularly pleasant option.
To add to the distractions of loud music & assorted boats, there was a noticable downstream breeze. Des, Tom, Tim & Shobhanaa were the main participants in the time trials, with Tim recording a PB of 6:18. Kath, Laura, Alice, Ricky & I did a steady paddle to the Sailing Club, with all the juniors showing the results of having trained with Beth C on Tuesday nights. Their technique & speed shows real progress & they have all made the transition from Lightnings into full size K1s without any difficulties.
Kath, Ricky & I opted to do a couple of times Round the Bridges when we got back from our "long warm up." Kath did a season's best, while Ricky & I managed a PB each. Ricky is now on 7:36, while I went 3 seconds faster than my PB set in 1984 with a 5:47!
Thanks as always to Dave for the timing.

Friday Night Round the Bridges

Only 9 people did Round the Bridges in the rain tonight including 1 Lightning paddler & 1 other junior. Shobhanaa was the only one to manage a PB with a time of 6:50. The other juniors & Lightnings did a leisurly paddle to either Clifton or the Toll Bridge, preferring to save their energy for The Soar Race on Sunday. Thanks to Norman who subbed for Dave as timekeeper on a humid & very damp evening.

Friday Round The Bridges

Not many turned up for the round the bridges session tonight, and I can see why! The turns were quite off-putting to begin with, although after a little help from Mick, I managed to master them slightly better than I had done at the start of the session, which meant I wasn't wasting as much time. Mick decided to help me on all but the first one, because he cancelled his lightning session due to the unusual conditions for June. After Hayleigh returned from her training downstream, she also went round with me, helping with my paddling technique so thanks to both of them! Very worthwhile session really, despite the wind, little bit of rain and fast-flowing river.

Round the Bridges - World Record

The weather was not perfect, nor was the river but at least it was down. Juniors outnumbered seniors with the whole range from 8 to 16. There was a great crop of PBs with the most outstanding being Hayleigh's new World Record for Women's K1 which has stood since Tina set it in 1993. A great time - 5:29, sadly I hadn't got my camera because she looked as awsome as her time suggests! (I don't use that word lightly either!)
Congratulations also go to Tadek, Zyggy, Minnie, & Joe. Tadek's is possibly a World Record Lightning Time at 8:11. The record books don't show what boats people use.
First time sub 6 minutes for me this year I think - my all time PB is in sight - less than 10 seconds to go.

Friday

A few people braved the conditions. After the violent thunder storm, it was only the real enthusiasts turned out for Round the Bridges. Beth, Shob, Rex, Alison, Norman & Tom started off, while Tadek & Zyggy paddled to the Toll Bridge before returning to join in. The river was full of debris & flowing fast. The new "cruising hotel" that has joined the Nottingham Princess, throws up a large wash & that just added to the general hazards. Beth seemed to enjoy it all, except for the weed that kept building up. Norman decided that discretion was the better part of valour & used a Trimmer, while Alison resorted to swimming at the downstream turn. However, she was the only one who managed a PB at 7:18. In view of the conditions, it won't be long before she is sub 7 minutes.

Friday evening.

It was an evening for lolling around in an open canoe with a bottle of chilled wine & a few strawberries or something! George's course members seemed to find the cool Trent water inviting and swam instead of paddled around.
Surprisingly there was not a flood of casual paddlers, but there were still a few over energetic paddlers who did Round the Bridges with Norman, in the absence of Dave E, who is currently in Denmark with the National Marathon Team.
The river bank was ringing to the strident tones of Nigel as he tried to squeeze a millisecond or two faster time out of Michael, so The Lightning & Junior group paddled out of earshot to Wilford Church & back, before a few of them were infected with an excess of energy and had a go at Round the Bridges themselves.
The most notable performance was from Megan who took 3 minutes off her Personal Best without any shouting from Nigel. Tadek also gets a mention for a PB, which he managed in near silence!

Friday Night.

It was a warm & sunny evening & there was something for everyone. Round the Bridges had several takers, the junior group paddled downstream & Norman had a few takers for casual paddling.
When the juniors returned from their paddle several of them were keen to join in with Round the Bridges & that produced no fewer than 8 Personal Bests.
Honours go to Shobhanaa who broke 7 minutes for the first time, Sarah, Agnes, Edith & Laura for the older juniors. Not to be left out, 3 of the Lightning paddlers also produced PBs, so well done to Tadek, Zyggy & Joe.

Friday Paddle

Having not paddled for about a week, the paddle downstream was quite relaxing, despite the many rowers that were on the water! It helped as the conditions were perfect and it was reasonably sunny, this also contributing to our PBs for Round the Bridges. Well done Ricky, who managed to stay in his boat despite colliding slightly with Josh going downstream, and for his round the bridges PB, during which he got pushed in towards the bank just after starting the effort!

Friday Evening

The river was full of rowers this evening. With the National Schools regatta on this weekend, there were dozens of crews out. I'm not sure which was most amusing, some of the crews lack of ability to stay out of each other's way or their coaches furiously shouting/peddling along the bank. Meanwhile, a few brave souls did Round the Bridges. Norman took some casual paddlers to Clifton & we accompanied a few juniors through the thick of the rowers! There were no collisions or even near misses apart from 2 eights nearly rowing into each other. Shob, Beth & Sarah opted for the downstream paddle as a relaxation from their week of exams.
When they got back to NKC, Beth, Shob & Ricky all wanted to do Round the Bridges & as Dave was just packing up, I timed them. All 3 managed PBs with Beth managing 2 in a row. They were not the only ones. Perhaps the added spice of a river full of wandering rowers contributed!

Round the Bridges & Junior Group

Perhaps the weather kept people away, but there were only a few people doing round the bridges & several of them were juniors. The junior/Lightning group paddled down to TS Orion before going back to the club to swell the numbers for one times Round the Bridges. Luke, Tadek, Ricky & Ozzy all did PBs. The evening was also punctuated by swimming!

Lightnings & Beginners

It was cool & blustery for the Friday evening session. Several Lightning paddlers again chose Round the Bridges, while the rest went for a paddle down past TS Orion. This week, going fast was on some people's minds & after shortening the downstream bit, Laura, Tadek, Ricky & Ben chose to have a go at Round the Bridges. It was the first time for some of them.
For a Friday, the river had been unusually busy with rowers. 2 eights going fairly fast, side by side, chose the same moment to pass under Trent Bridge, that the Lightnings plus a junior were trying to negociate the turn round the bridge. The result was increased times while they waited for the eights, with the exception of Ricky, who had already managed to turn. The rowers have obviously changed their routine, as this is a fairly rare occurence for Friday's.
It was good to have so many down despite slightly less than ideal conditions.

Round the Bridges

Loads of people turned up for last night's Round the Bridges. Well done to Max, Alice and Ralph's sisters (sorry I don't know your names!) for your PBs. I also did a PB and Shob equalled hers twice so it was a good night.

Round the Bridges

It was a warm, still & for the most part, sunny evening, for the first Round the Bridges of the season.

As always, Dave was there with stop watch & clipboard. He'd just driven the squad boats back from Seville where they had been at a pre season training camp.

The attendence was fair, but not overwhelming. Ralph & Hayleigh were about it for the seniors, with Des, Tim & Norman the veteran contingent.

Sarah, Shobhanaa, Beth & Michael made up the juniors. It was good to see Nat out paddling again too.

There were PBs from Michael & Shob. The rest of us watched.