Shropshire Paddlesport Blog

We went… we saw… we paddled hard and we had fun (for some definition of fun!).

It was bloody cold - our support crews were phenomenal - thanks guys.

We entered three teams - Maria doing the straight through on her own and two relay teams Andy and Deb in K1s and Phil & Alice and Ellie & Connor in K2s.

Phil, Alice & Andy took the first leg setting off together, along with Maria.  Andy and the K2 stayed largely together to Banbury with Phil & ALice coming through Banbury Lock about 3 minutes ahead of Andy and followed 10 mins later by Maria.  The K2 lead was lost when Phil and Alice took a swim half way down the course but they quickly caught Andy up to finish a minute or so ahead of him.

Deb meanwhile had managed to lose, and then find, the car keys, get to the start of the second leg without her number board or spray deck.  Dave and Kate had already rung from a mile down the canal to report Phil & Alice and Andy were on their way…  A quick run back to the car to get the deck and establish that the number board was in a carrier bag at Banbury Lock and hollering Andy to get his boat HERE, NOW  so she could nick the number board and she set off after the Ellie & Conor.

The head wind on the way upstream was strong, the locks narrow and slippery - although I guess they were equally narrow and slippery on the way down.  Deb sat on the wash of a small child in a Cougar for a while until he was too fast and then fell off the back of Amanda Childerstone’s wash and settled for a long, lonely paddle (but over took the Met Police and left them far behind when they decided to run rather than paddle).  It took five and a half  miles to catch them at Banbury lock.  Taking the lead, Deb paddled on into the headwind waiting for Ellie and Conor to catch her up so she could sit on their wash.  They never arrived so she hijacked a number of other washes and eventually finished 2 minutes slower than Andy.  The k2 was about 10 minutes behind (being taller, Ellie and Connor offered far more wind resistance - see - being short is GREAT!).

Maria finished in a commendable 4:45ish (deb timings) which is amazing given the weather conditions.

Then we retired to cafe Barnes-Jinks for the most amazing potato and vegetable soup (with veggie parmesan - Kate Jinks is my food hero).

We went, we paddled hard, we achieved a lot.

Bring on next year!

Joe will be running an open canoe session on Saturday morning using boats borrowed from Walford College.  We don’t often get the chance to paddle touring opens during club sessions so if you’ve not paddled one before, come along and give it a go!

The observant among you may have noticed that over there on the right in the section marked “pages” there is a new link to the calendar of events. It’s a new thing I’ve just discovered that the blog can do - as well as having these short postings which gradually get pushed down the page as new ones appear on top (and eventually get opushed into the month archive) I can also write pages whcih stay around.

Compared to the main website it’s really easy to edit these “pages” so for things which change quite a lot (like “up and coming events” I’m going to start keeping them up to date here. We’re just beginning to see the beginnings of the race calendar for next year appearing, but I’ll be adding more things as i hear about them. If there are other important dates I should publicise (slalom races or anything from other disciplines) then let me know.

Some stuff, of course, I’ll always post about on the main blog page as well (or anyone else can if they like - you only have to ask), so if you’ve got something you want brought to people’s attention then just let Deb or I know. I’m quite happy to do the “donkey work” but I’d hate to suppress any budding authors.

I mean, how long can it be before a very excited Ellie feels the need to tell us all about her new boat…

I know it’s a bit short notice but I’ve just seen that Phil is running a Foundation Safety and Rescue course THIS Saturday (i.e. tomorrow Sat 22nd). It’s a course he is doing principally for Oswestry School and will be taking place mostly in their pool, but there is an opportunity for anyone who hasn’t yet done this course and wants to pick up (or update) their safety qualification to join them.

The course will start at the Shed (to pick up boats) at 9:30am and will finish around 5:00pm with all the wet work taking place in the pool (not in our canal!). The cost for the day is £30.00.

A group of us did this course as part of the run up to our L1 coach course and it is EXCELLENT - safety and rescue work, both planning and techniques are something which you just have to keep practicing so that it stays fresh in your mind.

