shropshirepaddlesport.org - the blog

Dave Barnes is the national div 8 marathon champion after just pipping Emma Hooton from Anker Valley to the finish line.  Well done Dave.  Other results to follow.

A small group of 5 travelled to stone today to get in some early winter slalom practice. On leaving Shrewsbury it was grey skies and rain but it brightened up nicely in Stone.

Arriving at 10am we warmed up by running around a football pitch then moved onto the water to practice a full length course which was split into three sections.

After an eventful lunch at Morrison's when David Reevey was dissapointed with the amount of toast he recieved compared to Gari we headed back for the second session of the day.

In the afternoon we practiced doing staggers with using the option of doing them either forwards or with a spin or a back-off.

Everyone found the day useful and we were lucky enough to be able to use the club house at Stafford & Stone Canoe Club to get changed in.

The next moving water slalom training day will be at Stone on Sunday December the 6th meeting at Stone at 10am.

Good luck to everyone competing in the interclubs in befford at the weekend - especially those doing their first ever paddlesport competition!

The national marathon championships took place this weekend with a strong team from Shropshire Paddlesport entered.  Amongst the juniors, Ellie Barnes came 10th in ladies U14 competition against top paddlers from all over the country, Matt Whittle came 19th in a strong field in the U14 men's race which included a number of paddlers who regularly race for Britain and Cameron Lambert came 13th in the U12's race.

In the crew races Ellie teamed up with Alice Russell to come 10th in the U14s K2 race and Cam & Matt finished just 19 seconds quicker than the girls - again coming 10th.  Ellie also raced in the U16 ladies K2 race with sprint partner Sarah Walters from Burton coming 11th out of 13.

The adults who were racing also had a very successful trip to Longridge with Kate & Dave taking silver in the national div 9 race and Anita and Gari taking bronze in the div 7 race.  Sam Rudd was also racing in div 8 K1 but her result appears to have got lost so this will updated when I've spoken to her or the website is amended!

Overall it was a very successful weekend's racing for Shropshire Paddlesport - well done guys!

Below are Shropshire's results from their efforts on the challenging Div 3/4 Bala Mill course. Gari almost winning.

1 9 Adrian Ward DV          Halifax CC 115 4        119 110 2 112 112

2 50 Gari Sumner DV        Shopshire P S             111 2 113 114 114 113

3 308 Daniel Sykes J18     Leeds CC                   113 8 121 111 4 115 115

4 269 William Stewart J12  Staffs & Stone             113 4 117 118 4 122 117

5 86 Les Davies DV           Shopshire P S             122 4 126 143 2 145 126

6 128 James Tomkins J16  Shopshire P S              122 6 128 129 129 128

7 135 Martin Walker DV        Mold CC                     126 6 132 126 4 130 130

8 28 Sebastian Kennedy U12 Manchester              128 8 136 129 2 131 131

9 42 Brian Dunn DV              Halifax CC                138 138 140 140 138

10 369 Dave Reevey DV        Shopshire P S           134 10 144 128 58 186 144

11 102 Phil Bate DV            Staffs & Stone cap cap 140 8 148 148

12 218 William Pemberton J16 Trentham CC cap cap 124 54 178 178

13 54 Les Stewart DV           Burton CC                    171 58 229 184 4 188 188

Div 2/3 C2

Shropshire Paddlesport is offering people the chance to come and try paddling (canoeing, kayaking and bell boating) on the afternoon of 6 June.  Sessions will last 2 hours and will run from 2-4 and 4-6. 

We are also offering a 1* course starting on Monday 8 June from 6:30 to 8:30 lasting for 4 weeks.  This leads to a recognised British Canoe Union qualification  and will give you basic boat handling skills and is the recommended minimum standard for club trips and saturday morning sessions.

Further courses are available in July and August.

Places are limited for both the Come and Try It and the 1* course so booking is essential.  Please contact Deb on 07747 535341 or deb[at]shropshirepaddlesport.org

(Please note that due to IT work, e-mails may not be picked up after Friday night)

From June into into July is a busy time for the flat water people in the midlands with the following races coming up:

June 6/7 Nottingham sprint regatta

June 14  Burton hasler

June 21  Hereford hasler

             Also Trentham lightning day

June 28  Shropshire hasler

July 4/5 Nottingham sprint regatta

July 12 Cardiff Sprint

July 19 Reading K4 race (10k)

If you are interested in entering Burton hasler or the July sprints, please speak to Dave Barnes.  Speak to Deb about entering any of the others!

Hopefully everyone will have seen the club email, but Karan's funeral will be on Thursday 26 February, at 2:40pm, at the Shrewsbury Crematorium. The service will start at 2:40pm, so people need to be inside for then. No flowers, instead donations to Karan's favourite charity, The Cinnamon Trust.

Anyone that knew Karan is welcome to attend. Richard has requested that people who are intending to attend  let him know by email to  youngmangonewest(at)hotmail.com so that they have some idea of numbers.

Many club members will by now have seen or heard the sad news about Karan Porter who was killed in a car accident on Wednesday evening whilst on her way home from slalom training last week.

Karan was an active member of Shropshire Paddlesport for many years and will be missed by her many friends in the club and by the people that she coached in the last year, especially the youngsters at Bryn Offa Primary School.

Her partner Richard has said that instead of any flowers or cards he would like donations to go to the Cinnamon Dog Walking Trust, with whom Karan also volunteered. Their website address is:
http://www.cinnamon.org.uk

Details of Karan's funeral will be circulated to club members when we know them. Discussions are also taking place as to how as a club we can best remember Karan.

Well normal service has now resumed and the canal is back to being very wet and watery. Last Saturday's session was iced up and Giles grabbed some photos. Here they are!