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BUCS Wildwater Racing 2010
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Last weekend, when most people were thinking of snowball fights and warm fires, the Canoe Club travelled to the River Washburn in Yorkshire to compete in the annual BUCS white water race.
For the uninformed, white water racing involves paddling as fast as possible down the river - the longer and pointier your boat, the faster you will go. Competitors race against the clock in a number of events in K1 (single kayak), C1 (single canoe) and C2 (double canoe).
The challenge is to pick the best route through a series of exciting waves and drops, while paddling as fast as possible. A combination of skill, strength and fitness is required to beat the fastest paddlers.
Newcastle had been training hard in the weeks leading up to the race and went into the weekend with high hopes, spurred on by a new coach and racing boat funded by the sports centre.
With a great team effort Newcastle finished 4th overall and picked up 34 BUCS points along the way. It was a fantastic achievement for the club which, unlike many of the other top universities, has no paddlers in the GB team.
Special mentions should go to Ralph Baker, Sarah McGarrity and Linda Speight for winning a silver medal in the mixed team race, breaking up a potential 1,2,3 from Loughborough; to the men’s team of Ralph Baker, Jonny Clough and Sam Desbruslais who narrowly missed out on a bronze medal by a heart wrenching four seconds, and to the new pairing of Ralph Baker and Pete Clarke who also finished 4th in the C2 sprint race.
The weekend brought plenty of new challenges for everyone, particularly due to the sub-zero temperatures. Putting on frozen kit, walking through the snow, and getting into a boat full of ice is not the usual routine for a Canoe Club trip!
Hats off to the determination of those paddlers (who shall remain nameless for pride’s sake) for their commitment to finish the race, despite finding themselves in the freezing water a few too many times!
Many of the team also competed in racing boats for the first time. A risky decision as they are much faster than general purpose kayaks when you get it right but much more difficult to control and hence you’re much more likely to end up swimming if you get it wrong.
Hopefully over the next few years the skill base of using these boats within the club will build up and even better results will be reported.
The next BUCS event in the canoe calendar is the slalom in February; I’m praying for warmer weather already!
