Chester 1

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

 

Summer Series Race 1

Tuesday saw the return of the south lakes summer series of wildwater races, the races are aimed at beginners to try and encourage as many people as possible to try wildwater racing, so hopefully over the next couple of months as many parents and friends will have a go.

The race is form Penny Bridge to just below the broke weir under the road bridge at Greenodd a distance of about 900m.  

24 paddlers turned up to test their skill, most were from Duddon however some turned up from Bradford & Bingley, the race was split into 2 groups with the older racers going down first so they could go back to the start line and escort the younger paddlers down.

There was plenty of water in the river Crake so fast times were expected and the paddlers didn’t disappoint with times faster than last years.

The next race is to be held on the 16th June, If you fancy trying your hand at wildwater racing come along and give it a go!

Wagon Lane WWR

Bradford & Bingley canoe club held a wildwater race on the river Aire after their div 3- 4 slalom competitions to try and encourage slalom paddlers to give river racing a go. It is the first time for 2 or 3 years that they have held a wildwater race and it is a welcome return to the racing calendar. There was not a large entry to the race however 7 slalom paddlers stayed after their competition to try wildwater racing. The start was moved 50m up river from previous years and there was an upstream start which meant a tricky tight turn around a marker buoy (Wasn’t there Owen) before a mad dash down river through some grade 1 moving water and a tricky swirly last section to the finish.

There was some very close racing with only seconds separating the fastest paddlers in each category and when both runs of the river had been raced everyone was waiting for the times to be posted. Harvey Petcher won his first under 16 race beating Brandon in to second, Duddon took 4 of the top5places in the men’s competition but were beaten to the top spot in the women’s competition by Amy Howarth of Bradford & Bingley.

Results;

WC1 under 16  1st Emily Longstaff

WK1 under 16 2nd Nadine Merrick

WK1 under 14 1st Victoria Longstaff,        2nd under 14 Ruth McKenny

MK1 under 16 1st Harvey Petcher,            2nd Brandon Wilson

MK1 under 14 1st Owen Wilson

South Lakes Marathon

Sunday saw Duddon Canoe club running the 2nd south lakes marathon on Coniston water this was the second race of the North West Hasler league and there was a field of over 50 paddlers entered.

There were plenty of club members who volunteered to help set up and run the event on the day, everyone got to Machell’s coppice nice and early and started setting up marques and putting up safety signs, when all this was done it was time to unload the boats and get ready for the race.

Conditions were wet but calm for the start of the race so after all the competitors had registered it was time for briefing and then onto the water for a warm up. All the divisions were set off without any mishaps and the water was unusually flat calm for the first 2 laps of the race. Weather conditions changed dramatically for the 3rd lap and the wind and waves picked up causing conditions normally seen on the sea not a lake, this caused some capsizes and retirements. Divisions 7-8-and 9 managed to complete their 3 lap race before conditions got too bad. Divisions 4,5 and 6 managed to complete their 6 laps however the race was abandoned after that, meaning Divisions 2 and 3 only managed to complete 7 of their allocated 9 laps.

After the race had been abandoned a safe bay had to be found so the lighting paddlers could race, marker buoys were moved into a sheltered bay on the other side of the start finish line, safety cover was on the water and the junior paddlers were off. The course was 2 laps round a short circuit of about 250m in wavier conditions than most of the paddlers have experienced. Xander fell in before the start of the race however  he emptied his boat and got back in and took part in the race. There was some good racing and Connor Bentley was pushed all the way by Jess Proctor from Trentham. When the times were worked out there were some very good results from the Duddon paddlers.

Results;

Div 9 K1   2nd Nadine Merrick, 3rd Ruth McKenny, 8th Jamie McGee

Div 8 K1  1st Harvey Petcher

Div 7 K1  3rd Rhiann Taylor, 4th John Sherwen, 6th Mark Petcher

Div 7 K2 3rd Owen Wilson & Victoria Longstaff

Div 4 K1 4th Scott Wilson

A fantastic day was had by all despite the weather doing its worse, good company great racing and some excellent cakes (thanks Ruth). I would also like to say a big thank to Andy all the people that helped make this event such a success without you people these events would not be possible.

The Next race is Chester so see you all in 2 weeks’ time for race 3.

This article was in the North West Evening Mail. Its about Brandon, Harvey, Nadine and Rhiann, four young members of DCC who tried out for the GB WWR Selections at Holme Pierre Point, Nottingham. The training session at the pool on Thursday saw Rhiann greeted with a round of applause from members of DCC as she found out that day she was successful at the trials and is now joining the GB WWR team in August  in America where she will take part in the Wildwater Canoeing World Championships at Nantahala.  Well done to all of you as you have done yourselves and volunteer coaches proud as well as your parents and friends.

You can click on the link below to take you to the Northwest Evening Mail web site page for the article.
http://www.nwemail.co.uk/sport/rhiann-earns-gb-call-up-as-duddon-paddlers-shine-1.1210112