The Paddler

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The Paddler EDITION #001 â–Ş Winter 2012

World Championships report from Ivan Lawler

Liffey Descent

Szeged

article by Louis Allen

Singapore

World championship report

by Ivan Lawler

Marathon Worlds

Old school races article by Ian White

ICF classic series

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WELCOMECONTENTS

CONTENTS WINTER 2012 ICF round up Alan Laws

Liffey descent Article by Louis Allen

Singapore

Liffey Descent

Article by John Handyside

Paracanoe Fernando Fernandes de Padua

Cokethorpe Cokethorpe article by Ian White

Szeged Ivan’s comentary

UK Racing calendar

Szeged opening ceremony Singapore World Championships

Graham Warland

Sir Steve Redgrave Ollie Harding

Paddling gear

by Craig Hill, Marsport

Szeged World Championships

issue one Editor: Ollie Harding

The Paddler This is the first issue of the ‘The Paddler’ a magazine for racing paddlers. Our focus is shamelessly racing. Marathon and sprint at individual, club, national and international level.

This first issue nearly didn’t happen as I missed one deadline after another that I set. This week I decided to abandon The Paddler if it was not complete by Friday.

The idea of a paddling magazine came to me when a couple of magazines were not interested in an article I put forward because it

was not parochial. This sowed the seed of The Paddler, for racing paddlers everywhere.

The Paddler invites contributions from paddlers at any stage of their career; beginner, club paddler through to the most successful paddlers. If it is about a racing kayak or canoe and it is interesting we want to publish it.

Articles and photos are also invited from coaches and parents involved in racing. These are the people that drive our sport for-

ward and are often unrecognized for their contribution.

This issue, the Winter issue, and the Spring issue will be published online. The Summer issue will focus on the Olymics and will be a printed issue.

So, if you have any interesting paddling stories you would like to share or photographs you would like to contribute please send them in to ollieharding@gmail.com The next issue will feature articles

magazine contact Published by gopaddling

magazine team

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Editor: Ollie Harding

Please contact ollieharding@gmail.com to discuss advertising. Free in first issue.

guest writers Ivan Lawler, Szeged Worlds John Handyside, Singapore Worlds Louis Allen, Liffey Descent Ian White, Old school race Alan Laws, ICF round up

photographs AE Photos Carolyn Cooper Paddlepics

distribution The Paddler is printed online and is freely available for distribution. Although charges may be made for distribution in some formats Photo credits Cover photo: Louis Allen and James King racing at Cokethorpe school race, by paddlepics. Szeged Worlds by Anthony Edmunds. Singapore Worlds by Carol Lyn Cooper and John Handyside

on the Regata del Rio Negro and the Devizes Westminster. Two of the ten ICF featured races.

The Paddler is not affiliated to any club or organisation.

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ICF Roundup

by Alan Laws At the end of the competition year particularly on the flatwater scene both Marathon and Sprint ended with a flourish. The world Championships in both disciplines provided great entertainment for aficionados and many more besides.

In Szeged over 13,000 paying spectators watched the finals of the Sprint Worlds. Were that that could be repeated every year in all canoeing disciplines.

Canoeing certainly seems to one of Hungary’s biggest sports and it is not clear exactly why this is so. Even countries that have a strong history of success in the sport cannot always match such spectator appeal.

The advent of big screens must be one way of increasing the ease by which spectators can follow the sport, especially Marathon.

There has been much debate as to the current format of major international Marathon events with the 4.3km lap basis and the inclusion of a portage on every lap. The concept was adopted by the ICF to make it more spectator friendly and to enable events to be put on a regatta lake. A big screen with cameras not only at the portage but along the course would enable the spectators to maintain contact with the course of the race and moreover see the tactics being employed in the same way that cycling is shown on Eurosport.

Regrettably not all organisers have been able to adopt this concept and therefore it has not been as successful as was intended.

Future events will no doubt move to correct the situation. Obviously the end desire is inclusion in the Olympics and this is still the intention however far off that might be. There are advantages and disadvantages to all changes but it must be said that the new format has put a premium on the portaging skills of the paddlers.

Previously the portage was not that important as it was often quite a long way from the finish but now being only 1,000m or so away, the position and pace over

that last run assumes a much greater level of importance.

Still, the change from the old style has not been without its critics. So enter the Classic Series this year, 10 events from all over the world all with “classic” credentials of varying length and difficulty. A money prize fund is another innovation.

As with any new series the number of regular competitors has been small but this is to be expected not only from the “newness” but also the practical aspects of travel and cost. Still the competition has been well received by both paddlers and organisers alike.

2011 ICF series results Men K1 Federico Vega Suarez fromSpain Women K1 - Hilary Jean Pitchford from Republic of South Africa Men C1 Tomislav Lepan from Croatia.

For 2012 there was an oversubscription of applicant races and the committee had to whittle the number down to the agreed 10.

The rules have not been radically changed and are available on the ICF website and shown opposite.

In deciding on these races the committee took into account the need to spread the events as far as possible around the world and throughout the year.

It has been made clear that every year there will be a new selection process and so any races that applied this year and were unsuccessful should apply again next year. However more information about the race will be needed. This will include a brief history of the event along with the number of entries from the last two years. If any support is given to competitors that would also have a bearing on inclusion.

The World Marathon Championships The World Marathon Championships went to Asia for the first time with some resounding successes. 40 nations took part and this was a record entry. The climate played an enormous part in the racing and those from Northern Europe had to either take time to acclimatize or suffer greatly. The temperature was at 32C by 8am with a humidity factor of 92%. By mid afternoon it had risen to 35 and 97%. During the Ladies under 23 race there was a thunderstorm that threatened to close down the course and this was averted only by the storm moving away. The end of the race was a subject of controversy when the paddler from Italy, Susanna Cicali collided with the Spanish girl Eva Barrios just after the turn before the last portage.

