Saturday 7 Aug
Training's been a tad "light" this week due to...not wanting to. Which is fair
enough but is not going to get me down the 500 at Nottingham any faster....
River is still suffering from down stream pollution incident and lots of
dead fish making the whole place a bit unpleasant (that could've been Karl's
aftershave). Although its likely the pollution itself didn't reach this far
up river the effects certainly have.
Peter's feeling a bit rough and so Tim is Peter and I'm...Neil. Peter
actually sorts his group out quite well and we've got most of the club's K2s
out. The group (about 6 K2s and a sprinkling of K1s) gather at Glovers where Tim gives a small "speech" (he is a politician after all) about the wonders of rotation and how it's changed his life for the better.
Warm-up to Hamertons followed by a bit of a group sort out then a short race. Tim falls in at the start which goes to show coaching and politics don't mix! while he gets back in I give a small(er) speech on rotation (I still haven't read page 2 of the manual) and chuck in the odd (dead) fish spearing & catch stuff. None of it sounds like canoeing which confuses some people but inspires others....
I take the "inspired" lot who may not have understood the technique talk but are quite good at "brawn". So three K2s (Red, Discovery, Green Mystere and a White K2) and I head off for the bridge with the chaps in the Red boat having some steering problems. They never manage to conquer this aspect but sine they still manage to win everything its ok...
A few 500s later and everyone is a bit puffed out. I'm ok coz the K2s kick up a tsunami sized wash which I gratefully perch on. Fab stuff and the girls make a strong showing against the brawn which just goes to show that girls are.....er...y'know...quite nice. Graham (welcome back to the river) makes a brief effort to join the group but finds the pace to hot. His recuperation is going well and he'll soon be quick enough to join the juniors....in their lightnings.....
The groups joins back up and we do a few efforts down to Glovers in which, after a big cheat, I come first....
Gavins Party
It's Cheerio to Gavin (and wife Lisa)....Much BBQ'ing and drinking in their honour plus some excellent speeches with Gavin giving a resume of his (many) exploits during his career including DW triumphs and being the clubs only UK Champion (200M) for some time!! He also recognised the early influence on his career that Trevor and others at the club had made and Trevor, in characteristic good form with his speech, acknowledged some small effort on his part!
Splendid all round with Sean (club Commodore)presenting the, newly inaugurated, Gavin Turrell trophy to Trish Davey for her splendid effort during the last year. The aim is to present the Trophy to the best racing paddler every year.
The Balcony, naturally, supports the Trophy and further suggests a new one: The Balcony Award for the Paddler or club member who, in the opinion of Balcony regulars, has contributed the most to our amusement, awe and suchlike. First award goes to "Peters Shorts" with worthy mentions for "Graham's Body Parts" and "Tim's C2 efforts". The Award will be er...awarded...as and when there are suitable nominees on an ongoing basis. I'm skint so it'll be a virtual award though obviously much prized I imagine?
Tuesday 10 Aug
Spot Trevor on the Raft organising Juniors. His elbow looks like its had a tennis ball surgically implanted in it which is the result of some emergency Junior K4 extraction episode some weeks ago.
Split 500s with Me and Tim in K2 Charmie, Sue and Sarah in K1s. 60/30, 90/30, 90/30, 60 is the split tho' Charmie's watch may have been a bit out coz Tim and I would've gone into terminal cardiac arrest if we'd been doing the 120 strokes/min that I was counting....
After five efforts we're getting a bit ragged and it feels good to here Charmie call the last minute. We celebrate down the pub with a small beer and some grub then I head back to the club with Craig to pick up my gear.
Craig decides to fix the ladies loos and, never one to miss a chance, I take a look round the ladies changing room. While he's fiddling with ball cocks I take a look...Incredibly the place has pictures, houseplants, a full length mirror, basin mirror, hair dryer, is brightly painted and...doesn't smell! This is in direct contrast to the black hole of Calcutta next door A.K.A. the men's changing room. It also has an "abandoned clothes" basket which appears to contain washed, pressed and ironed kit which again is in stark contrast to the similar (in principle) basket that the blokes have. This also contains abandoned kit but usually stuff your average dung beetle would turn its nose up at.
Anyway, Craig finishes his toilet mending duties and then rummages around in the clothes basket for something that'll fit before going home. I do nothing of the sort and deny any wrong doing or anything untoward. Anyway nothing fitted...in my colour.
