DW 2008 & NKC at DW

Thanks to the great DW database of results at http://www.canoeraceresults.co.uk/, it is not only possible to see "copies" of DW finishers' certificates going back years, but search results by name, club, year and so on. Armed with the information from here, it is possible to see how NKC members have faired over the years.

Obviously Norman, with his partner Andrew was the first in 1971 and Kath was there to support Andrew! In the spirit of Capain Oates (Scott's polar expedition) Norm told his mum he was just popping out to go canoeing and that he might be "some time," and went off to do DW. We hope that this year, when he went to support Fern & Cathy, Judith knew that when he said, "See you later!" he meant several days later this time! Anyway, he and Andrew opened the NKC account with 24 hours 48 minutes and there would be plenty of crews who would be pleased with that, even these days.

Unfortunately, in 1973, the weather was even worse than this weekend, with bad icing in the Thames Valley and a head wind that blew steadily the wrong way from the start line onward, when Norm popped out again, this time with George. The decision to fish them out at Putney Bridge, just before the finish (5 miles), was not taken lightly. They were a good crew to support apart from George tending to fall asleep if you allowed him to stand still for a few seconds. In the end, it was a toss up between, hypothermia, exhaustion and water conditions that stopped them finishing against the turning tide in the early hours of the morning (as you could in those days.) Fortunately Pete Roney (NKC Chairman for several years) and Taff Jones managed the course that year, in 29 hours 4 minutes after chips, a pint and an overnight stop on the bank at Teddington, as they wisely waited for the next tide.

Heather & Colin were next in 1977, with Heather the first woman to complete the course in under 24 hours. They were followed by Kath who dragged 3 partners all the way in 1981, 82 & 84. Despite rumours, she stopped after 90 miles in 83 because of hypothermia, not because George fell asleep. That was another year of poor conditions and we just couldn't get enough leg warmers on her arms or woolly tops on her body, to allow paddling to actually take place. Thank goodness for modern thermal tops!

In 82 Kath & George had taken the club record time to 19 hours 48 minutes. Actually, Kath only agreed to race on the Wednesday before, as Heather had gone sick with food poisoning. (She was a caterer at the time!!!!) In 84 she paddled with Mick, so there was little chance of improving the club score due to his ability to doze off while supposedly taking "comfort stops!"

That was really the start of the "Golden Age" when NKC members had a go at getting the time down every year, frequently with Dave Enoch, George Oliver, or Dave McAllister-Hewlings in the boat, sometimes with two of them together. Most crews managed between 19 and 21 hours until Brian teamed up with Dave Hewlings and brought the time down to 17:25.

In 1998, we did have a member in the winning crew of the junior K2. Last year, Kat & Gilly, racing for Loughborough Uni, won the Ladies K2.

Meanwhile, 1989, Adam Brewster started the NKC string of K1 runs in the 4 day race with 17 hours, 1 minute. James Treadgold, best known to us these days as the organiser of the Waterside Series, followed in 1991, but slower than Adam.

Then in 1993 came Jimmy Butler's legendary 14 hours 46 minutes. People get excited over 15 hour something times these days & make a fuss about Brian Greenham & Tim Cornish's long standing record "straight through" K2 time, but Jimmy's K1 record time, done in flood conditions also still stands. True, the organisers would probably cancel the race and send everyone home if the Thames looked like that nowadays - in fact they did once, so one is left wondering if anyone will ever beat Jimmy's record. He did do 15:07 the following year, so perhaps it wasn't too fluky! (Everyone got excited about Simon Fennimore's time of 15:13 last year, which was 3rd fastest ever.)

Apart from Jimmy, most NKC K1 attempts went down in between 19 and a half and 17 and a half hours. Paul did 17:20 in 1996 and also came 5th, so that puts Harriett's 17:27 into perspective (do you reckon he slowed her down a few times just to get that 7 minute edge.)

Also apart from Jimmy (3 times), as far as I can tell or remember, no NKC member did a K1 time quicker than 17 hours until Rich Golder did 16:32 last year. He got onto the record books, way down the list with that time. Well, let's get excited again - he managed to win this year in 15 hours 51 minutes 10 seconds, which brings him up to =12th fastest of all time. Jimmy & now Richard are the only NKC members to win the K1 race. Great result!!!

