This year Duddon canoe club joined the Hasler, flat water marathon racing league, the competition consists of a series of races held throughout the North West in place such as Stoke, Chester, Macclesfield & Runcorn. With the top 2 clubs being invited to the Hasler finals to be held in pangbourne near Reading this year. Duddon finished second in their first year in the competition and have therefore been invited along to the finals in Oct along with Trentham who won the North West series and Chester. The finals should be a new experience for the Duddon paddlers with every division having over 40 paddlers lined up for a mass start.
The Lightning Challenge
Running alongside the adults competition is a junior competition called the Lightning Challenge this is for under 12’s & a Lightning is a specially designed light weight racing boat for smaller paddlers. In the Lightning challenge competition is fierce and raced over a 2 kilometre course, and at the end of the North West series there is a national final where the lightning paddlers race for the Geoff Sanders Trophy which is awarded to the club that has amassed the most points in their local series of races plus the finals. Duddon Lightning Wizards have just won the North West series of races and are now going to the finals.
There has been some outstanding racing in the under 12’s in both the under 12 Boys & Girls category with Owen Wilson winning 4 races and finishing 2nd in 1 & Victoria Longstaff winning all 5 of her races. Owen & Victoria pushed each other hard in 3 of the races with only seconds between them after a 2 kilometre race, if you would like to see the Runcorn lightning race please click here.
In the under 12 boys category Duddon finished 1st & 3rd with Owen Wilson finishing as champion & Nicky Dunn in 3rd place behind a paddler from Trentham. In the under 12 girls category Duddon claimed a clean sweep with Victoria Longstaff finishing as champion with Ruth McKenny finishing 2nd and Stephanie Dunn in 3th place.
In the under 10 boys category Duddon have 3 paddlers and they finished 1st, 3rd & 4th with Josh Gregory finishing as champion Matthew Austin in 3rd place and 8 year old Connor Bentley finishing in 4th. Sadly Duddon currently have no under 10 girl paddlers so we could not compete in that category, if you would like to try K1 racing or just general kayaking why not come along to the leisure centre on Thursday at 7.00pm or our Ramsden Dock Base on a Friday at 6.pm in the summer or Saturday 2pm in the Winter.
The Lightning Challenge
Running alongside the adults competition is a junior competition called the Lightning Challenge this is for under 12’s & a Lightning is a specially designed light weight racing boat for smaller paddlers. In the Lightning challenge competition is fierce and raced over a 2 kilometre course, and at the end of the North West series there is a national final where the lightning paddlers race for the Geoff Sanders Trophy which is awarded to the club that has amassed the most points in their local series of races plus the finals. Duddon Lightning Wizards have just won the North West series of races and are now going to the finals.
There has been some outstanding racing in the under 12’s in both the under 12 Boys & Girls category with Owen Wilson winning 4 races and finishing 2nd in 1 & Victoria Longstaff winning all 5 of her races. Owen & Victoria pushed each other hard in 3 of the races with only seconds between them after a 2 kilometre race, if you would like to see the Runcorn lightning race please click here.
In the under 12 boys category Duddon finished 1st & 3rd with Owen Wilson finishing as champion & Nicky Dunn in 3rd place behind a paddler from Trentham. In the under 12 girls category Duddon claimed a clean sweep with Victoria Longstaff finishing as champion with Ruth McKenny finishing 2nd and Stephanie Dunn in 3th place.
In the under 10 boys category Duddon have 3 paddlers and they finished 1st, 3rd & 4th with Josh Gregory finishing as champion Matthew Austin in 3rd place and 8 year old Connor Bentley finishing in 4th. Sadly Duddon currently have no under 10 girl paddlers so we could not compete in that category, if you would like to try K1 racing or just general kayaking why not come along to the leisure centre on Thursday at 7.00pm or our Ramsden Dock Base on a Friday at 6.pm in the summer or Saturday 2pm in the Winter.
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