Shropshire Paddlesport Blog

Promoted to div 8 at Chester.

Well done Matt!

Update: Apologies, but I managed to forget to put Ellie and my K1 results into the table when I did the update on Sunday evening, and Deb also spotted an error in the way I calulate averages. Now fixed (I think)!

The new look leader board after the (provisional) results for Anker Valley. No change at the top of the table but some shuffling within the top 10.

The consolidated results for Chester are now up. Remember that because it’s out of region these don’t count for hasler points (either for individuals, the club or for our own Hasler Shield) but you can get promoted/demoted at an out-of-region race (although no-one did this time much to Deb’s annoyance).

The usual suspects from Team SHP were out having a lovely paddle in the sunshine and performing as follows:

Deb - K1 Div 7 - 9th

Andy - K1 Div 8 - 7th

Connor & Joseph - K2 Div 7 - 2nd

Marcus & Cameron - K2 Div 7 - 3rd (yes, Cam making a huge jump from Lightning to Div 7 K2 !!)

Matt & Ellie - K2 Div 9 (Div 8/9 consolidated) - 2nd

Kate & Dave - K2 Div 9 - 4th

Just a reminder that this Sunday is the Anker Valley (near Nuneaton) Hasler race. This is a Midlands regional race at which we need to field a team and give it our best shot to ensure that we maintain (or improve) our place in the club league table. Just to remind you we are currently 8th and only the top 8 teams go to the hasler finals so there is currently NO margin for slippage. Over the rest of the summer we really need club members out on the water performing as well as we can.

You can register on the day if you must, but it would be helpful if you can let Deb know if you’re racing or not before Friday so that she can put the race entry in on Friday evening
(e-mail: deb (at) thelemming.org tel: 07747 535341)

Where are we going?

The venue is Anker Valley Canoe Club, Apple Pie Lane, Hartshill, Nuneaton, CV10 0SU

Check in from 9.30 a.m.
Lightning race                    Briefing                10.45     Start   11.00
4 mile course                     Briefing                10.45     Start   11.30
8 & 12 mile courses           Briefing                12.30     Start    12.45

Race fees are Adults - £6.00, Juniors - £5.00, Lightning - £3.00

Race admin stuff

Please remember that:

1. If you want to race for the club (and we *really* want you to do so, then  you must have renenewed your membership by then (or else you’ll have to race as an independent which doesn’t win the club any points).

2. You need to have comprehensive membership of the BCU to race (or you can buy a day ticket if you are in div 7 and below, but only once each season)

3. You need to be wearing club colours - most of the race team have their own, but we have a number of club vests if you need to borrow one. Please let us know *before* Sunday morning.

Please don’t forget that there is a club meeting next Monday April 20th at 19:30 at the Punchbowl.

The agenda is:

1. Funding for the shed (including fundraising)

2. Programme  for summer 2009

Maria completed the final day of the DW this morning in time for breakfast. Her total time was 30:51:22.

Well done Maria.

We had a call from Maria yesterday evening and she had a  better day, getting to Teddington at about half past four. They got off at just after 06.30 this morning with the first crews arriving at  Westminster just before 08.00.

I’ll update when we see that she’s completed.

You know how it is… you wake up at 5am wondering how Emlyn and Sam are doing… wondering whether they’ve reached Teddington, wondering what time high tide actually is, and hoping they’ve got there; you realise that if you got a wriggle on you might just make it down to Westminster to see the finish… and then you remember that sane people do not go haring off to London on a whim in the early hours of the morning  and you have a shed base to lay…

You stall for a while before deciding that actually half past 6 is a sensible time to check the internet for updates only to discover that its not been updated since 9:30 last night.

So what news of the first couple of days?

Emlyn and Sam left Devizes at 07:43:30 on Saturday morning and by20:48:00 that evening they had reached March Lock, the other side of Reading just ahead of the Henley Straight - 62 miles in.  At Aldermarston they passsed the checkpoint alongside Geoff & Orlando from Solihull in boat 361.