The net result of the collision was that Eva’s boat was turned 180 degrees and Susanna carried on to cross the finish line first. Subsequent disqualification brought howls of protest from the Italian team but a subsequent appeal was not upheld and Eva Barrios was declared the winner.

In the men’s Junior K1 Eivind Vold from Norway and Jonathan Tye of GB were vying for the win just metres from the finish when from Jonathon body language there seemed to be a coming together. This also became the subject of a protest but from video footage there seemed to be no contact and the protest was not upheld.

Just to top off the protest arena in the second to last race, the men’s C2, Ramon Ferro and Manuel Garrido from Spain went through the wrong first bridge arch and were disqualified. The Spanish Team claimed that they did not know they had to go through the middle arch, which seemed strange, as all their other team members went the correct way, as did every other paddler in the 5 days of competition, including all the Masters.

The “Blue Riband” event of the Mens K1 did not disappoint. Seven current or ex World Champions lined on the start. Hank McGregor from South Africa, the winner in 2003 zoomed off into the distance from the start and built up a lead of over 70 seconds. This is quite unheard of in current times but he later drifted back into the pack, by intent or otherwise is not known.

The race then settled down to more conventional tactics including a really fast last portage with four leading contenders. The final sprint was Hank MacGregors in fine style giving him the Gold medal. This gave him the ICF title of Man of the Month for November 2011.

The inclusion of the Asian Championships was another major first for this event and a real success. It is to be hoped that these nations have had their appetite for Marathon thoroughly whetted and we see them again next year in even stronger form.

What is in store for 2012?

The Olympics in London must be the one big event for us all in the UK. The new Slalom course is a massive success already and will certainly remain as a major heritage landmark. It’s just a pity that the same cannot be said for the Sprint event at Dorney. The course itself has considerable merit although like all outdoor courses it does suffer from the effects of the weather and notably wind. There is not much you can do about it and the provisional timetable of events by using only mornings will minimize this.

The silver lining however is the potential for a new start gate system bringing up to date the one currently at Holme Pierpont.

The test event that started immediately after the August Bank Holiday weekend went very smoothly with GB successes in the races and success for the organisation. Indeed so much so that one ICF official commented that it was not a good test event because not much went wrong so there was not much to correct.

The Olympic event is a

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much different animal of course with so much media interest but it is sure to be a success with the enthusiasm and hard work that was shown by all the volunteers and officials.

Marathon is short of a major event for 2012. The normal second World Cup in 2012 as yet has had no takers. It seems as though the financial climate is hitting hard in all directions. We believe there are negotiations going on involving both China and India to build on the success of Singapore where there were 11 Asian nations taking part. As yet however there is no firm outcome.

To give more paddlers a chance of taking part in these major marathon events the restriction of a maximum of three paddlers from any one nation has been lifted.

2012 ICF series races

1. Devizes to Westminster, London/ GBR 6-9 April 2. Waterland Marathon, Amsterdam/ NED 14 April 3. Berg Marathon, Cape Town/ RSA 10-14 July 4. Descenso Internacional del Sella, Asturias/ESP 4 August 5. Avon Descent, Perth/ AUS 4 August 6. Dalsland Marathon, Dalsland/ SWE 11 August 7. Liffey Descent, Dublin/ IRL 1-2 September 8. Tour de Gudena, Skanderborg/ DEN 8-9 September 9. Krumlovsky Marathon, Cesky Krumlov CZE 13 October 10. Adige Marathon, Verona/ ITA 21 October

006 Liffey

Liffey Descent Last year the Liffey Descent was held on Saturday the 8th October 2011, a little under a month after the initial date was set due to the lack of rain. Myself, George Barnicoat, my K2 partner, and our coach Ian White set out from Witney on Thursday night, looking forward to a 5 hour car drive followed by 2 hours on a ferry and nothing to entertain us but the sound of our own voices and Ian’s collection of CDs which included T-Rex and the greatest hits of Queen... Despite these many obstacles we arrived at Holyhead port with boat and our brains still intact, despite the high force winds that were even rocking the lorries around.

A relatively uneventful trip on the ferry saw us arriving at Dublin in the wee hours of Friday morning. Now we just had to find our hotel, at 1 o’clock in the morning, in a strange country, with the local Oktoberfest reaching the climax of its stay... Thankfully we managed to find our hotel and crashed out on our beds gratefully. Friday came upon us far too swiftly along with Jim King who had kindly offered to guide us around the course for the race on Saturday, we then met up with the Southampton crew who were also racing the Liffey and we looked through the course, feeling very confident as the flow had not been released

and so the water was very low. By the evening Jim’s partner, Richard Hendron, had arrived and we turned in for a, relatively, early night before the race.

Saturday. Race day.

Eeep!! The morning passed without incident, except several race veterans attempting to terrify us *cough* Tom Daniels *cough*!! We also managed our first look at Straffen weir when in full flow.

The change was.... dramatic.

What had been a relatively small trickle the day before was now a full flowing torrent of water, gushing over the weir and crashing into the bridge that lay less than a 100 metres down. I don’t think I’ve ever been so terrified in my entire life. Despite my stomach feeling like it was trying to force myself out of my throat, myself and George got into our boat and got onto the water. The river was flowing well and it seemed like a lot of work and effort to paddle up to the start line, 500 metres from Straffen weir. Needless to say I was feeling nervous, especially when we were told that the line we were supposed to take on one of the weirs was blocked by a rather large tree branch.

