The Interclubs Regatta

The weather was poor, I'm afraid to say the turn out by most of our paddlers was poor considering that the course is right on our doorstep and from the point of view of the Lightning paddlers, the organisation was disasterously poor. However the performances of those who attended made up for both these factors to some extent.

It was of course mainly veterans and juniors racing and with some outstanding efforts from amongst them we managed to squeeze into 14th place. It seems that the scorekeeping was also poor and a quick check showed that we should have been placed 12th. The matter has been taken up, but so far no response from the organisers.

Our main cause to celebrate is the success of the Lightning paddlers. On the Saturday, our most successful paddlers in both Under 10 & Under 12 boys were denied a final despite much slower paddlers being included. However, they proved their point on the Sunday by producing medal winning performances.

The Lightning efforts, together with their consistent results and considerable participation during the season gave them the Runner Up place in the Lightning Cup. We offer them our congratulations.

Full Results can be downloaded from the Wey Kayak Club website by following links for Sprint then Results. http://www.weykayak.co.uk/

Sorry the weather made photography almost impossible, so no pictures.

Sunday paddle

Craig, Alice, Ricky & Leanna turned up complete with picnic, to do a slightly extended paddle on Sunday. Our journey took us up the canal to Beeston, up river nearly to the edge of the caravan site at Thrumpton just below the portage for Trent Lock, at a steady pace. Hunger seemed to be gnawing despite it still being the morning, so we turned downstream and stopped on the small beach just above Barton Island for lunch.

The younger paddlers amused themselves in a variety of energetic ways including investigations of the how to swim a tippy boat from the middle of the river to the bank,

cross country running across grassy fields

...and an in depth study of alluvial deposits - their deposition & distribution ...

I rested.

The paddle back was as incident free as the first stage and at a similar pace.

Altogether an enjoyable day out that also happened to include some serious training efforts totalling over 15 miles!

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/

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.

Juniors in print

Funny how the media think that Paddling and rowing are the same thing. The Shape Up Nottingham fitness campaign comes to watersports, or perhaps it is the other way round. So far the weather has not encouraged anyone to try paddling on a Sunday or Friday. Perhaps when the weather picks up a few more people will give it a go.

Good quotes from Richard and Harriet ... not sure about the other one!!

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!

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.

Tuesday - Clifton & other things.

Had there not been a BT engineer fixing the club phone & the proximity of a fire engine, one wonders what the outcome would have been for the club & for Ray Sims! As it is, the disaster is confined to his workshop & we express our sympathy with him, but are grateful that it was just his workshop & not him that went up in smoke!
The river is back to normal & suddenly everyone was out in K1s again. Congratulations to Shobhanaa for taking over a minute off her PB.
Rumour has it that Hayleigh did a World Record too, but the times book is nowhere about to confirm it!
Beth C had a small select group out tonight too, with Laura in a K1 for the first time. Beth said she looked so comfortable in it that you wouldn't have guessed it was the first time.

Clifton & more high water

The weather looked & felt summery, but last night's Clifton Time Trial was done on winter level water again. Cathy & Martin, paddling together for the first time were the only PB, but Baggy & Alison deserve a mention for only being a couple of seconds short of theirs. Numbers were slightly depleted & most people opted for K2 or a White Water boat. Some turned at the Toll Bridge including Beth C who took Ricky, her one & only junior paddler in a K2.
The other juniors all turned in good times, with Shobhanaa & Lizzie doing a time that would have probably meant a PB at normal summer levels.
Well done to everyone for just being there.

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 Night

It was cold & blustery on the river for the Friday night session.
George's course turned out as normal, but Round the Bridges was cancelled because of the Forest match. This made parking & access to the club very difficult. Despite all that, there were still 5 juniors down for a paddle. Upstream & into the wind was hard, but the return journey was quick! That should be the last football match for a few weeks thank goodness! Just the weather to contend with ...

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!

Clifton Time Trial

Although it was sunny, the strong upstream wind made the water fairly choppy for tonight's time trial. It was cold on the fingers too. With Beth C away, all the juniors paddled in K2, either with us old fogies, or together, with the exception of Craig. The 6 minute group seemed to be where the action was, with most of them finishing within seconds of each other.

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.

Friday Night "Lightnings"

The weather was mild & dry for the first Friday session of 2007. Some Lightning paddlers chose to do "Round the Bridges" with other juniors, while the rest did a downstream paddle, with a mixture of adults, Lightnings & juniors. There were more than 15 junior/Lightning paddlers in total between the 2 sessions. The river paddle group only managed to get down nearly to the Sailing Club as "splash & run" seemed to be the main game. The adults accompanying the group stayed aloof from such frivolity & so did the girls!

All the Lightning paddlers who did winter sessions were there and so were some of the ones from last summer.

Seniors mainly did Round the Bridges, although there were several independant groups & at least 2 members family groups during the evening. It was good to see so many paddlers on the river for the first full Friday evening session of 2007.