There was a large turnout at Chester for the latest round of the north west Hasler league, sadly the sun never materialised as It has in past years so it left the spectators grabbing hats and gloves to keep warm instead of applying the factor 50.
There was some stitching up of paddlers before the race which saw one paddler promoted to Div4 from Div5 (not happy), it was also Lee Bentley first race at the 8 mile distance. Conditions were blustery and the wind seemed to be coming from all directions at once which lead to some tricky moments during the race.
All the divisions were set off without any mishaps; everything was going really well for the Duddon contingent until the turn buoy where Brandon fell in again!! If he carries on like that he will take his dads title for falling in the most times in a season.
When everyone had stopped battling the wind and ferries there was a couple of standout performances, Victoria & Owen continued their winning streak in Div7 K2 and Harvey Petcher finished 2nd in Div7 K1 and was also the fastest junior and won promotion to Div6 for his efforts congratulations Harvey. John Sherwen also had a good race and narrowly missed out on promotion to Div6 (you’ll have to slow down a bit in the next race John!) Lee Bentley managed to complete his first race at the 8mile distance without any problems well done Lee.
A big thanks will have to go out to Chester canoe club for running yet another great event.
Results;
Div 4 – 5th Scott Wilson relegated to Div 5 J
Div 6 – 9th Lee Bentley
Div 7 – 2nd Harvey Petcher promoted Div 6, 6th John Sherwen, 7th Mark Petcher, Joint 9th Brandon Wilson & Rhiann Taylor, 11th Andy Longstaff
Div 5 K2 - 3rd Alistair Hornsby & Alan Ashby
Div 7 K2 – 1st Owen Wilson & Victoria Longstaff
Lightning’s
Under 12 – 4th Matthew Austin
Under 10 – 1st Connor Bentley, 2nd Ryan Bentley
Hasler points – 1st Chester 150, 2nd Duddon 149, 3rd Macclesfield 143