Anyone interested in taking part should contact Phil Russel directly. Most of you will have his contact details, or if not then give me a shout some time today and I’ll put you in touch.

Andy

We were up at QH last night and there is security fencing all around the Big Green Shed with a skip full of dirt and rubble stacked next to it. Clearly something is happening although we’re not quite sure what yet.

If anyone (Phil, Mike, Bob ?) knows what the current schedule is then just comment on the post. (click on the “No Comments” link below)

Wooohoo - it looks as though the Shropshire Paddlepsort team for the Ross Warland memorial challenge is coming together. As of this evening it looks like we have two confirmed teams:

Ellie and I doing the 2 x 10 mile relay in K1s

Deb (K1) and Phil/Alice (K2) doing the 2 x 10 mile relay as a mixed team

Also “hovering in the wings” are Stacy (who’s still not sure it’s a good idea) and Maria (who doesn’t yet know if she can get the time off that weekend).

Two weeks to go…

An important part of the club’s winter training programme gets underway this Saturday when we start the first block of pool sessions. This is the first six-week block (we hope to run two further six-week blocks after Christmas) with each one being comprised of three one-hour sessions.

Group 1 - 16:00 to 17:00 hrs. Basic paddling skills and building confidence on the water. Requirements: Able to swim 50 metres and not mind getting wet.

Group 2 - 17:00 to 18:00 hrs. Intermediate - this will be a skills developement session with some work on specific paddling skills (where getting wet is a strong possibility such as bracing and support strokes) plus a strong emphasis on safety and rescue skills.

Group 3 - 18:00 to 19:00 hrs. Advanced - skills imporvement and rolling.

As of last weekend the middle session was fully booked but with a few spaces available on teh beginners and advanced courses. If you are interseted please contact Nigel Butler who is organising this year’s sessions.

Just to remind you, swimwear and t-shirts are appropriate clothing, you will be expected to wear a helmet (provided) and we’ll be using the boats which are kept at the pool (BATs).

We bumped into John last night up at QH and the paperwork for converting the club to a limited company has now gone off to the club’s solicitor. This needs to be processed by him and the trustees will all have to sign it, but we are now a significant step closer to this important step happening. Once this is in place we will then continue withe the process of getting ourselves registered as a charity.

Last weekend saw our first Saturday morning operation out of our new (temporary) home in the “kayak village”. This is a set of shipping containers and a portacabin changing room which have been set up in the BW car park while the shed is being redeveloped.

Important Note If you are a keyholder and letting yourself in and out of the carpark, PLEASE make sure that when you lock the carpark gates that you link the padlocks together - there are two padlocks, one of ours and one of British Waterways, so if we lock the chain with the two padlocks locked to each-other then EITHER of us can undo the gate.

While we were finishing off last weekend I took some photos of our new and old homes if anyone is interested.

The kayak village from the road

Our new changing rooms (despite reasoned and logical protest the girls still got the big one with the boys stuffed into the tiny bit at the end)

Storage for K2s, composites, and plastic boats with most of the racing boatts temporarily stored offsite or in the gallery.

When you look at the shed now that we’ve taken out all our clutter (and the partition walls) you begin to understand how big it really is. here you can see the top shed empty of boats and racking, what used to be the changing rooms, and the main bottom boat shed.

The Avon Descent took place on Sunday 9th November. Having been stood up by not one but two women, Gari was unable to defend his title but Bruce had a go.

It was described on UK Rivers as“River in flood, squally wind blowing against the flow; eddies, boils, standing waves … everything. Some weirs washed out, others very interesting - the 4′ standing wave at Welford was fun. Not as long as the Exe; not as big as the Exe, but definitely as much fun as the Exe.”

Bruce said he could confirm that it was entertaining, successfully making four of the six weirs. The photo below shows his boat - and his arm travelling down Weldord Weir. This was one of the less successful shoots.

He came 5th in the K1 race though which isn’t bad