The "Mighty Nene" 2005 Freestyle event:Thanks to a
last minute change of plans we found ourselves heading away from Germany
and Kanu Messe and towards the "Mighty Nene" freestyle event
on |
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The "Mighty Nene" 2005 Freestyle event:Thanks to a
last minute change of plans we found ourselves heading away from Germany
and Kanu Messe and towards the "Mighty Nene" freestyle event
on |
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| Okay, those of you that know the whitewater centre at the Nene will no that it is no Lachines, Hawaii Sur-Rhone, Zambezi etc…. BUT that’s what is great about it. For many it provides a safe learning environment in which you can progress your paddle skills rather than using all your energy simply trying to survive! | |||
 
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| This years event was organised by Jackson Kayak paddler and all-round good egg Chris Chapman and his able assistants (too many to name)! The event was supported by ourselves, Soulboater, Streamlyte paddles, Tradewinds (“the Outdoor Specialist” / local retailer), Peak UK, the guy from Lambs to the Water and…. Well I think that was about it!?!? | |||
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Chris challenged Glenn Burgess to enter the intermediate event (perhaps in revenge for the fact that Glenn spends most of his time at most events picking on the Jackson paddlers)! Glenn took up Chris’s challenge, his first ever competition, and was very pleased when he was informed that he was drawn in the same heat as a number of top boaters including Alan Ward…. Well, Glenn did us proud and came 18th in the intermediate category, thanks to a combination of cartwheels / splitwheels and perhaps just a little bit of luck! We put together a short movie which includes both Glenn’s runs as well as a few other clips of our boats in action which is available here. The movie starts with a brief clip of Glenn in the Pintail on the NRA wave (Trywern) but other than that it’s all, Nene, Nene, Nene!!! We’d have to say that this was the most fun even that we’ve done this year. It wasn’t that much of a bind to get to the event and we all got to paddle (which is rarely the case) so we were all happy. |
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Thanks to all those involved for oranising a really great event. We hope that we'll be invited along next year to show that Jackson boys how (not) to party! PS: Glenn’s wife Angela surprised everyone including herself by winning the Novice ladies event and winning a Mountain Surf spraydeck so that was very cool! |
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Open Day (Southwater Water Sports Centre)As soon as we'd finished deling with the tidying up following the event at the Nene we were preparing for the next. On Saturday 24th September we rolled along to the open day at Southwater Water Sports Centre (just south of Horsham, West Sussex). The shop at Southwater and the associated watersports centre were taken over by new management earlier this year and the new guys are working hard to build up a really good shop for paddlers in the local area. We’ve been working with them from the start and were very pleased to offer our support when they said that they were thinking about running an open day as they have a really picturesque setting in which to run such an event. We supported the event, along with the crew from Jackson kayaks and a couple of paddlers from the System X / Liquid Logic team and had a great day. Here's looking forward to an even BIGGER and BETTER event next year!..... |
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