West Tanfield "Good Practice"

[Happychappy]

As a parent of an up and coming Div 3 paddled & Div 2 paddled I have to say that the event was a complete and utter success. The organisation of the whole event was fantastic. Its not rocket science to putting on a sucessful slalom so why don't we as a sport start and share good practice. Ken and his team thought about every aspect and speaking to other paddlers and parents the consensious was that this has to be one of the best run slaloms we have all been to.

Thanks to all the hard work of the volenteers that don't even paddle slalom, wish more clubs had this levels of support from all their members....

I'm just a "happychappy"

[carealto]

Can I second Happychappy's views. As with our own Tyne Valley event the previous week, this one could so easily have been cancelled due to high river levels - but was much better than usual as a result of the extra water. Perhaps it could have demoralised (or terrified) some newcomers in div 4, though some were going for (and succeding with) moves that some div 3s and even div 2s were unable or unwilling to try! From my perspective as a div 3 paddler, I found it unusual that knocking off a 50 (from the several I had to try for) would only take me up a place or so and that speed down the course was unlikely to make much difference, but as an older guy I found it a pleasant change!

The effort on the part of the organisers was exceptional and particular thanks must go to the huge start team who were instrumental in getting people into boats and ready to start (without losing anyone down the course) and ensured that the event ran like clockwork. Even the camping field was good - I had expected it to be like a bog by Sunday.

My only minor criticisms are perhaps that some of the judging was a bit patchy (particularly competitiors who knew they had missed gates completely getting "clear", but also the other way too) and that the course relaxed on Sunday as the water got lower and easier. Perhaps gate 17 should have had a second pole on Saturday and had it removed on Sunday - it appeared to collect a few scalps as people got pre-touch penalties.

Thanks to Ken and everyone involved. I hope you can guarantee similar river levels for future events and that wherever possible we try our utmost to save events (provided they can still be run safely - I would be the first to agree that running the Sunday event at Fairnilee in June would have been a mistake).

[marcus]

I would like to say a massive thankyou to Ken and all the Volunteers for running a great fun and exciting event. It was more than well organised, running to time both days, fantastic communication system to the whole site keeping people well informed. Food tent did a smashing job of providing excellent food and plenty of hot drinks.

Also, massive thankyou to Ester for providing me with a paddle for the weekend after I had broken mine on my first practice run.

The site it self was great - toilets, showers, food, camping was good - next to the river! Site proving electric hook ups and site was very level for campers.

Thanks again it left me with a very postive memory of West Tanfield.

[James Hastings]

Can I add my name to those praising Ken and his team for an extremely well organised event. I was more than pleasantly surprised. In particular special thanks to those on the start who spent several hours at times up to thier waists in water ensuring that no-one got lost at the start, and to the exceptionally catering that was laid on.

I will be back again next year.

Cheers,
James

[RussJohnson]

Thanks for all the compliments. I will pass them onto the rest of the team at West Yorkshire Canoe Club

Yes we had some challenging conditions, but we tried our best and think it worked out quite well


THANKS TO EVERYONE. Those who turned up and help, those who paddled and those who organised. KEN and the team at West Yorkshire Canoe club did themselves proud

All in all we feel we ran an excellent event and ran on time all weekend and had compliments throughout. But it couldnt have happened without the co-operation of the paddlers.

We would also like to thank Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, who was down supporting with her daughter in the event, for been a fantastic sport and handing out trophies on the Saturday.