British Champion

British Champion. That's me!

Despite winning numerous selection events and a variety of other national competitions, I had never achieved the title of British Champion - mainly because I've not been at the last 3 out of 4 British Championship competitions. So, as I was in the country for this event, I figured I'd give it a go. Although, I had my excuses ready before the event: no paddling for nearly 2 months; a new boat (collected a new Agent the day before, after paddling the Kingpin on the few occasions I paddled in the summer); and no paddling in the 'Muncher' since Selection event last year. I wasn't expecting to do very well.

I used to love paddling in the Muncher and it is generally a feature I do well in. Unfortunately though recent changes to the course have made the Muncher a whole lot shallower (even on full release) and none of us girls could loop without hitting the bottom (I don't know how the boys did it) so whilst the boys were pulling off loops, McNasties and Phonix monkeys, we relied on cartwheels, cleans and splitwheels to earn us points.

Ed Smith looping.

My first ride was my best with a few cleans but my scores went downhill from there. Having not paddled for such a long time (or even been to the gym), I think I broke myself.

The old lady tries to stand up.

The event ran over 2 days, with the 'Alpkit Challenge' on Saturday, and the semis and finals of the British Champs on the Sunday meaning we got double the competition for our money. Jen Chrimes and I swapped places a few times, throughout both competitions. As we were running to ECA rules for both competitions the finals were knock-out format. Jen won the Alpkit Challenge knockout final on the Saturday, with Lowri Davies in 2nd and myself in 3rd (my scores gradually deteriorated in each round). On the Sunday, throughout the semis and finals, I managed to stay a little more consistent, although had the occasional ride where I just could not get my boat vertical without hitting bottom, or flushed early. In the end I took the win over Jen, timing a reasonable scoring ride against one of hers where she flushed early.

I try a clean lefty in the Semis.

In the men's event it could have been any of the top 3 : Ed Smith, Pringle, Jon Best to take the win as they were each putting in really high scoring rides on a number of occasions. So, as always with knock-outs, it was whoever put in their highest scoring ride at the right time. In the end Pringle's perfectly executed McNasties in both directions allowed him to take the title, with Jon in 2nd and Ed in 3rd.

Pringle on his entry move.

Dave Bainbridge convincingly won the C1 event, and in one finals ride threw down one of the highest scoring rides of the weekend. Ross Montandon won the juniors, despite his deck popping a couple of times in the finals (I think he needs to deflate his 'bump' a little!). In his last year of being a junior he showed he was ready to take on the men by getting 4th place in the men's heats. Unfortunately for him the freestyle committee had decided that this year Juniors could only enter either the Senior OR the Junior competition, and not both (as had happened in previous years) - it is only fair to give the Seniors a chance, as they can only paddle in one competition! All other results can be found here.

As part of the Alpkit challenge there was also a downriver race.

This was quite entertaining, although perhaps gave an unfair advantage for those who were able to fit both a creek boat and a playboat on the roof of their car! I dusted the cobwebs off my creekboat (literally) and proceeded to get beaten by sprint-boater Jen Chrimes and a youngster in a short Jackson playboat - admitedly she didn't have to go through any of the gates, and I did have a bad start, but still....!

Adam Norfolk and Jen Chrimes both showed that their recent sprint-racing had payed off as they took first place for the Men's and Women's Cup races respectively.

The weekend brought out all of the old folk from the woodwork:)

Jason Smith and Cheesy resting after a chilled out squirt-boating session.
Captions please...

All in all a fun event and it was great to be able to get so many rides in one weekend's competition (although my body didn't appreciate it!)

The next event will be Kayakojacko's Hurley rodeo on the 1st/2nd December, followed a week later by the GB Team Selection event at Hurley on the 8th December and Nottingham on the 9th. So, I'm hoping for some rain soon to get back into shape before these winter competitions.