The start line, as everyone had promised, was more than a little hectic.

Boats coming up to the start line had to manoeuvre past

boats that were already there, hanging onto the side of the bank and then turn around in a very small space. Calamity commenced. Finally everyone started moving forward, and despite warnings of a video camera watching everyone to see who was pushing the line, I don’t think a single boat at the front was behind the start line. And we were off. There were plenty of boats ahead of us and in a tight space the wash coming off these boats was astonishing and not a lot of fun to try and steer against when you have an over stern rudder. Despite this we made it to the weir and... we made it, yes there were points when we were engulfed in water but once you’d come through the adrenaline rush was huge and I couldn’t help but shout with happiness and we passed through and under the bridge.

Easily one of the best moments of my entire life.

Unfortunately Jim and Richard had misplaced their boat on the weir so they ended up crashing into the side of the bridge and they mistook my shout of joy at making it, for one of triumph as we overtook them. Even if it had been one of triumph however it was short lived, as they powered through from behind and swiftly over took us in the jungle and they came an impressive 9th despite their mishap at the start and

Richard’s paddles snapping on the last weir before the finish. Initially we thought everyone had over exaggerated how bad the jungle was, there was plenty of room either side, though lots of twists and turns that gave George plenty of practice at steering.

This was to be an assumption we didn’t make for very long as we were soon having to crouch over our cockpits to avoid branches and trees overhanging the river and at one point it seemed as though there was no way through till we saw a hole barely big enough for us to fit in.

Despite these obstacles we made it and reached the next weir, again no problem and it was clear that Jim’s advice the day before had been of great assistance. Our next serious challenge was the portage. George had damaged his foot the Tuesday before by trying to find a quicker way to school by instead of cycling all the way, he’d cycle and then launch himself off and fly through the air. For his first test run however he decided to attempt his flight through the air right in front of a lamp post. Result; a damaged and swelling foot that was purple by Friday morning.

Despite this, in my opinion, we did the best portage we’ve ever done, despite spending the past two years training for DW every winter. I suggested that I should break his foot

007 Liffey

Liffey lifey

George Barnicoat and Louis Allen, two UK juniors punched above their weight on their first descent race

Liffey Descent Louis Allen

more often as a test experiment; sadly he declined but the offer is always there.

We were more than halfway through the race and feeling confident. We had found a K1 who was a local and so we allowed him to guide down each weir (if you’re reading this many thanks!!) and we went down nearly all the weirs without a scrape, save Anna Liffey where I lost the skin off my thumb. I wasn’t feeling very happy about that, particularly when George cheerily informed me that the last mile or so was raw sewage... We reached Palmerston, the 2nd last weir from the finish and as we were feeling confident we became complacent and didn’t approach this at speed, we got caught in the stopper at the bottom and our boat

flipped. Well our coach had told us repeatedly we’d fall in (as much to make himself feel better than anything else as he and Ollie Harding fell in twice when they first did it!) and so, in many ways, we were expecting it. Rather than from detracting from the race, made it more fun, as if we hadn’t fallen in then we wouldn’t have had the full Liffey experience.

Despite this little mishap we got back in the boat and carried on down; finishing the race with no other swims in a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes and 21 seconds, winning our junior kayak doubles competition by a comfortable distance. Next came the free meal and drink with entry and then prize giving, with a very smug Ian re-

peatedly telling us how when he was a junior he received a huge metal plate as a trophy rather than our gold medals. Despite this it didn’t take away from the achievement, having never done any sort of white-water paddling except paddling down a few times at Symonds Yat, nothing at all like the Liffey I might add, we felt like we had conquered the world.

The best trip I’d ever been on and one that I will certainly be making again as long as I’m able.

SEAFORD AND DANIELS

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Singapore Worlds

photos by Carolyn Cooper Singapore 21.5k 5 portages 17.3 miles 4 portages

Singapore World Championships

John Handyside Junior Men K1 Worcester Canoe Club’s Jonny Tye was beaten in a sprint finish over a gruelling 21.5 km course in Marina Bay Singapore. The first of the World Championship races to start, in cloudy, but nevertheless warm and very humid conditions, the race got underway at 0745. A good start saw Jonny work his way into the first group that was 5 in number after the first half lap in there were two from Hungary, one each from Norway, Italy and Great Britain. they were closely followed by a second group of eight.

At the first of the five portages after a full lap, Jonny was in the mix making a very good last minute tactical switch for one side of the pontoon portage to another to gain a better, clearer route through.

After one and a half laps a large proportion for the chasing pack had gained ground to make a leading group twelve in number starting to form.

By the time that the pack arrived at the second portage, Jonny had dropped back from the first group and was in about 6th place after the run through the portage.

Another half lap saw Jonny back with the front group however having steadily reeled the leading group in. This wa s good tactical racing as excessive sprinting to regain positions would result in serious overheating in a morning’s racing that is getting hotter and hotter in more ways than one.

Into portage three and Jonny is established very solidly in the front group of four and looking very comfortable, at the exit to the portage there are now five in the group. Half way round this lap and the group is now six in number and developing into a very interesting tussle for the medals At portage four Jonny is second out in a group of three and still hanging on in there and looking very comfortable. Half way round this lap and the number in the group is back up to four with Jonny comfortably wash hanging as he has been doing for large periods during the race. At portage five just the Australian, Bill Bain and Jonny are there. It is just a short 800 metre loop around the bridge and back to the finish line, Jonnie leads the way into the buoys, it looks like it is going to be a sprint to the line that is going to decide this Junior Men’s K1 race.