Now just let's think about Harriet! You have to go back to Anne Plant (Independant) in 1986, to find a Woman who was overall placed higher than Harriet, when she came 4th. Anne and Andrea Dalloway also did faster times than Harriet, but 17:27 is the 3rd fastest ever Women's time and the second highest Women's placing. (As far as I can tell.) It's the only NKC win by a woman in K1! Great result!!

OK so apart from celebrating Richard and Harriet's successes, where is all this going? Well start making your plans ... we can return to the Golden Age, with them and Kat & Gilly, showing us the way! There are 3 Enochs and 3 Nadals on the record books, are there more families out there ready to add to that list. We've never had many juniors do DW, perhaps that is set to change. Only a handful of members have won a class or sub-class. Now Richard and Harriet have done it in the same year, who's next?

More pictures on the next post I promise.

DW 2008 - Endeavour K2

Fern & Cathy set off from Devizes while the "cheering section" were hiding from the cold & eating breakfast in Mick's car, but it wasn't long before they were tracked down to the Kennet & Avon canal, where like a few other people, they had gone for a little paddle. The first bridge where we spotted them could have been used as a wind tunnel for aviation purposes, the wind was so strong. We managed to see them several more times during the first 18 miles.




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Apart from Newbury, this was the last time we saw them as they disappeared from the radar sometime between here, which is seconds before they plunged into the Savernack Tunnel and the end of Crofton a couple of miles later. Richard was getting rapidly further ahead once the portaging started at Wooton Rivers, Harriet was in the middle and Fern & Cathy were a bit behind her, so it was hard to see all the NKC entrants at any one vantage point after this anyway.

DW 2008 - The Cheering Section & Supporters

With Harriet, Richard, Fern & Cathy racing, there were quite a few supporters and on the first day, the numbers of NKC members at DW were swelled by the "junior cheering section."

The sunny sky could mislead you into thinking that the weather was wonderful, but Beth wrapped in layers of warm clothing suggests otherwise.
Actually, there were strong winds, snow & sleet flurries & rain showers.

Paul & Richard supported Harriet and by her result, must have done a great job.
David Bailey (alias Norman) and Orange (alias Nigel) supported Fern & Cathy, together with Fern's dad. Between them, they performed minor miracles using only meths, tape & matches, on the tissue paper K2 that Fern and Cathy were using, shortly after this photo was taken!

DW 2008

Having followed the race from the warmth of either ours or Donna's house, the reality got a bit remote, but the driven snow outside the window at New Mills and the broken slates, blown from our roof, remind me what it was like.

The conditions this year make the results even more outstanding than they would have been in a good year.

Congratulations to Rich Golder on winning the Senior K1 in 15 hours 51 minutes 10 seconds.
Congratulations also go to Harriet for 5th place. Harriet also won both the Ladies K1 and the University K1 sub-classes with ease in a time of 17:27:12.

We watched the first day from the tow-path and enjoyed watching the NKC paddlers as far as Newbury. Fern & Cathy managed to reach there despite a flimsy boat giving up the ghost at Crofton. Fortunately Nigel had a few tricks with meths and duct tape and the boat was revived enough to get to Newbury. Sadly the same trick didn't work with the crew on the second day.

Richard was mostly moving too fast for us to keep up with him, but we managed a few photos of Harriet that will appear here in the next few days. Hopefully a few more comments or posts will be added by other NKC members who were in the vicinity.

Full result on the DW website at http://www.dwrace.org.uk/index.shtml

Sunday Lunch (No.2)

Thanks to Harriet for yet again organising the Sunday lunch after the last Winter Race. There was a bigger turn out of juniors with representatives from across the age range 7 - 17 alongside senior & veteran members and some of the national Wild Water squad. Great to see so many there again. The meal was at the Ferry Inn at Wilford this time and yet again offered good value for money if you had the Sunday lunch.
Thanks to Shobhanaa for recording the event on her phone!

Last Winter Race

It was a fine day for the last of the 2007/8 Winter Series. The ranks of NKC members racing was once again swelled by the national Wild Water squad, giving a good field. Naomi, from the World Class fast Track squad was also there and did a great PB, taking minutes off her October time and coming second in the race. 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

Waterside B, Yipee!

I decided to have a bit of a trip out and go and be a spectator/photographer at Waterside B :)
It was a very pleasant day, although it did seem abit strange to not be racing. I went on a bit of a walk down the course and did abit of reading of my book (very relaxing in the sun) whilst everyone else was racing. Well done to everyone who raced, you all looked like you were going well!
A very nice day, definatley worth going! x