New Year's Race

This year, the Resolution Race on the Soar was a little before New Year so that we could do the Frank Luzmore K2 as well. It was sad to see such a low turn out this year, but not from NKC. Banbury made up the majority of the race and fortunately the organiser paddled or Soar Valley would not have had a single entry.

They were there doing the rest of the stuff, like starter/finisher, marshals at the key places and cooking the hot food.

The Chairman set a good example by winning the K1 race and Norman & Des did the same in K2. There was enough water in the river to use understern rudders on the old river bed and to make it interesting, but not so much that the measuring weir was a raging torrent. In fact, the wind blown chop on the Trent is probably more demanding.

Andrew deserves a mention as he finished just as the prize giving did, but was in time to collect his can of beer prize. In fairness he did do further than most of us and his GPS track shows that he took frequent detours and managed to make about 10.5 miles. On the other hand, having done the race quite a few times over the past 30 odd years, I only travelled 9.7 miles.

The facilities are not placial, but the very relaxed and friendly atmosphere at Soar Valley together with the "rustic" course, mean it's worth doing if only to shake off the Christmas cobwebs and burn a few calories - make it one of your resolutions to be there next year. Details will appear on the NKC website.
Results here

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.

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!

Soar Valley - a few more pictures

Des & Tony in Div 7/8 K2
Kath & Donna also in Div 7/8 K2

Heather obviously not feeling quite herself in Div 7.



Simon in the same race who took a refreshing swim at the bottom turn.


Unfortunately no pictures of Dave Belbin who had a tough race against Neil Blackman of Soar Valley in the Div 2 event.
Look out for more Soar Valley pictures on the Gallery Blog in a week or two.

Soar Valley - Higher Division K1s

In Div 4 the race for first & second was between Tom & Jon Tye of Worcester. It appeared to be a gentlemanly affair with Jon waiting for Tom after the portages to share the work with & so he had someone to burn off at the end

Apart from the start, the Div 6 Race seemed to be about Cathy sitting around waiting for the rest to give them a chance. Her recent Leg op meant that the organisers let her paddle past the portage & then held her back for 30 seconds while the rest portaged, which must have been quite frustrating. A good result for her in the end though.



In Div 5, Antoni seemed to enjoy his leisurly paddle round.

More Soar - 5/6 K2

From the start it looked as though 5/6 K2 was the race to be in!
As they came back for the first portage it was clear that Baggy & Alison were well clear, in fact they were so fast that by the time the camera was ready, they had gone past!
The struggle for 2nd & 3rd was the real race, with very little in it.


And as they reached the finish ... oops is that 2 K1s fighting it out ... oh no it's OK, it's Marish & Geordie just ahead of Attila & Julie from Leamington.

Soar Marathon

Soar was another enjoyable day, although it was a shorter day than usual with the race being close to NKC. I enjoyed my race, especially as there were so many Nottingham paddlers on the water racing at the same time as me! Plus, there was a lot of support from the bank for both the lower and the higher division paddlers. Everyone had good results; in particular there were lots of people finishing within the top three for their class! I'm afraid there are no photos from me this time.

Soar Valley Marathon - Lower Divisions

It was the best turn out from NKC at any of the Midlands Marathons, with entries in most classes. There were also good results at all levels. For a change there were also several photographers there, so this is only the first of several posts to record the day. These pictures by Marish show some of the lower division events.
Div 7/8 K2 had 4 Nottingham entries. Left to right they are Kath & Donna, Beth & Sarah, Mick & Ricky (4th from left) Tony & Des.
Mick & Ricky managed to get a good start & were joined by John & Louise Clive from Gailey & Beth & Sarah. They managed to get away from the rest of the field & kept that order to the end.
Heather & Simon got good starts in Div 7, but a swim at the turn meant Simon dropped down the field. Heather also mooched round the course, taking in the sights.
Shobhanaa's was one of the best performances in the lower divisions, coming first in Div 8 & hopefully being promoted to Div 7.



Tadek turned out for the Lightning race & was yet again our only Under 12 paddler.

More photos to follow ...