Sure enough, the come out of the turn with about 400 metres to go

with Jonny Tye slightly ahead. Bill Bain puts in a burst to come through, there is a clash and Jonny has to break his rhythm, a few strokes later and Bill Bain has to momentarily lose rhythm as well, on the line it was Bill Bain who took it with Jonny Tye clearly affected by the earlier clash.

Gold to Australia and Silver to Great Britain. Talk of a protest being put in about the incident An extremely well run tactical race by Jonny Tye, who followed Team orders, didn’t do any unnecessary work, kept a steady pace and despite being dropped by the leaders at one time, didn’t panic and steadily regained the distance lost. Excellent portaging and tactical positioning from this fine young Marathon Paddler.

Junior Women K1 Britain’s representatives in this event were Vicki Croucher and Alice Haws, The race was over 17.3 kms with four portages. It consisted of four complete laps plus a final 1000 meters round a short turn to the finish.

Vicki and Alice took a little time to adjust to the Singapore conditions, but the early arrival into a country with hours time difference, 31 degrees Celsius and over 80% humidity was a decision well made.

The race started soon after the Men’s K1 Event, Vicki had a good start and crept, almost unnoticed into the ‘V’ wash of the front 3 to compete the diamond. This group of three comprising of two Hungarians and a Swede seemed quite content for her to stay there Vicki stuck to this position for much of the early stages of the race and looked very comfortable in there as well, at the portages she wasn’t quite as dominant and strong as she is in UK, but held her own and didn’t lose much ground. Alice was in the second group which initially numbered five, but soon came down to just Alice and one of the South African girls.

All was quite well until the 3rd portage when a slower boat from another class hindered Vicki at the portage and she never managed to regain the ground lost. Despite working very hard she tenaciously tried to close the gap of about 3 meters to the front group. It wasn’t to be and she finished a very creditable fourth. Alice was next to finish some 100 metres behind, again a very good result. These two now know exactly what is require for the K2 which is still to come.

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Singapore Worlds

Results round up

Under 23 Men K1 Tim Pendle became Great Britain’s second medal winner of the day, taking third place in a tough six lap. 25.8km race Following an earlier thunderstorm, the conditions were cooler than the earlier Junior races that Britain contested, still humid but with a cooling breeze for paddling in one direction in each lap!

Tim got off to a good start in a field of 23, two groups developed and Tim was well placed in the middle to go with the one that became more dominant.

At the half way stage of the first lap he was in third place on a front wash of a pack with about ten paddlers. Coming round to the first portage, half a lap later the pack was now seven in number with Tim coming out fifth after the run but having to make up a little lost ground on the leaders, this was done successfully. The order constantly changing as they go round.

Half way round this lap Tim is sitting in fourth place quite comfortably. At the second portage, Tim is fourth in and third out after a good run, the front group now drops down to three although soon back to four, Tim is doing a little share of the work, but generally following Team orders and letting others make the pace and do the work.

Certainly looks comfortable at this stage when sitting on the back of the diamond. It is becoming a more tactical race now with the pace dropping from its earlier one Third Portage sees four coming into it then two groups of two emerging at the other end with Tim in the second group of two, It looks like they’ll catch up however, although they are going to have to work hard at it.

Sure enough, half way around the quartet is back together again, but a lot of work was needed to achieve this, Tim is nicely in second now on the top wash.

At the fourth portage the same scenario is repeated, this time it’s going to be harder to make up having just gone to all that effort in the previous lap. another half lap and quite a gap is now developing between the two pairs working together, Norway and Spain have opened up quite a lead over the chasing pair including Tim Pendle.

Portage five sees the front two go to opposite sides of the portage, Norway first, Spain secon 200 metres behind are the chasing pair

of Tim Pendle and the Italian, Tim grabs the wash on the exit and the pair work together again to close the difference.It looks that Gold and silver are tied up with the front pair, who is going to miss out on the medals in the chasing pair. Another half lap and nothing has changed, third and fourth place are now 500 metres behind At the final portage with 1000 metres to go, an excellent portage

by Norway sees a good lead develop as the spaniard has to empty and trails behind, looks like the top two places are decided A similar surge at the portage sees Tim Pendle go into the bronze medal position, not to be caught The final places over the line are Gold Morton Minde Norway Silver Emilio Llamedo Spain Bronze Tim Pendle Great Britain

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photos by Carolyn Cooper

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Junior men’s start at Singapore worl

photos by Carolyn Cooper

ld championships

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photos by Carolyn Cooper

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photos by Carolyn Cooper

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FERNANDO FERNA

When Brazilian Fernando had a car accident and lost the use of his legs he turned to paddling.

He then went on to win the sprint in the paracanoe in 2010.

Next August Fernado embarks on a different challenge when he will paddle 800 kilometre on the Rio Xingu. This journey will be led by his coach Diana Nisimura who introduced Fernando to paddling Diana Nishimura Carneiro http://www.vivabrasilia.com diana@vivabrasilia.com bms@vivabrasilia.com

photo by AE Photos

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ANDES DE PADUA

http://canoeicf.com/icf/WorldClassCanoeing/Athlete-of-the-Month/Previous-AoftM/Fernando-Fernandes-talks-to-the-ICF.html

0020 Cokethorpe

Radcot

Cokethorpe photos by paddlepics

Old school racing Ian White Back in the day, marathon races were essentially an extension of touring, they almost all involved going from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ and when petrol was cheap and ‘motoring’ a pleasure, races were national rather than regional so we got to travel the country and explore our rivers, estuaries, lakes and canals. There were a few circuit races, notably the National championships at Worcester, but it did have 3 weir shoots and an amazing fight up the narrow river Teme against the flow and on coming paddlers, all the Old School, international events have their own challenges, the Mossa on Tour de Gudena, the Liffey Descent, Sella Descent, The Murray, Berg, Dusi, Rio Negro are all very different from our current national scene in the UK. Water skills are as vital as fitness for these races, these skills are now largely replaced with the skill needed to paddle more wobbly boats which in part, compensates for dull deep water races that favour athleticism.

