Press Release

9th November 2008
Hemel Hempstead Canoe Club at the Avon Descent
10 miles with 6 weir shoots - Stratford Upon Avon to Bideford Upon Avon
See picture gallery here

The Avon descent race runs from Stratford upon Avon ten miles along the river to Bidford and is one of the closer to home descent races. Four intrepid paddlers represented HHCC: Robin Oakley and Slasher Preston in wild water racers and Tim Burtwell and Brian Hicken in a touring K2 (Robin's Topo Duo). The river run involves six weir shoots and the choice of boat is key to ensure you get the fastest time down the course. After praying for rain over the end of the week we were rewarded with a river in spate and all of the obstacles could be paddled rather than getting out and running.

Robin (AKA the Keymaster) and Slasher had a considerable conversation about organising a transport at either end of the route. After much deliberating the decision was reached to meet at the finish and swap boats over onto the roof and hotfoot it to the start.

Then after a quick race brief it was time to get on the water. Quite a shock. The river in spate was running fast and making any progress upstream for the touring Canadian boats was tough going. The start had a number of standing waves and trying to maintain a stationary position was somewhat challenging especially for the young K2 crews.

One youngish female crew sat there shipping water and looked terrified by the time they got away. The Double crews went off in a mad headwind and spray flew everywhere. Then the K1 racers and wildwater racers and then touring boats behind. Off the start the flat water racers, with their faster design, had a good advantage and only two WWR boats stayed with them, including our Slasher. He then missed out on the diamond of four boats and struggled to hang on to the leading WWR whilst the K1s bashed ahead trying to catch as many K2s as possible. A special mention to Jan from Leamington Spa and his partner who managed the rough water and conditions in a double high kneeler C2 with only one or two wobbles.

The weirs were a mental barrier as much as physical. The majority of the drops were over washed with water and you simply did not spot them. The three big drops looked awesome though and a number of K2s made the mistake of stopping at the top and worrying about which line to take. Much shouting of "Paddle!" was heard around the weirs as these crews not only stopped themselves but blocked the way for others rapidly queueing up behind.

A considerable descent, big splash and some submarining seemed fairly easy in the WWR boats as they have plenty of volume and a big wing at the back to keep you upright. Still very exciting and lots of other craft were seen swamped! After the weirs "rapids" had developed and you needed to paddle hard till you were past all the waves. Generally the rivers was full of angry swirls and boils and some bends would spin un un-weary.

Slasher was in considerable painafter three miles as he had failed to apply a basic rule - never use someone else's boat. The WWR Dan Corner had kindlylent was gradually cutting off the blood circulation to his legs and whilst the loss of feeling to the feet was a minor problem the pain caused in the hip area was preventing any leg drive and rotation. Halfway down the course he could be seen lying flat on a small pontoon flapping his legs like a fish trying to breathe air. Despite getting out to enliven the limbs he quickly lost feeling again and ran the last big drop with little feeling at all. This was a pity as it was a huge rapid and quite a thrill. No surprise then to be enormously relieved to get over the finish line and get blood flowing again. To his great delight Robin came under the bridge not too far behind and crossed the line in third place.

Slightly disappointingly Robin's first words were, "I've left the car keys back at the start." Words failed Slasher. However fortunately a mate from Leamington gave him a lift back to the start and Robin had to stand and freeze at the finish.

Trekker Tim and Brian made the trip down in the slightly less than aerodynamic Topo Duo in fine style in tough conditions. Then they kindly took pity on keymaster Robin and warmed him up in their car.

Tom Love of Leamington said that he had "Done this trip for donkeys years and he had never seen the river that angry."

So a good day out for the Club with the Hemel snagging second and third spots amid blustery winds and fast water. Next race the Ross Warland challange at Banbury and the opportunity to burn off winter flab - this is a loop so no shuttles or key antics required. The next Descent is the Stour which Robin and Steely Dan are doing.