Richmond Hasler 23/10/10

Kuba Cranmer's Post on the Richmond Race

I was a little more confident because it was my second race so I knew more what i was doing, but I still felt a little nevous.

At first i thought that I woudn't be able to keep up with them, but I managed it more or less by conserving my strength till i got round the second island and past the bridge.

I now see what they mean by river conjestion.

I really appreciate the support I was given - thanks to all the people cheering me on I managed it.

I would recommend racing to everybody out there, it's incredible fun.

thank you all,

kub(a)

Richmond Hasler 24/10/10

Ten of our U14's (plus Max J) bravely competed in the Richmond Hasler last Sunday. They all took it very much in their stride- I was far more nervous than they were! Kuba Cranmer & Alex Bignell raced the U10 lightening Race coming 3rd & 4th ! Josh snell, Jack Oliver & Rian Butler raced the u12 all doing incredibly well, Rian getting 2nd place.

Matt Esselens & Charlie Singlton raced the U12, K2 & looked like they had been paddling together for years rather than weeks ! Alice Fellows & Ella Jamieson paddled U10, K2 & looked very comfortable together, coming 3rd. Max J did really well in Div 9 coming in 1st placed Canoe. Well done guys! They are all now looking forward to competing in the H& H's over the winter.

Helen Weston & myself also raced at Richmond together only for the second time, with much trepidation, as virtually everyone we spoke to had a bad word to say about the conditions there!

We started well- well we didn't fall in, & quickly saw off a couple of mad teenagers from Richmond. We paddled on in our own unique style 'grannies on a day out' & finished in 2nd place.

Meanwhile we understand that although we had got away from the mad,bad teenagers Amanda & Alison hadn't & they ended up being paddle battered - drawing blood ! & pushed into the trees! Sorry girls- but as Eric says "A win's a win!" well almost- the K2 in front of us was so far in front it felt like one to me! Oh & according to Dave Halliwell & son their race was greatly impinged by a hole in the boat - yes Dave it's called a cockpit ! (Only joking Dave !) Happy paddling - sort of , Pam

In addition to Isobel and Naomi’s achievements in the K2 and Phil’s heroic effort in doing over 1000 200m races in a row, credit is also due to a couple of other Wey paddlers.

James Dunlop was aiming to do the Senior Doubles but his training partner had to pull out injured (a dislocated shoulder which apparently plays havoc with the technique) a few weeks before the race. Undeterred, James climbed into one of the club’s K1s and finished the K1 Senior event in under 24 hours in 35^th place, with no capsizes, which given the fact that he’s only got a few months kayaking experience and was repeatedly attacked by a swan on the pound is some achievement.

Shane Thomas was also aiming to compete in the Senior Doubles but his paddling partner was sent off to Saudi Arabia or somewhere not renowned for its kayaking so he press-ganged a mate with no paddling experience whatsoever into joining him. Waterside B was one of their first outings and the DW was a mere 6 weeks later. Shane and Simon set off from Devizes just after 7am on Easter Saturday, had a bit of a “rest” at Old Windsor when they realised that they weren’t going to make the morning tide at Teddington, finally finishing at Westminster at 22.48 Sunday evening, having paddled the tideway in the dark. That’s over 39 hours. Hats off to them for sticking with it and not giving up.

By all accounts they’ll all be back next year for more when hopefully we'll be able to enter an armada of senior doubles....

2009 Hasler Final

So the end of the 2009 marathon canoe season saw us revisiting Reading Canoe Club for the 2009 Hasler Final. The water was calm, the air was warm and sunny and the organisers presented us with a course that was simple enough, even for us Way paddlers to understand! For the 13km and 20km courses this entailed a top turn before Mapledurham weir followed very shortly by a new false portage in a cow field. And here I detected some trepidation from the organisers on how this would go down with some of their more awkward customers judging by the email,

"Before you start your blog on tomorrow’s race. You will not need hiking boots this time but … a grappling hook and rope would be advised, also a bucket and spade may be useful if you have time to spare. As you do not wear a red vest you should not attract attention from the bovine crowd.
Cheers, BG"

I was later assured that although the cows had been taken out of the field they may indeed have left something behind. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, I resolved to follow the nearest Richmond crew into said portage.

As it turned out, the new get out couldn’t have been more welcome as my crew mate and I were running with a horrible lean all the way up to Mapledurham. Until then we were constantly veering left and were steadily getting dropped one-by-one down the field. And so to the portage, an easy sandy beach, a not-so-bad-earth bank to negotiate, 50 metres of soft (well fertilised) grass and no evidence of the bull, and after putting-in the wonderful realisation that we were sitting square in the boat. With no lean we were able to stretch out and even catch a few crews up again. But alas not enough to get us onto the points table. Get yourself a faster partner and one that looks where he's going next time Marthe!

Well done to all the Wey paddlers who got to stand on the podium. An outstanding performance from Jack and Charlie in Div 3 K2 saw them take silver. In the other races we had two more silvers from James (4K1) and Calvin (7K1), four bronze placings from Richard/Mike (4K2), Rebecca/Seb (7K2) and points for five positions in fourth place from Rob (1K1), Roy/Mike (2K2), and Oscar/Tom (6K2). But Oh dear, without any gold medals this steady performance was only good enough to place us fourth in the club points.

Congratulations to Norwich Canoe Club first time winners of the Hasler Final. With seven gold medals, four silver medals and Tim going home with a bronze won in the Division 1 race, they were only six points shy of the maximum possible.

Thanks to everyone at Reading CC for a really successful event. I love you all.

Tell Chad

Races at Royal Wey, Tonbridge, Nottingham, Longridge not to mention Poznan, Ostroda, Gudenaa and Crestuma. Wot has everyone been doing all summer?!

Box End Quadrathlon - 2nd August

This was an "off-road" Quad.

• Starting with a 750m open water swim,
• 4.4km kayak with 2 portages,
• 15km (3x5km loops) mountain biking on a soft grassy and often rutted course
• and finishing with a 5km run on the same track.

This was my first solo multi-sport event and was chuffed to finish 17th out of 42 competitors in a time of 1hr09, with the 12th fastest time in the paddle leg. Interestingly the top finishers were also by far the best paddlers! So if you can swim a bit, manage an hour + cycle and then still finish a 5-10k run, then forget the triathlon and take the next step up.

Next up the real deal in Pembroke on 12 Sept.

Guildford Lions Raft Race 2009

The raft race ended at The Waterside centre on Saturday. Here are some pics of the event. Lots of fun! http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/calum.shaw/RaftRace2009?feat=directlink#