In general, races used to be simpler, you could race in the ‘touring class’ single or double, junior racing or senior racing, so as a 12 year old you learnt to compete and do your best without the stress of promotion, boats had overstern rudders and weir shoots, and obstacles were desirable.

17 miles Lechlade to Newbridge 10 miles Radcot to Newbridge

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Things move on, participation is up, regional racing keeps the petrol costs down, Hasler points encourage participation and round and round and round and round and... races are very convenient and spectator friendly, but the biggest marathon race of the year is ‘Old School’, no Hasler points, no divisions, it goes from ‘A’ –‘B’ and has more portages than you can shake a paddle at, it is a time trial and held at the coldest time of year. So popular has Waterside ‘A’ become, that there is now a cap on entries, so just like the Olympics you might not get a place, unlike the Olympics, its up to you to get your entry in!

I have been coaching kayak racing at Cokethorpe School for a few years now and wanted to establish an ‘Old School’ race. We have a great stretch of water on the upper reaches of the Thames and I wanted to encouage racing paddles to explore the narrow, twisting nature of this part of our nation’s most famous river.

Despite the inconvenience of separate start points and the lack of conveniences at the start! I got the impression that a good day was had by all who came and took part in a bit of Old School racing.

Up at the front of the Senior K1 race, young Tom Deacon was probably wondering who the 2 oldies giving him a hard time were! Dun-

0021 Cokethorpe

Cokethorpe school race ABove Jim King and Louis Allen at Newbridge below Duncan capps Leading off the start

can Capps has been away for some years but has obviously kept fit as he is storming back into racing (DW 2000 unofficial record holder) and the ever fast Duncan Blyth made Tom’s trip from Addlestone worthwhile.

The Senior K2 also provided a race for James King and Louis Allen exchanging washes with Farley and Sam from Falcon.

All 20 junior boats set of in a mass start from Radcot for their 10 mile race to Newbridge on Thames, a little ambitious on the organisers part, but this is supposed to be an experience!

Some very novice crews negotiated 3 awkward portages and all finished within 2 hours, just goes to show what can be achieved, especially if you tell them that this is normal!

Bruce Jones and James Missen won the boys race closely followed by Naomi and Isobel Smith who won the girls race, closely followed by Leo Turner Ryston and Gus Breen from Brynaston School (a

DW crew to watch out for?) and Nick and Emily Romain came out from Richmond to see the other end of their river!

0022 Szeged

Ivan Lawler commentary on the Worlds

WORLD CHAMPS

SZEGED 2011 Author: Ivan Lawler

EMAIL: ivan@croftonhealthcare.co.uk

web: www.ultimatekayaks.co.uk

An impartial view of what went on at Szeged We, the average paddlers, actually rarely if ever, are privileged enough to see these guys either train or race (For example how many times have you seen Tim Brabants race/paddle in the flesh since becoming Olympic Champion?) and now it seems the High and Mighty in GB Canoeing can’t even be bothered to fill us in on what happened in the climax to their/our season. Either they are all (and there are plenty of them!) just too busy to take the 30 mins to do a write up or they actually don’t think it is important to tell us what is going on. Increasingly I feel it is the latter and the separation between the Elite system and the rest of us is becoming so distinct that we are no longer relevant to them and sooner or later they will become irrelevant to us. The “Olympic Legacy” in our sport is a question that will need looking at.

Anyway I will try to give you an outsider’s impartial view of what went on in Szeged back in August.

So probably the first thing to cover off is why do we have so few races covered? Only thirteen out of twenty nine? Well it has been decided rightly or wrongly that we needed to specialise on Olympic distances. You could argue this both ways but personally I cant see why over half of our men’s team were left sitting on the sidelines when there were vacant events to fill, in terms of “going

forward” it would seem like a great opportunity to give to the younger paddlers who are in the sport beyond 2012.

That was not the policy though and it was “Olympic distances only”, Actually that was only the official line, in reality Lani did the 5k, which was reasonable as she was already there and the race was after her main event plus she has a realistic medal chance.

What was controversial though was Angela Hannah being taken out specifically to do the non-Olympic K1 1000m and three men being taken specifically to do the non-Olympic 200m relay. While others were told they were not being taken, as it would be a “drain on resources”. It seemed rules were applied where it suited!

It was very apparent that the other large teams with funding all managed to enter athletes across the board.

Some Olympic qualifying athletes were competing in as many as 2 non-Olympic events in addition to their Olympic distance. Also a quick look back through the year will show that a lot of the very successful athletes in this championship were racing non-Olympic distances all year. We have been one of the richest teams in the sport for many years now but still seem incapable of producing a structure that gives any strength in depth.

200m Silver

“HEATH / SCHOFIELD ANXIOUS LOOKS AFTER A CLOSELY CONTESTED FINAL”

AE PHOTOS

Szeged

photo by paddlepics

The biggest question to be asked was why did we not even enter a K4 in the Men’s 1000m? An Olympic distance and the ONLY chance we had to qualify a boat for 2012! Lack of talent….. not really, we had already had a 7th place back in 2009 and in theory we had tried boosting the talent in the boat by adding Tim Brabants during the season, we had also had another 2 years concentrated preparation on a boat that was stated to be our main aim for the qualification event! Lack of money and opportunity then?………. Not likely, hundreds of thousands have been thrown in the direction of this K4, the guys have had every training opportunity known to man with warm weather training and more back up staff than Barack Obama!

