Unofficial UK Slalom BBS

As we see from the main site, Anne and Irena would welcome constructive comments on the Llangollen races as the difficult decision on whether or not to run the races will be taken on Sept 11th.
I suspect that we all want the races to go ahead but maybe not regardless of the consequences.
One consequence of cancelling the races is that we may lose the support of Llangollen businesses.
It is great that they want us there, benefit from the events and support us now. If the races stop, they will look for visitors elsewhere and may well not support the cause to reinstate the races or improve canoeing access to the Dee.
I say we should appreciate the support of those town's people, run the races and build on this to reinstate the Dee tours and better access for canoeists.
The races are a wonderful promotional opportunity for slalom and for access to British rivers for all canoeists.

For those not at the Interclubs, after debate, and with regret the executive announced that both the Slaloms scheduled for Llangollen in October will be held at HPP this year.
hope the townfolk who loose money are as annoyed and upset with the fishermen as we are!!

A sad day for Llangollen Canoeing. Will the race ever return ?
Won't be going to HPP ! Don't like the place.

Sad though it is that it's come to this, I think cancellation was the right decision. They'll only take notice of canoeists if we stand together on issues like this IMO.

Steve

I don't see it, Steve. Llangollen isn't the fishing lobby. The people who'll lose income are not the people who can offer access. Taking this "stand" is just throwing the toys out of the pram.
Town Falls is the one showcase event where spectacular canoeing takes place in the heart of a tourist town and gets us seen by the public. Slalom - and canoeing - will be the losers, probably for good.

Difficult decision and I only see losers apart from the fishing interests. There seems to have been no progress since February, surely the WCA and local slalom interests should have been raising the profile in the town to get support and bring pressure onto the fishers. I have been surprised at the lack of comment on this board and the WCA site, I understand the need to protect sensitive negotiation but surely we could have raised enough information to allow us to broadcast to press and public before now.

The late cancellation, whilst understandable, risks losing local support. It is always more difficult to ressurect an event than to keep it going. Hence the future for Llangollen is currently compromised. Whatever else we need to make positive approaches to Llangollen to allow early settlement and ensure that any break from Llangollen is only temporary and normal service will resume in 2005.

I am very sad that we will not be seeing a race at Llangollen this year.
I hope that the land owners will realise that by reducing the "legal" access to the river during the river running season they are causing more problems for themselves than they are solving. By removing what was a well respected access agreement and enforcing an unacceptable replacement I can only see them finding paddlers on "their" river every day rather than the few weekends that were allowed previously. If they find this difficult to manage I hope that it will force them back to the table with a more constructive offer. This train of thought leads me to conclude that I would find it very hard to discourage anybody from paddling the Horseshoe falls to Town Falls section this year.

It's about time you guys stood up and were counted. This is belated but welcome news.

It was absolutely disgusting that you were hoping to hold the events, even when recreational paddlers had been totally done over on the Dee.

Congratulations to the people in charge who have finally seen the total injustice of you lot flicking the vees at the recreational paddlers as you got on with your event.

[edited as unhelpful choice of words. SteveM]



Edited By SteveM on 1095186405

That's a shocker for you chaps and girls.

Still, perhaps now you'll appreciate how angry recreational paddlers are that the regular tours have been binned as a result of the fishing lobby.

I realise that you won't be able to run a bandit slalom comp in the same way as the recreational paddlers can run a bandit river trip but hopefully by our doing so the wider issue of access will once again be brought to the attention of the greedy landowners who will find eggs very much on their faces when paddlers are there every weekend there is water instead of 5 or 6 a year.

Maybe you could go out training anyway to make a point.


Laters,


Ed. Hopper

Ed
I don't know the details but I think you'll find the regular tours were also part of what was on offer.
Can anyone tell us what the offer actually was?

'Shafted by Paddlers'

May I ask..does this represent the view of the Slalom Committee?

Mark R
http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk

The home page headline "Shafted By Paddlers" says it all. If that is really how you see it, an us-against-them within paddling, then you will reap the rewards you deserve. Where were you lot when recreational paddlers needed support over the Dee access issues? If slalom is as important as you make out, why didn't you use your considerable influence for the benefit of all paddlers instead of trying to make cosy slalom-only access arrangements?

Sorry for posting twice in succession but I've just seen Nick Penfold's post and I am staggered. Mouthing off on the home page about recreational paddlers and you don't even know what access was offered? Unbelievable.

Calm down Steve.

"The Slalom UK site is an independent website run for the sport of canoe slalom in the UK. Although informally recognised as "the" slalom website, it is not owned, controlled or funded by the BCU, the Slalom Executive, World Class Performance or UK Sport. Opinions expressed here are our own."

Nick's opinion is as valid as anyone elses but it is not the official view of the BCU Slalom Committee.

Mark: I don't know, but it isn't their website

Steve: I know that the slaloms and some Dee tours were offered, and that the offer was "less than we've traditionally had" but I don't know the rest. If you do, tell us!