This weekend saw 2 of Duddon canoe clubs level 2 coaches (Scott & Andy) successfully complete their wildwater safety and rescue training on the river Leven. Water levels on the Leven were really low so the brick Shute was accessible for the rescue training as you can see from the video and photos. It was a funtastic if tiring course that I would highly recommend to everyone.

On Saturday 13th of September an open water swim and kayak event was held on Coniston water inspired by brave Aaron  Tomes  who has beat cancer twice and he is not 8, 5 months on from his diagnosis and Arran has had 5 courses of chemo and a Stem Cell Transplant. Arran is one of the lucky ones, even though he has had to put up with this horrible disease twice.

15 swimmers and 40 kayakers donated £5 each for the privilege to swim or paddle to Peel Island (wild cat island in the Swallow and Amazon book) a distance of about 1 mile, £460 was raised on the day to raise awareness for Leukaemia & Lymphoma research.

Duddon canoe club attended the event to support the swimmers and complete a challenge of their own there was a time for the fastest lap and another for the most laps completed in 1 hour, Brandon Wilson achieved the fastest lap time of the day with a time of just over 11 minutes and John Sherwen. Owen Wilson & Victoria Longstaff in a K2 & Brandon Wilson completed 4 laps in the allotted time.

It was a glorious day everyone had a fantastic time and raised money for a very worthy cause.

Summer Series Wildwater Races

Over the summer months Duddon canoe club have been running a series of wildwater races on the river Crake from Penny Bridge to Greenodd with the aim of introducing more people into the sport of wildwater racing. Over the series there were 94 entries into the 4 races with the youngest being 6 and the oldest in her 60’s, the more experienced racers used these races to prepare for the wavehopper final in September.

The races were held on the first Tuesday in every month from May to August & points were awarded according to the position you finished in your age group race and the points were added up after the last race to find a series champion in each age category.

The final race in the series took place on Tuesday 13th Aug with 28 paddlers taking part, and 2 paddlers came from Bradford & Bingley canoe club, a bbq was arranged for after the race allowing the judges time to work out the series champions in each category and as usual the great British summer weather didn’t let us down it poured down!

Recent rain had seen the water levels on the river Crake rise over the last week which meant times should be a lot faster than they had been over the summer, 28 paddlers turned up on the night to contest the series, and 5 of the 7age categories were still wide open with everything to race for.

On the night race were won by Ryan Bentley under 8, Corey Cumberbatch under 10, Owen Wilson under 12, Harvey Petcher under 14, Brandon Wilson under 16, Chris Ashcroft senior men & Sharon Hunter senior ladies.

When the race finished the judges went into action working out the times and allocating points and working out the series winners. A fantastic time was had by paddlers and spectators and hopefully we have the next generation of wildwater racers at the club.

The series winners were;

Under 8 - 1st Ryan Bentley, 2nd Xander McGee, 3rd Sarah Locke

Under 10 – 1st Connor Bentley, 2nd Corey Cumberbatch, 3rd Charlie Broadhurst

Under 12 – 1st Owen Wilson, 2nd Victoria Longstaff, 3rd Hadley Cartmel

Under 14 – 1st Harvey Petcher, 2nd Ruth McKenny, 3rd Jordan Hunter

Under 16 – 1st  Brandon Wilson, 2nd  Nadine Merrick, 3rd Sam Curwen

Senior ladies – 1st  Sharon Hunter, 2nd Noreen Hunter, 3rd Sharon Currie

Senior men - 1st Mark Petcher, 2nd Chris Ashcroft, 3rd Trevor Hughes 

Above are the final standings for the summer series the age group series winners are in yellow. 
The paddlers highest 3 scores were added together to find the series champion in each age group.