[edit - the updates have just come upline - Emlyn and Sam made it to Hambledon before retiring at 21:32:20.  I'm really sorry they didn;t make it after all their training but it was an amazing effort.  Well done guys.  Geoff & Orlando made it to teddington at 05:48:00 this morning - in time to catch the tide)

The favourites for the race are Owen Peake and Dan Seaford from Reading who started at a mighty 15:30 in the afternoon and had already Reached Newbury within 4 hours.  By 5:25 this morning they were at Shepperton, a couple of hours from Teddington - only 13:48:51 after starting.  They should just catch the back end of the tide.

And what of the staged race?

Phil & Alice and Andy & I went down to support Maria & Nigel on the first day.  Maria followed the instructions, aiming for a 8:30 start - after the junior doubles had been dispatchd) only to discover that a number of the slower K1s had snuck off early.  She was towards the back of the K1s but stayed ahead of a number of folk to finish in 9:01.  The forecast torential rain didn't materialse and although it was grey and not terribly warm it was good enough weather for paddling.

Maria rang last nigt to say she had successfully reached Marlow which is great news.  Day 2 is generally pretty tough going with Day 3 being both easier - with flow on the Thames all day and prettier - it includes delights such as Runnymede, Windsor Castle and Hapton Court - rather than the industrial estates of Newbury and Reading...

There were some mad boats out there - a guy with a beautiful hand made wooden sea kayak (weighting 28kg)  which he had to portage on his head, tortoise like; two girls from the Thunderer Squadron in Carolinas (22kg) which much have been a devil to portage (they finished the first day in 9:59:51 - only just ahead of the 10 hour cut off  but sped up a bit on day 2 when there were fewer locks!  There is also a guy paddling in a yellow plastic sea kayak with wheels mounted on the nose for portaging; according to his suport crew he's only been paddling for a couple of months!  He's not fast but he was looking pretty determined and is still ticking off the miles!

The youngest crew in the race - Isobel and Naomi Smith were 7th at the end of the first day and are currently fourth - following the three brawny male K2 crews from Cokethorpe School.  The girls are only 2 two minutes and 14 seconds behind the slowest Cokethorpe crew and an hour 15 behind team Muller-Reif who won last year's event and were second and third respectively in 2007.  Go girls - beat at least some of the Cokethorpe boys!!!

After Jess and my expolits last year there were only two all female crews entered in the endeavor race this year; one failed to start and the girls from Southwater Guides Canoe Club finished in 10:21.  They carried on (the umpires are being quite flexible about the 10 hour rule this year) and their cumulative time to Marlow with is 20:11:31with 42 miles to go.  Our endeavour record stands to live another year!

The DW from the bank is a very different experience but its still a lot of fun.  There is more time to chat to comrades on the bank and swap stories of what you've seen through the day - although there can be nearly as much running on the bank and certainly the food is as crap; Andy and I managed 3 muffins and a packet of jaffa cakes between getting up in the morning and getting to my parents for dinner. [note for future reference:support crews also need to eat]

Good luck to Maria for the final 42 miles.  These are the easy ones - its all down hill from here!

This weekend sees the 61st Devizes to Westminster canue marathon.  This year three SHP members are competing - Maria in the Senior K1 event (boat number 220) and Emlyn & Sam are competing in the senior K2 race (boat number 311).

You can check their progress on: http://www.dwrace.org.uk/results/2009/dw.html

Good luck to the Shropshire competiotors, their support crews and to all of the others too.

(because I don’t suppose Ellie will get round to writing this up!)
Our sprint team of one had a successful weekend at Nottingham last weekend.

First in the Girls D K1 500m B Final
Fifth in the Girls D K1 1000m A Final
First in the Girls D K4 500m Final
Second in the Girls D K4 1000m Final with a Wokingham/Reading Crew
She also qualified for the D K2 500m Final with a partner from Wokingham.

Well done Ellie.

There are othe people qualified for sprints (Marcus, Jack, Hayden & Cameron) so lets see if we can get a bigger team to Nottingham for the next regatta on 9 & 10 May 09.

I need entries in by 18 April. If you don’t have a qualifying time, then give me or one of the other coaches a shout and we can organise a time trial for you.