Shropshire Paddlesport Blog

Sorry, should have posted this before (as we’ve already missed the Anker Valley one) but here are the details for the Midlands WInter Duathlon series of events.

Midlands Duathlon Winter Series 2010

Dates & Times
SUNDAY 6TH DECEMBER 2009 - ANKER VALLEY
SUNDAY 24TH JANUARY 2010 - LEAMINGTON
SATURDAY 20th FEBRUARY 2010 - BURTON
SUNDAY 14TH MARCH 2010 - SHROPSHIRE

There will be an entry fee of
£4.00 per adult,
£2.50 for lightnings.

All races will start at 11:30 a.m. Further details from the relevant club contacts below.

The Format
A continuous Run – Paddle – Run over 3 different courses
4k Run – 6k Paddle – 2k Run (Div 1-6 on separate starts)
2k Run – 4k Paddle – 1k Run (Div 7-9 Paddlers)
1k Run – 2k Paddle - (Lightning Paddlers)

Points
1st place 20 points, 2nd place 19 points,down to 20th place where everyone after that scores 1 point.

Prizes
Prizes will be given for the first 3 places in each event At the end of the series there will be overall prizes for the first 3 clubs and first 3 competitors in each category.
NB: The overall prizes will be based on the best 3 results from the 4 races.

Entries
Entries can be made on the day or by email to the club contacts who are:
Anker Valley: Liz Franklin 01676 542705 liz.ef@btinternet.com
Leamington: Tibor Herbent 024 76592247 tibor@herbent.co.uk
Burton: Bill Lawrenson 01283 542324 bill.lawrenson@bcu.org.uk
Shropshire: Deb May 07747 535341 deb@shropshirepaddlesport.org

Comiserations to Trentham Canoe Club whose Hasler race last weekend coincided with a severe weather warning of 75mph winds in the area. An early morning set of phone calls resulted in us deciding that discretion was the better part of valour and and that we weren’t going to go.

It would seem that we were not the only ones as the results show an unfortunately low number of entries and lots of consolidated classes.  Hard luck to all our friends at Trentham - as I said in my email to Phil, no-one expects blue skies and sunshine in November, but we’d like a reasonable chance of staying ON the lake Fingers crossed for better next year.

The BCU Marathon website is in an even worse state than usual at the moment (apparently they’re rebuilding it again) but the Trentham results are here

We’ve just (slightly belatedly) had the confirmed set of promotions and demotions from the Hasler Finals in Reading last month. At this remove it’s probably not news any longer, but just to confirm:

Anita and Gari were promoted to Division 6

Connor and Joseph were promoted to Division 6

Dave and Kate were promoted to Division 8

Congratulations everyone.

Dave & Kate entered the Trent K2 race last weekend.  As far as I am aware, they were the first team from SHP to do so.

The race took place yesterday in very low conditions resulting in approx 5 lost rudder blades (Mick Nadal managed to lose 2 in the course of the race!) and at least one was badly bent.

However the SHP crew completed the 18 mile race in 2.56.26 and came 16th which is a very good result.  They were the only div 8 crew to enter in a field where most crews’ divisional average was div 5 so well done Kate & Dave!

SHP seems to have had an amazingly successful day yesterday .

At Lincoln, Ellie came second in div 7 and Dave came second in div 8 - his first ever K1 race, and his first div 8 race.  Fortunately he wasn’t promoted otherwise Kate might have ensured that it was his last race ever.  It looks like Dave is going for the club Hasler trophy again - somebody please stop him!!!

(Results page now updated to reflect Lincoln results)

Re friends in other clubs, Sarah Walters (Burton) came 5th in her first div 6 K1 race and was the fastest woman at the event and Tom Lusty (Solihull) came second in his frst div 6 k1 race and got promoted to div 5.  We remember the days when it was Tom’s ambition to beat Kate and Dave with his parter Jenny Barber.  Go Tom!!

At Stone Slalom the club was very successful although I only have partial results.  Hopefully somebody who was there - and actually understands this spinny boat stuff - will write this up more fully.  Hoewever, I do know that Joseph Whittle came 1st in the men’s K1 event and third with Will bevan in C2 juniors;  Matt Whittle came 2rd overall by 0.3 of a second, Marcus Whittle came first by 30 seconds in his race and Florence Whittle got first out of all the the div 4 women.

Well done all!

Can you believe it - we’re already two races into the season. A small but perfectly formed Shropshire Paddlesport team went off to Fladbury and had a completely storming day.

Dave & Kate took a comfortable win in Div 9 K2 and finally bowed to the inevitable and have been promoted to Div 8. Ellie’s K2 partner - Sarah Walters from Burton - was promoted to Div 6 at the Hasler Finals and so they were now both racing the 8 mile course. Unconfirmed rumour has it that Ellie was even seen to run a portage !

I’ve updated the results page to reflect Soar Valley and Fladbury - at this stage the leader board is completely up for grabs, but as a club we’ve got a lot to do if we’re going to make to the cut before the Hasler Finals in 2010 (and yes, before anyone else points it out I know I’ve not been in a boat for months !)

Well it was a beautiful sunny day in Reading with a lot of good racing on, as usual, a fairly lumpy bit of river. Mixed fortunes for the SHP collective but Anita and Gari upheld the honour of the club taking silver in their K2 race. A cracking Lightning run for Tim Bevan as well in his last L1 race seeing off a number of the usual competition.

Full results when they’re confirmed, but in the meantime a few pictures from the weekend

Gari & Anita collecting their silver

Matt powering off the start line

Dave & Kate in the bedlam of the Div 9 K2 start - it’s quieter up in Div 8, honest !

Tim looking determined…

Sam and cam looking knackered

Well, it doesn’t seem to have been the best race for SHP but sometimes things just don’t go your way.  With Ellie and the mopheads having to retire through illness, Matt running into trouble part way round and Cam & Marcus being bounced into the bank the youngsters didn’t have the best day out.

On the other hand Kate and Dave came 4th in a combined div 8/9 race beating a number of div 8 crews and the sun shone. That promotion has to be iminent.

Overall the club got 2 points.

The clubs going to the Hasler final are:

1st Nottingham 90 points

2nd Worcester 89 points

3rd Gailey 64 points

4th Anker Valley 63 points

5th Solihull 62 points

6th Shropshire Paddlesport 60 points

7th Lincoln 55 points

8th Burton 53 points

There are currently 14 people who hav qualified for the hasler finals.  These are the top 14 people in the points table and are listed below for clarification:

• Andy May - K1
• Ellie Barnes - K1 or K2
• Mathew Whittle - K1 or K2
• Dave Barnes - K2
• Will Bevan - K2
• Kate Jinks - K2
• Cameron Lambert - K2
• Connor Lambert - K2
• Deb May - K2
• Sam Rudd - K2
• Alice Russell - K2
• Phil Russell - K2
• Joseph Whittle - K2
• Marcus Whittle - K2

Plus as many lightnings as want to go.

I know Gari & Anita are planning on heading down to the nationals to get one final race in to qualify aswell which means there could potentially be 16 of us going to Reading.

Go Shropshire!!!!