Shropshire Paddlesport Blog

The official results have been posted here for last Sunday’s Ross Warland race - its very interesting to note the number of OOT (out-of-time) results for people who took a rather relaxed attitude to their start time (or found themselves really struggling against the headwind on the way back) and then didn’t make it back before the 2.30pm end-of-race time.

Thankfully that wasn’t anyone from our club - Shropshire paddlesport managed to notch up

Andy / Deb: (2 x 10 miles relay)                          03:53:38

Phil & Alice / Connor & Ellie (2 x 10 miles relay)     04:03:04

Maria (20 miles straight through)                          04:42:24

Anyone who’s been following the conversations about the race on UKRivers (or elsewhere) will know that the overwhelming sentiment about the race was “by ‘eck it were cold”.

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!

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…

Andy, Deb & Ellie are competing in this event - although it would be nice to have some more company.   You can do it as a relay of 5 or 10 miles or the whole thing at 20.

For anyone currently wondering if they can race the distances, you are more than welcome to come training with us.  In additon to Tuesdays and Thursdays, we are going out to do the following:

Wednesday 29 October 6.30 - turning point and pack - 5 miles (55 minuts ish)

Sunday 2 November - lock and back- 7.5 miles (1:15-1:30 ish)

Sunday 9 November - Narrowboat and back - 10 miles 4 portages (2 -2.5 hours ish)

Sunday 16 November - mid-divisions race course - 8 miles 6 portages (1.5 -2 hours ish)

Sunday 23 November - lock to Maesbury - 10 miles 6 portages (2 -2.5 hours ish)

Wednesday 26 finalise team entry

Sunday 30 - RACE DAY!!!

We’re aiming at doing these distances at race pace (6mph) but since Andy has only just got back in a boat after 2 months of being damaged, we will probably start slower than that.