Thameside 2 - RACE DAY

The weather had certainly closed in but as we arrived at the club there was no sign of the forecast winds.

The organisers should be congratulated on their focus on the safety of competitors which involved scoring paddlers abilities to cope with conditions and a full clothing (kit) check, support crew check and boat scrutineering. The race was to go ahead but under red boards on account of the increased river flow.

A bit of hanging around in the Rivermead car park meant frequent visits to the loo and Lee falling over in the mud!

We opted for the first start slot at 10:30 and lined up with what must have been 40 - 50 boats of all shapes and sizes. Our start was slow but safe, this unfortunately meant we had to contend with quite extreme wash put up behind the other boats.

After lots of slap strokes to keep us upright we made the first portage at Reading Lock and joined a queue of boats to portage, Matt did well with the current and soon got us onto a good line down the Dreadnought Reach and we began to overtake the fleet without other boats passing us.

We did the same in the Sonning to Shiplake pound, but got caught in a three boat queue at the put in, you join the main river at the put in and the water was screaming by, Matt's navigation was spot on and we were soon making ground on other boats.

At Marsh we encountered a late surge from a K2 on our inside who we had overtaken leading up to the lock and they blagged the portage right, however we ran past this same boat on the run over the footbridge to the put in area. It was here we saw Matt's family for a bottle change and quick mouthful of flapjack and we were back off towards Henley Bridge, welcoming shouts from other RCC spectators added to our motivation at this point.

On the Henley mile whilst windy we did not get the extreme wind forecast and we paddled up to John and Catherine and then slipped slightly ahead, John gave several technique tips all teh while saying how much they enjoyed sitting in our wash; however through better boat control they reached the Hambledon lock slightly ahead. Nick Daniel's was marshalling this lock and gave us the welcome news that there were only five boats ahead of us, whaich was great considering we had slipped almost to the back of the fleet at the start. More flapjack at the put-in then Matt navigated us through really tricky flows with a massive push from the weirpool entering to our left forcing the boat towards the bank and obstructions. The next pound to Hurley felt very odd indeed like we were paddling on boiling water with current coming directly up at the hull.

At Hurley we had to wait for a K4 to get in at the put in point and we had another top up of sweets from Lee's family.

On through Temple lock and now jus one more portage to go, no dramas through Marlow Lock keeping well over the the left away from the weir then a very tricky turn into the right hand side channel under the Marlow by-pass bridge to the finish.

We had a great welcome from our families, and Simon, Sandra and Michael Jeffs who had come down from Marlow to welcome us home.

Our time was: 2:12:49 seconds which was significantly quicker than our K1 times of the summer when we stopped above Marlow Lock in 3 hours, three factors; river flow, K2 boat speed, and I think we are getting better!! We were placed in 4th position in the veteran K2 class.

A great race, we learned several lessons, and many thanks indeed to our support crew, Mel and the kids and Debbie and Daniel for reaching Hurley in time.

Eyes down for another week of training and the Waterside 3 race on Sunday 7th March.........

Thameside 2 Weekend

The past weekend was spent preparing (Saturday) and racing (Sunday) in the Thameside 2 race organised by the Reading Canoe Club which is a race of some 18 miles downstream from Caversham Bridge to the Longridge scout base below Marlow Lock.

The Saturday preparation went well, Matt was in the front of the boat and we elected to take the boat on a downstream run to Sonning Lock and return against the flow.

The river was rising significantly although the forecast for Sunday was even more ominous, with 40 mph winds and heavy rains.

We did well downstream and return although the flow was certainly having an effect on the boat.

A quick final check of the boat and off home to be ready for race day.

Here's mud in yer eye...

Matt and Lee pushed off from the club early today in single seat K1 kayaks to do two laps of what Reading Canoe Club refer to as the time trial club circuit, which is essentially a 5 km loop heading upstream to an island called the fisheries, then back all the way to Piper's Island beyond Caversham Bridge downstream before turning to head back upstream.

It was good to be back on the water together albeit in different boats.

We did 6 minute efforts with 1 minute rest (slow paddle) throughout the circuit.

The first loop was uneventful, but on the second lap Lee had been hogging the bank line (less current and basically cheating) and he was whacked in the eye by a very elastic low hanging branch which flicked off the paddle. After several expletives and concern from Matt we cracked on together to finish the second lap.