I am sure everyone will have an opinion on the causes but hey, I am writing the article so here goes.

To get a K4 to work you need 4 committed guys and a coach who is in charge. From the outset this boat was doomed by internal friction and a coach that was continually undermined by those above and around him.

Ultimately it was destined to fail. In the last couple of months of the 4-year cycle the boat was disbanded and the 4 younger guys were given the “opportunity” to race.

A couple of mediocre performances later it was decided they were not going to be good enough to even get the chance to compete in Szeged, which would immediately and without contest reduce our potential Olympic squad from 7 to a maximum of 3. Money well spent?

So race by race here is what happened (as I saw it) K1 200:Ed McKeever: 2nd Ed has consistently performed over the past 2 years in an event where even small errors can have drastic

consequences on results. He is one of the most solid performers out there and dictated his early rounds as he always does. In the final he inevitably met the other main contender Siemionowski from Poland who had looked equally good in his early rounds. Sadly it was Siemionowski who took the win with Ed in 2nd place.

No chinks in Ed’s performance, it was just not to be on the day. Confidence is key in this event and Ed will have to hold on to his belief that he is the fastest man in the world despite this setback. I for one am confident he will come out of this fighting and as fine as the margins are, I would happily put money on a medal from Ed next year at the big one. With luck that medal will be Gold.

It is testament to Ed that some see the silver medal as a disappointment and shows how much faith, not only the GB supporters, but also many other people in the sport have in him.

K2 200: Schofield/Heath: 2nd Another silver medal and a step up from the bronze last year. The K2 200 is unbelievably fast and closely contested right from the outset in the heats. Some extremely good crews, (notably the Spanish silver medallists from last year) did not make the final. However Schofield/ Heath stand out in every round as being clearly a step ahead of the masses. They are, I think, the fastest boat on the water but just lose out to the French who seem able to maintain their top speed for longer. I am sure Alex Nikonorov will see what needs to be done and these two will be working hard over the Winter on whatever it takes to stake a claim for top spot in 2012.

Szeged

K1 200m Relay: Christian Reeves, Andy Daniels, Ben Farrell, Ed Cox: 9th I am undecided with this event, it is kind of a kayak racing meets “It’s a knockout”. All it is missing is the background chuckle from Eddie Waring and Stewart Hall! The handovers are dodgy at best and it is not pretty watching quality paddlers struggling to go fast over choppy water. However just like “It’s a knockout” it makes compelling viewing and our guys made a great job of it. 9th place in the final probably does not show how good some of the individual performances actually were. It seems we are pretty good at this new distance!

K1 1000: Paul Wycherley: 14th What can I say, after a hideous season of frustration Paul was finally selected for the 1000m following a race off with Tim just

a few weeks before the big event. Paul is not yet at the standard of Tim at his best and this race off was probably the biggest race of Paul’s year. To get up for that and then back up to full strength for the Worlds was asking a lot and with luck turning against him in the form of a heavily stacked semi-final Paul missed out on both a place in the final and an Olympic slot.

The big question will be whether Tim should have done this event and no one will ever know if the result would have been different, however the selectors and management cornered themselves into this last minute decision process by not allowing Paul to race K1 through the season and having to stipulate the race off as the final trial. My feeling is that if Paul had been given the freedom to compete throughout he season, as he and Ian Wynne had wanted, then

photo by AE Photos

photo by AE Photos

“IT WAS VERY APPARENT THAT THE OTHER LARGE TEAMS WITH FUNDING ALL MANAGED TO ENTER ATHLETES ACROSS THE BOARD. SOME OLYMPIC QUALIFYING ATHLETES WERE COMPETING IN AS MANY AS 2 NON-OLYMPIC EVENTS IN ADDITION TO THEIR OLYMPIC DISTANCE.” IVAN LAWLER

K4 - GB Women narrowly beaten losing out to Belarus for Bronze

photo by AE Photos

Szeged

not only would the selectors have known how good his final performance was likely to be, and made their decisions accordingly, but the K4 would probably also have been a much happier/more successful crew. This series of events is definitely one that the management need to answer questions on!

K2 1000: Brabants/Farrell: 15th The chain of events described above led to the last minute scramble to cobble together a K2 with Brabants as the main player. After a couple of sessions it was Brabants who decided he would paddle with Farrell ahead of any of the other guys queuing up for the opportunity.

Though time clearly dictated a rapid decision it is not unreasonable for some of the other K2s around and some of the other 1000m paddlers to be a little upset at the fact that this crew never actually raced anybody or even time trialled to gain its selection. That is another discussion that needs to be had, but the facts are that we put together an untried K2 for the biggest event of the 4 year cycle with only 3 weeks together in a boat and with no evidence that they were any better than any other crew.

There is no doubting both Tim and Bens individual quality though and there was talk of qualification. Top 6 requirement made the K2s the toughest events to qualify in and despite looking like a decent boat in their semi final and their B final Tim and Ben failed to secure the all-important Olympic slot. Given more time this boat did look like it had the potential to mix it with the big guns but three weeks to prepare is just not enough at this level.

