Unofficial UK Slalom BBS

Dear All,

Entered this event as a double event several weeks ago and booked hotel for TWO nights (£120 non-refundable booking).
So it's really nice to see that it's now only a Sunday event (but the course is available on the Saturday for 'free practice' at a supplimentary cost!)
Had I known I woud have had the option of deciding if a 200 mile journey and hotel costs was worth it for a single event.

What I'm really keen to know is what has happened to enforce this (late) change, when was this known and how can it be that an event that was on the early grid calendar has been comprimised by 'other events'; wasn't there some form of booking with LV? What's really happened here?

Still no answer to your question? Not much of a legacy is it if we can't even offer a two-day race on it.

Make the most of it Reformed Boy. According to the draft calendar at the moment it doesn't looks like anyone's going to get a chance to compete in a ranking slalom at Lee Valley, either on the Olympic or Legacy course, in 2017!

Cheers,
James

Firstly - the British Open is a Prem and will be held at Lee Valley.

Secondly - if you wanted an event at Lee Valley you could have organised one. The draft calendar and it's various updates have been on the website for months so there was time before the deadline.

In regards to new courses such as LV and Carfiff, when these courses are built (assuming with funding from various sources including canoeing bodies?), are there/should there be terms defined to provide funding (in way of 'free' or lost cost event days) for X number of years for slalom events following their main purpose?

It is a shame that the BCU cannot take a leading role in the management of these sites; it would be nice to see not only prem but div 1,s and 2,s when money form the sports council was used to build these courses!!!!!!!!!!!

TobyLerone wrote:In regards to new courses such as LV and Carfiff, when these courses are built (assuming with funding from various sources including canoeing bodies?), are there/should there be terms defined to provide funding (in way of 'free' or lost cost event days) for X number of years for slalom events following their main purpose?

There are a fixed number of low cost days for both Lee Valley and HPP (can't comment on Cardiff). Without these we would not be able to run the events there that we already have. With Lee Valley no one has come forward wanting to run any other events!

rose wrote:It is a shame that the BCU cannot take a leading role in the management of these sites; it would be nice to see not only prem but div 1,s and 2,s when money form the sports council was used to build these courses!!!!!!!!!!!

These are private venues, how can the BCU take a leading role in managing a venue that it does not own???

P.S. I should add that I "manage" the calendar hence how I know who has applied to run events.

BaldockBabe wrote:These are private venues, how can the BCU take a leading role in managing a venue that it does not own???

Serco are running HPP, they don't own it.

davebrads wrote:

BaldockBabe wrote:These are private venues, how can the BCU take a leading role in managing a venue that it does not own???

Serco are running HPP, they don't own it.

Correct, the Council does!

However I think you will find that when Sport England pulled out of HPP it was offered to the BCU, who turned it down

Surely the issue is not who owns what venue but who can bring the most influence to bear. In these instances one would have thought British Canoeing who can hopefully represent their members

Sven wrote:Surely the issue is not who owns what venue but who can bring the most influence to bear. In these instances one would have thought British Canoeing who can hopefully represent their members

They do - hence the events we already hold at those venues. If we want more events there is capacity to do so in the contracts but they need organisers!!!

Thanks for the clearer info. So making this a more positive change, if I understand the situation correctly. There is capacity at LV to hold more races, as BC have negotiated a number of days into their contract for this to happen with the Council who now own LV . What is needed is for the people who would like to see more race events at LV to come together or infividually to organise an event and submit an application to do so at the appropriate time to the BC Slalom Committee who would then support the application. It would be useful to know how organisers can secure pre event training slots at LV too, presumably the committee can advise on this.

My understanding is that anyone can book exclusive sessions at least on the Legacy (not sure about Olympic, but I expect the cost would be prohibitive), subject to either providing sufficient qualified safety cover, or paying for LV to provide safety. I looked into this for club sessions a while ago, but didn't think we could get enough people just from Windsor to cover the cost.

Glen can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that's what he was doing on behalf of his club when the early morning Sunday slalom sessions were on a couple of winters ago.

The challenge seems to be firstly getting enough regular people to cover costs so it's sustainable, and secondly (as always) it relies on the generosity of people like Glen who give up their time to organise and run the sessions.

Perhaps it needs southern clubs to band together and share out the organisation, safety/coaching cover, and financial risk. I think Windsor probably have three people who'd be happy to do slalom sessions on a regular basis, and I'm sure would be happy to help with a safety cover rota (although I don't think we have anyone currently qualified who could lead the session).

Paul.

I was always due to miss this years Div 2 but was hoping to be able to make it next year, sounds like that it isn't going to be on the calendar now

The original question was about why the late change to a single day, which hasn't been answered.
Obviously it was a difficult decision (or external imposition?) for the organiser and I guess they will have taken a lot of flak for it from various people, but it seems to have left us without an organiser for the future. Is this because other potential organisers are put off by the apparent difficulties with running events at LV? (and other venues like HPP?). Surely this isn't healthy for the sport?

My favourite Div 2 race of the year (so far?) was K1 at HPP - I might not be up to paddling the bigger water in C1 yet but events like HPP, LV and Tully are at the top of my list of events to enter, it would be a real shame to see fewer of these kind of races.