WeBoth agreed the efforts were hard and this session we will now do twice a week amongst other activities as we approach the race day.

No lasting damage, although for one moment Lee thought he would be completing the DW with an eye patch! And on account of the amount of spinach his wife is now feeding him would be rivaling the character below.

Back in the gym, the river, the road

Matt is back, and it is good to have him back, the K1 sessions over the weekend are good for balance and fitness but there is nothing quite like powering up and down the river pointing out the wildlife and asking the helm to avoid the anglers while Matt battles to keep course with the tiller.

We had a good session in the gym with other club members last night and a strong pyramid session this morning before work on the ergos in the club. Our technique must be improving because our arms no longer fatigue just our abs from rotating the trunk. This is not a picture of us (yet!)

Water sessions are planned on Thursday and Friday morning then preparing the K2 Condor on Saturday with another Thames based session ready for the Thameside 2 race from Reading to Marlow, the river is flowing very fast and we have been advised to dress for the occasion and expect a fast run on Sunday, there will be mass class starts so in the veterans (us!) we suspet there will be twenty odd boats lining up on the Thames screaming down to Reading lock for the first portage.

Should any of you be around this weekend, there are a few vantage points along the route, notably the footpath in Henley downstream towards Temple Island.

We keep mentioning this but donations are just pouring in by the day, it is absolutely marvelous, thank you one and all for your support.

Welcome to the blog and thank you for all the donations

Welcome to the newest followers of the blog, from the South Coast.

The donations keep pouring in and with the Gift Aid we are now well over £3,000 which is a fantastic sum thank you all very much indeed.

Lee joined the club session today in a K1 and had a good run keeping in touch with stronger club paddlers back from Mapledurham to the clubhouse.

The boat club is all DW talk at the moment with another new crew to club joining to refine their technique with just 40 days to go now to the big event.

Lots of people now are enquiring after our expected DW time, we think we will stick to 24 hours as a target as this is a mammoth event and neither of us will have experienced anything like it before.

Will write more soon.

Well done Matt - Thameside 1

I picked Matt up very early, the Atkins nerves had set in early this morning and he was up at the crack of dawn sorting the boat out then rv at Matt's house, whilst we awaited Debbie's arrival.

After nearly losing the clutch in Debbie's car on the way over we arrived in good time for check in.

The course we had run a few times before and our record was 1:55.

The rolling start caused Lee to get the jitters having not been in the front seat for a month or so, none the less after losing out on the start to a neighbouring pair of K2's who we knew to be much faster we got into our stride.

Portages were ok although I think Matt has them down to a "T" we overtook some slower and then not some slower boats.

Debbie was a welcome sight at Burghfield, two squares of flapjack stuffed in our mouths and we were off again, it was pretty hard to digest but I am sure it worked.

We came up behind John and Katherine from Reading just before Fobney and squeezed past them, encouraging words from Katherine and then Lee sat back in the mud on the put-in some helpful words from John about our rudder being in the mud and we pulled away again.

Shortly after the M4 bridge a faster Reading Junior K2 were on our tail, cat and mouse for the following five or so bends and then they showed the newbies (us) how it is done giving a few paddling tips as they sailed by.

We did keep them in our sights all the way to the finish though and Matt called the last 500m brilliantly, no grunting just driving every last knot out of the boat and us.......

We have just checked the web-site to find that we are third in class and absolutely over the moon, well done Matt who is still suffering from a cold.

1st was 1:43:23 2nd was 1:45:08 and we were 32 seconds behind them!! The new kids on the block are here to stay!

It was great to see Matt's family and Debbie at the finish I am sure this is going to make a huge difference to us on the event.

The sponsorship keeps rolling in thank you all it really spurs us on.

Lee and Matt

Thameside 1 Aldermaston to Reading Canoe Club

Matt was under the weather for the last two days so my activity was limited to running.

We spent the afternoon in the boat shed with Matthew helping to clean the hull and sand down the nicks in the rudder, we have also lined the area beneath the footplates with aluminium high speed tape to stop our heels wearing through the hull.

A quick call on Matt and he is up for the race tomorrow.

Our record for the course is 1:55 in the club condor, we have not yet run the course in our boat.

Debbie is supporting us tomorrow, and Lee will be skipper so bow down!!

Thank you everybody for your support with the sponsorship rolling in sometimes by the hour, it is fantastic, thank you each and every one of you.

Will post results tomorrow.