K4 1000: NO ENTRY! Three athletes watching from the stands and one taking part in the non-Olympic 200m relay saw this one and only opportunity to qualify squandered. Perhaps they would not have been fast enough to qualify, but then as it turned out nor were any of our other 1000m entries so who is to judge? You are way more likely to qualify a boat if you actually enter one…FACT!

ence for us let alone for Rachael. Her K1 has been so reliable for the past few years we have grown to expect so much and I have no doubt she will be back to form next year. It is always hard to stomach a rough regatta at this level but hopefully the k4 result will keep her chin up and in the mood for attacking next year. Perhaps training the K4 took some coordination away from her K1 or maybe just concentrating on two events proved too much following her lack of training time this season. Decisions on what to target next season will not be easy!

We will of course qualify a women’s K1 500 place by default being the host nation.

K1 1000m: Angela Hannah: 7th Angela has made unbelievable progress in this sport in a very short time; a great year of K2 with Lani Belcher saw medals at World Cup level. However the K2 was dismantled and Angela was given the consolation prize of a run down the non-Olympic 1000m, (a chance many of our men’s team would loved to have had!) A very credible effort in the final saw Angela take 7th place in a final that contained no less than 4 Hungarians (racing for four different countries), some testament to how they can turn out quality women!

K2 500: Lani Belcher/Hayleigh Mason: 14th Another crew put together toward the end of the season.

Hayleigh was ousted from the K4 by Rachael Cawthorne and would have found herself without an Olympic event had she not in turn ousted Angela Hannah from the K2.

The crew did not look as sharp in the early rounds as we would have hoped and faded towards the end of their races.

5th in the B Final was the ultimate outcome, a pretty disappointing run after such a good season from the girls, maybe more time was needed or maybe it just wasn’t their day, either way it will be down to the coaches to choose a K2 for next years vital qualification event in May.

Womens K1 200m Jess Walker: 7th Having already qualified her Olympic spot in the K4 the 200m was a nice bonus for Jess. She is very highly rated by some in GB canoeing and there was talk of a medal opportunity. On the day though she was lucky to make the final after a comedy fail by Nicole Reinhardt in the semi-finals saw Jess take the last qualification spot for the final. Lane 9 was not the lane of choice all weekend and Jess never really mixed it with the main contenders.

Nevertheless the margins are small and Jess is there or thereabouts. Added to her awesome K4 performance she should be pleased with a very solid regatta.

K1 5000m: Lani Belcher: 2nd With her marathon background Lani stood out as one of, if not the only, girl who knew what she was doing in a chaotic scramble that was the women’s 5k. She never put a foot wrong and was never outside the front three.

After last years mishap with the Belorus athlete she was careful on the last turn to avoid a similar incident and came out in a clear second place. It is good to see the 5ks making a return (from my biased point of view) and good to see we are still up at the top end. It is a shame we did not put an entry in the men’s event!

K4 500m: Abi Edmonds, Jess Walker, Rachael Cawthorne,

K1 500: Rachael Cawthorne: 12th After a season of illness and injury none of us expected to see Rachael at her best but it is hard to be realistic sometimes and watching her come down in the B-Final and outside a qualification spot was not a nice experi-

Louisa Sawers: 4th Having been around canoeing for so long I still find it hard to believe we are actually competing at this level in this event. The girls looked every bit as good as the big names and even pipped the favoured German crew to

Szeged

advance direct to the final from their heat.

In the final it was team GB that actually took the race to the others and for a moment it really looked like they were in the running for a win. Sadly they were to finish just outside the medals, the worst position to stomach especially after being out in front for so long. After this performance, which for me was the highlight of the event, you have to believe that a medal is a distinct possibility in 2012 and in fact even a gold is not out of reach. To say this was exciting is an understatement. Our girls have arrived on the World Stage and everyone has taken note.

The places are booked for 2012 and now the fight to stay in the crew will begin. We are in a very good position with three girls sat outside the boat all of whom would have a claim to be included, it is a luxury position to be in and credit has to go to Miklos Simon for his efforts.

C1 200: Richard Jeffries: 18th Another relative newcomer Richard has already achieved more than many would ever have thought possible. He would probably have been a little disappointed with his 9th place in the B Final but he looks strong and will possibly be the one who takes up our host nation entry in the C1 next year.

Womens C1 200: Sam Rippington 12th To be honest I struggle with this event. It is not yet developed enough to compete with credibility at this level and needs a couple more years to mature in the World Cup Circuit. It has come a long way already since the debacle of the last years Worlds but still the strength in depth is not quite there with a 5 second spread in the A final.

It seems almost cruel to parade some of these athletes down the course in front of one of the most knowledgeable and definitely the largest crowd of the canoeing world. Having said that all the athletes down to about 7th place in the B Final now actually look pretty good. Sam gave a good account of herself, she was always in the race and 12th place was a good result. She is not far off the tail end of Final A. So what do we know? The management are selling the results as a big leap forward. “This time 4 years ago we had qualified just one athlete now we are looking at 10.”

That sounds impressive until it is qualified by saying that 3 of those places were gifted to us by virtue of being the host nation, 3 were from events that didn’t exist this time 4 years ago and the remaining 4 places all came from just the one boat, the women’s k4. I have no intention of putting a damper on things but this time last year we won 4 “Olympic” medals, this year we have only 2. There are many ways to look at statistics but continually looking at them in a positive light is counterproductive bordering on delusional. In the past 10 years we have had finalists in ALL the Olympic distances in Kayaks, yet now with all the money, time and backup we could possibly want we are struggling for A Final places in all but a few events. I refuse to be sold that as a success. Now it seems there is even dissent in the Women’s team despite the best

results ever this year and qualifying 4 slots for 2012.

