Shepperton Div 2/1 - 1st/2nd March

Kev.S · Post by **Kev.S** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:06 pm

Kazz wrote:My entry for shepperton was neither late or incomplete.
It strikes me as strange that stafford and stone can publish their results on the same day as their 3/4 event-whilst it is acknowledged this was a one day event it attracted almost 100 paddlers and a significant workload, whilst we are still waiting for sheppertons results 9 days later ???

That is one of the most selfish comments I have ever seen on this forum, Dee is not only a Wife and Mother who gave up her Mothers day to run the event but also works during the week.

I suggest you offer your services to compile the results next year, please remember all people who help at Slaloms are volunteers and not paid staff.

Carlr · Post by **Carlr** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:28 pm

Keep up the good work Dee and ignore the stupid remarks .

I would suggest that if you get incomplete entry cards next year that you do not give them an entry why waste your time on other peoples incompetence. Simple as that !! it isnt hard to fill in an entry card and send the correct monies for entries.

dsamartin · Post by **dsamartin** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:10 pm

I have just finished reading the organisers pack as I am helping for the first time to run an event later in the season. Reading critical comments about organisers makes me feel like giving the pack back, it's no wonder that slalom events are disappearing from the calender, I'm sure a lot of people don't realise the ammount of work that goes into running an event, especially when you are a small club. Well done Dee, I may well be contacting you for advice in the near future!!

John · Post by **John** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:03 pm

Does anyone know how the Online Entry System is getting along? I think online entries would make the organiser's a lot happier. At least they wouldn't have to deal with incomplete entries!

Dee · Post by **Dee** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:35 pm

Thanks everyone for your support.

The results are now up. Please be aware that we had a few paddlers who had applied for reranking but weren't 100% sure of their status and several paddlers without their bibs - I've left them all in for now but ranking complilers may end up adjusting points if necessary.

Carlr - Not so much a problem with those who sent in entry cards (although a fair number used last year's bib number/forgot to sign them/ didn't enter their date of birth), The real issue was the completely unprecedented number of email entries. In the past I've accepted these on the basis that there were only one or two, I wasn't expecting this year's avalanche. Next year (IF I carry on) I won't accept entries by this method at all. No doubt this will lead to complaints because some people won't have sent off for entry cards. I'm tempted to turn away all entries without a correct card and the right payment - this would make the results easier to compile as I'd have half the number of paddlers or less

. For most though they are genuine mistakes so that would be unfair - I'd really rather everyone had a chance to come and compete especially when the water is right!

Munchkin · Post by **Munchkin** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:04 pm

Oooh... Am pleased to see that I was not alone in parting company with my boat!

Not sure about the on-line entry system mentioned above but I have used the one set up for the Nene slalom and that seems easy enough from a competitors point of view. Not sure how easy it is for the organiser though as I guess they still have to fill out the entry cards (or get you to on the day)...

Dee · Post by **Dee** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:54 pm

We did have a few swimmers - fortunately a relatively safe place to swim.

I think we only had one paddler who hand-rolled a couple of times, then hand-paddled to the "bottom" of the course to collect his paddles before returning to complete his run. It's a shame we didn't get it on video!

Spiderman · Post by **Spiderman** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:35 pm

If I have learned one thing in life it is that you cannot please all the people all the time. If the majority are happy, (and generally another thing I have learned is that is those who say nothing at all) then a good job has been done

Spiderman · Post by **Spiderman** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:07 am

Following on from my post shortly after the event I thought I would record some statistics to support my view that the course was too difficult for a Div 2 and too long for any division. Here are some unbelievable figures from the Shepperton Swimming Club:-

Saturday.

85 x 50 second penalties
11 x swims
Slowest time 5mins 8 seconds plus 4 mins 12 seconds of penalties totalling 9 minutes and 20 seconds.

Sunday.

128 x 50 second penalties
19 x swims
Slowest time 1 minute 54 seconds plus 10 minutes and 50 seconds of penalties totalling 12 minutes and 44 seconds.

The above does not include easily, I estimate, twice as many rolls as swims.

A 50 second penalty and a swim in EVERY quorate class on BOTH days. This is Guinness Book of Records stuff surely!?

It must be of little surprise that the Sunday Div 2 event was poorly attended in comparisson to the Saturday Div 2 event as I dare say they did not wish to come back for more of the same! The ladies event had 14 competitors on Saturday and only 6 on Sunday. The mens event had 23 competitors on Saturday and only 15 on Sunday. The C1 class incresed from 1 on Saturday to 2 on Sunday but I note that sole paddler on Saturday was not one who returned. The sole Div 2 Vet did not come back on Sunday either. Honestly, you really could not make this kinda stuff up!

I felt it was far too much for a Div 2 when I was there but, of course, I did not see all of the event. But now having seen these results, I feel my opinion has been validated tenfold.

