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Monday 18 May 2009

I'm back down South............

So its now May and I’m back from Uni for the summer.  Its awesome, the weather is lovely the water is warm but its not perfect, there is a distinct lack of water at the moment.  Luckily for me, the ‘Mighty’ Chertsey weir is always running, and even runs best at lower water levels.  So, off I popped down to Chertsey to meet up with one of my local paddling buddies Mike Brown.  We had a wicked hour on the water and I finally started to to get my Loops dialed in.  After that I whizzed down the road to WhiteWater: The Canoe Centre, my local canoe and kayak shop for a cup of tea. Lovely. Im back to Chertsey this Tuesday evening for the regular Tuesday night Chertsey Collection.  This usually see a great mix of people of all ages and abilities.  There’s a couple of photos below.  So until then, be safe and paddle hard................





Mike Brown going for the Mystery move


Cracking out a loop...





Friday 15 May 2009

We love the Nights...

Had a great fun time at HPP last night, it was really nice and quiet.  I managed to lay down some nice Loops and a few cartwheels.  Luckily it was fairly quiet, with only a handful of slalom paddlers and no other playboaters, this meant no queuing, SWEET.  heres a few little pics.



A bit of an arty shot of Andy


Me Goin UP



Andy, giving it the wave



Me again, all smiles at the newly refurbished HPP


Stay Safe....



Saturday 2 May 2009

A week of paddling prizes......



The last few days i’ve been back at uni, and they have been packed with paddling prizes.  Well maybe not packed, but i’ve had a few.


It started with the Canoe club (Derby Uni Canoe and Kayak club) AGM on wednesday, during the meeting, the D.U.C.K awards, were dished out.  Prizes were awarded for Best swim, Best Novice male, Best Novice female, best haircut and Most Valued Paddler.  


Andy Gibbs won Best Haircut with his current half blond-half brown hair do.  Josh Edwards Won Best Novice male, Rory Richards won best swim, for not even making it to the feature at NSR just a few weeks earlier and i was lucky enough to win MVP for a combination of my individual representation of the club at the BUCS slalom in January, and doing OK at NSR.  The prize was mainly pride, but also a really big rubber duck.


Following this I have spent all weekend slalom racing a the Marple Division 3/4 Dave Higson memorial slalom.  The event was held by Manchester Canoe club on a small shallow bit of river located in Marple (which is near stockport).  The weekend was a double event meaning each day counted as a separate race.  On the Saturday, despite a few showers around 25 Div 3 K1 Men took part.  My first run put me in second place, but after smoothing out my second run i finished ahead by a healthy 5 seconds, earning me a nice shiny plate.  On the Sunday the weather was much nicer, however there were less competitors, despite this there was still fierce competition, and in my second run I was even given a 5 second penalty for starting too early.  Inspite of this i still had a fast enough time too finish in first place.  To make things even better, i had scored the fastest aggregate time over the two days, earning me the ‘Dave Higson Memorial trophy’.


All in all a good week, I hope I can do as well in races later in the year.  


The Prizes

National Student Rodeo 2009

At the end of March 2009, the biggest freestyle kayaking event in the world was held at Nottingham’s newly revamped HPP.  Here is a short film i’ve just finished from the event, I will be doing a longer vid when i get some more time.  Enjoy.




and here is a youtube link if you are struggling http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYfS7aBYGf0