Selection Races at Lee Valley

General slalom chatter...rant about the bad, rave about the good
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Debs
Posts: 27
Joined: Sun May 17, 2015 8:51 pm

Selection Races at Lee Valley

Post by Debs » Fri Jan 05, 2018 6:55 pm

What's the point?
Only one entry so far.
Would cost £200 to enter for K1 and C1 plus travel, food and accommodation, in junior selection and nothing to show at the end of it apart from the few that will make the team's.
At least HPP selection races are Prem races so you come away with points. And a lot cheaper.

Unless your very likely to qualify a place on the team it's a pointless exercise!
Then it's several hundred pounds we could do without spending!
The fact that you can't get regular access to this facility to me means it's a pretty pointless facility! Unless you live in London.
It's pretty bad that probably 95% of the canoe slalom sport can't access the Olympic course. In my view the sport is narrowing its pool of athletes and this can only affect the sport. What a shame!

Dee
Posts: 1444
Joined: Sun May 08, 2005 8:34 pm

Re: Selection Races at Lee Valley

Post by Dee » Fri Jan 05, 2018 7:53 pm

Only one entry because it has only just gone up on online!

As to the rest ... when selection races were at tully those in the south had to travel; Lee Valley is the most reliably challenging course so it's the right place for selection to be held.
Kit Washer, Entry Clerk, Chauffeur, Reluctant Organiser, Online Entry Advocate .....
Anything I post under this user is my personal opinion; I am not posting as a member of the Slalom Committee!

Debs
Posts: 27
Joined: Sun May 17, 2015 8:51 pm

Re: Selection Races at Lee Valley

Post by Debs » Fri Jan 05, 2018 9:16 pm

Have no problem with travelling, drove 32 hours to Krakow, Ceske and Brats last year, but cannot justify the £50 per boat, per category entry fee, with not even any ranking points to come out with.

CeeBee
Posts: 331
Joined: Sun Aug 19, 2007 9:12 pm
Location: Falkirk

Re: Selection Races at Lee Valley

Post by CeeBee » Fri Jan 05, 2018 10:21 pm

As to the rest ... when selection races were at tully those in the south had to travel; Lee Valley is the most reliably challenging course so it's the right place for selection to be held.
Selection has to be fair and for it to be fair, there needs to be equal access to the course for all. At least at Grandtully, you can use the course whenever you wanted at no cost. It is really difficult to get water time at Lee Valley. I know this as I have been involved in trying to get water time for the last 3 years. You can book dedicated water slots but need to find 20 people to share the water with you to make the cost per person per hour £15. You are also limited what times you get and so often get less than ideal slots of 0645 in the morning or 1900 at night.

The fairest thing would be for the course to be configured 1-2 weeks before selection and then for there to be an equal number of practise slots in the 1-2 weeks leading up to the selection race for all paddlers.

I'm not choosing one selection site over another but at least when selection at Grandtully, it was never solely at Grandtully. It was shared selection races across 3 venues which seems infinitely more fair. We all know there is home advantage to a site. This was evidenced by having Junior selection all at Lee Valley last year resulting in a disproportionate number of Lee Valley paddlers selected as they knew the water much better and were familiar with many of the set moves.

The purpose of junior selection should be to select those with the best potential not those with the best advantages.

Princi
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Jul 22, 2016 12:17 pm

Re: Selection Races at Lee Valley

Post by Princi » Fri Jan 05, 2018 10:37 pm

Clarification please Dee (if you know).
Entry fee for Selection is £50, according to race info. When I try to enter for the event (K1 Junior Only) it is asking me to register for Sat & Sun & charging £50 for each day!! Total requested £100 plus £2.68 transaction fee. Is the workaround to just register for Saturday & then you’re automatically entered for the weekend?
Thanks, Chris (I may have it wrong somewhere!)

Dee
Posts: 1444
Joined: Sun May 08, 2005 8:34 pm

Re: Selection Races at Lee Valley

Post by Dee » Sat Jan 06, 2018 12:24 am

Sorry, I don't know the answer. Last year you just entered once for the weekend, so it might be an error in the set up, but others have entered for both days, so I really don't know.
Kit Washer, Entry Clerk, Chauffeur, Reluctant Organiser, Online Entry Advocate .....
Anything I post under this user is my personal opinion; I am not posting as a member of the Slalom Committee!

Dee
Posts: 1444
Joined: Sun May 08, 2005 8:34 pm

Re: Selection Races at Lee Valley

Post by Dee » Sat Jan 06, 2018 9:32 am

I have made some enquiries. The competition should be one fee for three days.
Unfortunately, once the competition is live with entries there are restrictions on what the organiser can do so it has temporarily been taken down so that I can fix. It will be back up later today or tomorrow morning.
Kit Washer, Entry Clerk, Chauffeur, Reluctant Organiser, Online Entry Advocate .....
Anything I post under this user is my personal opinion; I am not posting as a member of the Slalom Committee!

Dee
Posts: 1444
Joined: Sun May 08, 2005 8:34 pm

Re: Selection Races at Lee Valley

Post by Dee » Sat Jan 06, 2018 11:33 am

Original competition taken down and original entries refunded.

New competition up.

Those who had already entered will need to re-enter - they have been emailed.
Kit Washer, Entry Clerk, Chauffeur, Reluctant Organiser, Online Entry Advocate .....
Anything I post under this user is my personal opinion; I am not posting as a member of the Slalom Committee!

Princi
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Jul 22, 2016 12:17 pm

Re: Selection Races at Lee Valley

Post by Princi » Sat Jan 06, 2018 3:53 pm

Thanks for sorting so quickly Dee. That saves a few quid!!

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