Newbury Canoe Club had a good showing at the PaddleUK Marathon Racing Committee National Championships hosted by Reading Canoe Club (13-14 July). It was an amazing weekend and our small but mighty canoe club did us all proud..
Saturday's K1 races
NCC started the races on Saturday morning with our favourite junior Max Burt taking 3rd in the under 10s junior mens (should be boys, shouldn't it? ) k1. Way to go Max -- what. away to start off the weekend. We're proud of you!
Our next paddler up was Rebecca Bird in the over 49 ladies k1, where she struggled through the choppy water, did some successful washhanging and was very pleased to come in 5th.
Next was paddling legend James Treadgold in the over 54 men’s k1s, where he powered his way into the sixth spot against tough competition. In the same race was Ian Martin, a recently returned Newbury paddler but currently racing under red for Gloucester CC.
Sunday's K2 races
For the k2 races on Sunday, we had another three crews throughout the day.
First up was Rebecca in the over 34 ladies k2 with a (much younger) paddler from Gloucester Anja Whelan. Based on the division rankings they were expected to be down at the bottom, but they paddled an impressive race to get on the podium for third place. And have the great honour of sharing the podium with paddling legend Kat Wilson.
The next Newbury crew were two of our club’s longest standing members Dave and Mike in the over 54 men’s k2, where they came 7th in a nail-biting sprint finish. If you know Mike, you know he's definitely growling in the back there. And, I've never seen Dave look so determined!
Also in the men's over 54 were Ian Martin and Al Pipe from Runcorn CC, who paddled a great race and took 2nd!
Our final crew for the weekend was in the mixed k2, which is the only race not broken into age categories, so had every male/female crew in it, for a start line with 78 boats on it.
The Newbury boat of Rebecca Bird and Ian Martin were extremely pleased not to sink or swim during the carnage that was the start. Rebecca would like it known that the weight distribution issue they had in their boat was all her fault as she wasn't brave enough to sit in front where she should have been (sorry Ian!).
The photo on the left below is obvs before the carnage, and on the right you can see the Bird Martin boat at the bottom of that pole thing, which is not in fact sitting in Rebecca's lap!
It was an amazing weekend and let’s just hope that next year we can get a few more of our paddlers there!