Whilst I am sure a few hardy, determined and gutsy Div 2's grabbed the Shepperton bull by the horns whilst being slighly worried about the outcome, this sort of difficult course is likely to scare people away as can be deduced from the poor Sunday attendance. I really do hope that by flagging this up, future courses will be properly assessed for the abilities of the competitors who will be attending. As I mentioned in my first post, forcing Div 2's to make three sluice crossings to complete the course properly was simply inappropriate for the abilities of the majority of Div 2 paddlers. Poor them.

If there are any statisticians out there who can show me a Div 2 ranking slalom result sheet with more 50's and swims on than this one, I will be truly stunned! And I will even allow going back as far as 20 second outside touches as well! Anyone got The Guinness Book of Records phone number?

Nicky · Post by **Nicky** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:47 pm

I don't think that you can look at the results too much to determine who was put off by Saturday. I think that tthe question would be, how many people entered and pulled out? And how many div 2s chose not to race at a 1/2 as the course was was going to be harder, or wanted to spend mothers' day with family...

I agree that the course was difficult for the Div 2 paddlers, but I'm not sure that the fact that it was hard on saturday put too many off! Of the div 2 paddlers I know, most raced saturday and few raced sunday due to Mothers' day. Looking at the results, it wasn't necessarily the ones who struggled on saturday that didn't race on Sunday. I'm also absolutely certain that the div 2 c1 paddlers on sunday were not put off by the course, nor the water!

The Sunday course had to be designed for the div 1 paddlers, and I think that it was fine. It wasn't ideal for the Div 2s, but I don't think that races can be cancelled due to water conditions. I think that quite a few paddlers have learnt quite a lot from the experience. As Dee said, Shepperton is actually quite safe for a swim. It's not that nice, but it's not very dangerous!

I think that quite a few 50s came from people's first wier slaloms too! There were loads of kids going through gates the wrong way, even in div1!

Anyway, that's my view based on the people I've spoken too.

Nicky

Carlr · Post by **Carlr** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 3:18 pm

Well said Nicky i completly agree with what you have said.

Munchkin · Post by **Munchkin** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 4:41 pm

I am one of the Div 2's that did enter in advance and pulled out of the Sunday. As you can see from above I did learn a lot from the course, intend to go back next year (after more practice

) and enjoyed myself.

The reasons that I did not go back:

1. I gathered the course would be more difficult on the Sunday and having struggled on the Saturday I thought it may be a bit much BUT I would have gone if it were not for 2;

2. The other paddler I was with decided not to paddle on the Saturday (having seen the water) and therefore not to go on the Sunday. Getting up and travelling on my own (although I have done it lots of times before) was not ideal in light of 1 and 3;

3. I gave myself a bit of a scare having swum, thought I was at the surface and taken a breath of water I am not sure I would have been fit to drive if I had done that again on the Sunday - but I did learn from it (check that you are above the water before breathing!).

So yes, I am one of the ones that pulled out because the water was harder than expected BUT that is not necessarily a bad thing. I would rather have gone and tried/ failed than be faced with that sort of water in my first ever Div 1 event (if I ever get there!).

P.S Of the paddlers I went with 1 pulled out of the Div 2 C1 on the Sat because of the water and 1 pulled out of the Div 2 K1 because of the lack of consideration shown by other paddlers during free practice (which was not fun around gates 6-9 especially when you are nervous anyway). Three of us paddled Div 2 K1.

Dee · Post by **Dee** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:29 pm

There were a small number of paddlers who dropped out on the Sunday having competed on the Saturday, but nowhere near as many as it looks on the results.

Of the entries that I received in advance at least 6 ladies and 3 men only sent in entries for Saturday and were not planning on racing Sunday. There were also a number that entered Saturday morning just for the one day.

Saturday's C1 and C2 competitors were also only ever down for one day as they both were concentrating on div K1M on Sunday. (I am absolutely certain of this - see the names).

I'm not sure that the numbers of 50s were that excessive for a div 1/2 event. If you compare with somewhere like Nottingham we are probably about even - especially if you take into consideration that the less confident paddlers won't enter Nottingam. Shepperton can be variable so my guess is that some came expecting a fairly easy paddle and were a bit taken a back to discover that this year we had real water.

I wouldn't advocate having all div 2 races at this level but it seems to make sense to take the opportunity whilst we can - who knows what the water will be like next year?

Username · Post by **Username** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:39 pm

I'm terrible and managed all of the gates on my second run! If you didn't go for the cross, it was really easy, it just took a mighty long time!!!

It was a hard course if you did it properly, and like most courses there was an easy "slower" option. This time the proper way saved you about a week, rather than a couple of seconds!

I had a great day out (despite swimming) and so did the dog!

Cat

Dee · Post by **Dee** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:45 pm

You say "the" cross which I'm guessing means you were there Saturday. On Sunday there were three crosses, so the slowest paddlers should be finishing sometime on Easter Sunday!