As I see it the management need to get a grip, do their job, stop undermining the coaches and let us as the outsiders reap the benefits of the millions of pounds spent on our teams by seeing some good results in 2012.

This season shows we have the quality there to produce the results if the people who are doing the jobs are left alone to do them well. If they aren’t, those of you who were lucky enough to get tickets for 2012 will be watching 8 strangers coming down the Eton course and that is not what you were supposed to spend all that money on!!

The athletes have to live or die by their performances, the coaches it seems are under constant scrutiny and pressure to produce, yet the upper tiers seem immune to consequences of poor performance and failure. Life it seems is not always sporting!

I apologise for not producing an upbeat report but someone has to counter the constant flow of misguided positivity that flows from the performance programme in order to justify its existence. I believe our athletes are the best they have ever been and with good management will produce the best set of results we have ever had at an Olympic Games in 2012. What I fear is that the upper tier is more concerned with self-preservation than it is with result production.

Where do we go to from here?

With the boats that have already qualified and the host nation spots kindly donated to us, we are left to qualify a men’s K2 1000, Women’s K2 500 and several events in the Canoe classes. Not much on paper but a big ask in reality. For starters it was very shabby not to even see an entry from GB in the Men’s K2 1000m event at the Test event in Dorney. What better opportunity to begin building for next year? We could even have had two or more entries had we chosen to. Time is short and there does not seem to be the desire or organisation to put together a credible K2 to challenge for this place.

The Women’s K2 will have to come from Belcher/ Mason and Hannah. How that will be decided is up to the coaches but it needs to be done soon.

In the men’s canoes we really don’t look like qualifying any crews by right so the host nation place is the one to be fought for. The place is for the C1 1000m which is not Richard Jeffries strong point but if his 200m looks like being our best potential result then maybe he will get the 1000m as a throw away event to allow him to go for the 200m. If this is the case it will look pretty poor on TV when he bins the 1000m event in front of a home crowd.

I now feel like the person who has announced the “Emporer has no clothes!” I am sure I will take some flack and pretty sure I will not get offered a job on the programme! But I love my sport and feel compelled to tell it how I see it. You may disagree, in which case you are welcome to submit an article and I will publish it on my site. Enjoy your paddling!

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Sir Steve Redgrave

Sir Steve Redgrave paddling at the Pangbourne Hasler As we countdown to the London 2012 Olympics, Sir Steve has decided to keep a diary in the year running up to the big event.

Here, he shares his thoughts and experiences as he fulfils his roles as ambassador for Team GB for the British Olympic Association, President of British Rowing, ambassador for Visa, Worldwide Sponsor of the Olympic Games, commentator and pundit for the BBC and as a spectator and huge fan of the Olympic Games.

Countdown to London 2012: And now for something different...18th October 2011 In my latest book, Greatest Olympic Moments, Birgit Fischer is featured together with her extraordinary Olympic medal haul, which eclipses my own and almost everyone else’s with a total of

eight Gold medals over six Olympic Games from 1980 to 2004.

Her sport of choice was kayaking which, at the time of writing the book, was a sport that I had tried but had been unceremoniously dumped from the boat within four seconds.

I don’t know if Birgit’s success or my failure was at the root of my recent decision to try kayaking again, but six weeks ago I was back on the water and back in a boat only this time, it was a kayak. The good news is I managed to stay in the kayak for more than four seconds.

I started my new challenge on 20th September, 2011, at the Pangbourne Marathon. I am told there were a lot of surprised expressions as I lined up for the Division 9 race, the lowest division

in the competition.

Being able to see where you’re going is an odd sensation but I wouldn’t say it was a good one, especially when there is a four mile course ahead of you.

In rowing, you know you have a long way to go but you don’t have to see it and you definitely don’t chose to visualise it but, in kayaking, there is no choice.

I managed to finish second, a minute behind the winner but with a time that would have earned victory over all the Division 8 competitors. For better or worse, I will not get the opportunity to turn a theoretical victory into a reality as my time saw me promoted to Division 7 for the next race.

The ultimate challenge for my new venture will be the 125

mile Devizes Westminster International Canoe Marathon. This is the longest non-stop canoe race in the world and I only have until next April to get ready. I will be competing with my old friend, Roger Hatfield, so when the Hasler Trophy races took place in Henley on 27th September, Roger and I lined up for our race, this time in Division 6.

After being cut up in the early stages of the race, we fought back to take third place. At just under a minute a half behind the winners, it wasn’t a bad debut in the two portage race but watch this space, I haven’t built a reputation on coming second or fourth and I am not about to break the habit of a lifetime. At least, that’s not the plan.

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Sir Steve Redgrave

“In my latest book, Greatest Olympic Moments, Birgit Fischer is featured together with her extraordinary Olympic medal haul, which eclipses my own and almost everyone else’s with a total of eight Gold medals over six Olympic Games from 1980 to 2004. old meals over six Olympic Games from 1980 to 2004.”

Sir Steve Redgrave © paddlepics http://www.steveredgrave.com/olympicdiary.html

0032 Plastex training camp at Dunapar http://www.dunaparque.com/

rque

Half way between Lisbon and Faro lies the village of Milfontes.

Jan and his family have run Dunaparque for thirty years. It is a friendly place with a long of history of paddlers training there in the winter. I stayed at Dunaparque with my son for a mini training camp last half term. We flew into Lisbon and Jan had arranged for us to be met by the car hire company. Fifteen minutes later we were on our way to the Algarve.

Soon after we arrived we were shown the fleet of Plastex K1s and we paddled upstream towards the National Park. We paddled every day for a week and enjoyed exploring the river at different tide levels.

For Dragon boaters there are two ten man boats.

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