Unofficial UK Slalom BBS

For years, Div 1s' have rumbled about missing out on the best venues - no longer is this the case and it is now full steam ahead for the inaugural Lee Valley Div 1 on the Olympic Course

Entries are flowing in nicely and we will start accepting paddle-ups on Friday, so if you are a div 1 that has not got your entry in yet, please do so asap and let's make this a race to remember.

There are a few practice slots still available on Thursday and Friday. You do need to be competing to take one of these slots but you do not need to have done the centre assessment, which means they are equally open to those from further afield who haven't had the opportunity to paddle the olympic course before.

Local travel lodge and premier inns still have rooms available so options of places to stay (I think camping is also still available for those hardy souls who can face camping in February and more expensive options in other local hotels for those with the budget).

The officials race is full with a waiting list, so if you have entered as an official and need to drop out, please let us know asap so that we can replace you.

And finally please don't forget to send off for your bib in good time Do it today!

Looking forward to a great weekend!

Fingers crossed we get some more entries for C1W to make it quorat

I've been hoping for this too - There are only 17 ranked in Div 1 C1W - of these 4 have entered in C1. A further four have entered as K1W only (2 as officials, 2 in div 1), so presumably have decided either that they are not confident enough in C1 or just that they want to focus on K1.

It's such a tiny class that I guess turn out will often be low.

For comparison we have 18 K1W entered out of 51 ranked paddlers, 21 out of 40 C1M and 61 out of 10 K1M

So looks like a better turnout from the men in both Canadian and Kayak

..

Just a reminder - if you have an officials place and are no longer able to come then do let us know asap.

I know that because you don't have to pay ££ that you don't get anything for cancelling, but we do need our officials and are relying on you to turn up! There is also a long waiting list that we can call on so please let us know.

Thank you - only a few days to go!

A couple of paddlers have asked whether the course will be up for the practice sessions

The answer is No as this would not be fair on those who are not able to attend a session. The course will go up after the sessions on Friday are complete

Sunday’s course will also be different to Saturday’s

Ros, Paul & Dee

Thanks for an excellent race over the weekend

Thank you to everyone who came and braved the winds to compete and/or help. We couldn’t have done it without you.

Confession: we never thought to add flying chairs and boats to the safety plan!

PS. We had some feedback about the “do not”s on the start list - this was stuff we were required to add by the centre But thank you to everyone for abiding by their rules. Hopefully means we will be back next year

I have flying boats on my safety plan for Tees - had that issue a few years ago.

lesf wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 24, 2020 6:30 pm

I have flying boats on my safety plan for Tees - had that issue a few years ago.

I was more surprised by the chairs than the boats as with slatted seats there was (I thought) less for the wind to get hold of. We had stacked them for extra weight and duck taped them to fixtures but the wind was very determined. I think Michelle nearly got blown in too, but was a bit more determined to resist than the chairs.

We pretty much always have flying boats and chairs at Pinkston, it was already on Chris' Baillie's RA before I took over the div 2!
We don't need a storm, we just have a surprisingly exposed site.
The garden/judging chairs usually sink slowly enough that paddlers can recover them for us, and we usually have spare dry ones in the container
At least our slaloms are in summer, I had quite the scare when I tried to get into my brand new boat on the astroturf at the top of the ramp when it was frozen one day - you cannot see by eye that the flat part actually slopes back towards the concrete steps, you find out halfway into a very shiny new boat!

I'm glad you had a good event. I was originally intending to go but haven't been able to train properly this winter so wasn't up to it. I was also supposed to be organising a WWR on Sunday, although we had to cancel due to excessive water

Wait till you try your new boat on an escalator, be prepared for fun they don't grip, not fun hurtling back down the one at Tees, spinning round and finishing off sideways, fortunately one side of the safety fence end return was missing so I didn't get stuck or damage my boat, just gave it a good thump on the one remaining, last time I went I noticed both are missing.