2011 News
Canoe Slalom 2012 Rankings
The canoe slalom rankings for the coming season were released at the end of November. A summary of our ranking paddlers is provided to the right. Congratulations again to Matt on his in-season promotion to Division 1 in both the Men's K1 class and the Men's C1 class.
Sowerby Bridge
18/10/11 - The trip to Sowerby Bridge this autumn was, as seems to be traditional for this destination, an eventful weekend. Last time we had Erin managing to lock John’s car keys in his boot, which of course everyone was pleased about. This year, to continue the tradition, Lizzy managed to injure herself warming up before she even got on the water… This affected her performance and kept Ruth busy but it still didn’t stop her from taking first prize in Division 3. Soon after Lizzy’s trip John managed to break his fairly new paddles during practice. Unfortunately they broke towards the end of the course, so we didn't have comedy of John trying to make it down the course paddle-less. As if our luck couldn’t get much better, we soon found out that the water supply was contaminated with petrol at the bunk house, after having off-tasting juice and petrol-smelling showers. Everyone still managed to have a good time though, and it was a successful weekend with Lizzie winning the women's Division 3 K1 class on both days, Joe Kidman winning the men's Division 3 K1 Junior 18 prize on the Saturday, Patrick winning the Division 3 C1 Junior prize on both days, and Katherine being awarded the women's Division 3 K1 Junior prize on both days.
Thanks to Lyn, Craig and Ruth for their support—with catering, transport and nursing!
Katherine Stoner
John at Lee Valley Division 2 Canoe Slalom Competition
Late Summer Slalom Competitions
25/09/11 - Congratulations to Lizzie Collins on her excellent performance at the Rhug canoe slalom competition. She beat all of the other Division 4 competitors by a clear minute, and also beat the winning Division 3 woman by 18 seconds. Impressive. Needless to say, she has earnt promotion to Division 3.
10/09/11 - 2011 saw the Club for the first time being invited to compete at the National Inter-Club Championships. We were up against some of the leading slalom clubs in the country, and we managed to beat five of them!
06/08/11 - Another summer highlight was our outing to the Olympic Venue at Lee Valley, where we competed in a challenging Division 2/3 competition.
Other notable late summer successes include Sam Pateman's promotion to Division 2, and Sam Crosskey's promotion to Division 3. Well done guys. Sam Crosskey is one of seven of our Club to gain national ranking status this year.
Patrick Marriott at the Washburn
Second Place for Sam at Peterborough
10/07/11 - Congratulations to Sam Pateman on his second place at the Orton Mere Division 3 competition on Sunday. A couple more results like this, and he'll be in Division 2!
The Washburn and Cardington
02/07/11 - The weekend of 1st and 2nd July was a very busy one for the Club, with eight members attending canoe slalom competitions at Cardington and the River Washburn in Yorkshire, and another three participating in an evasion hike in the Lake District.
The most notable success was Jamie Pateman's 3rd place, and promotion to Division 3 of the National league at Cardington. At the Washburn we won three prizes on the Saturday. Jake came 8th and won the Junior prize. Mark was awarded the Under 23 prize, and John, the Masters prize.
Matlock Division 4 Canoe Slalom
11/07/11 - Congratulations to Chris Row and Isaac Taylor on their first and second places at the Matlock Division 4 (beginners) national ranking Canoe Slalom competition on Monday. Eleven Scouts and Explorers, competed at this evening event. It was a challenge to get everybody up to Matlock and back in the hours between school and bedtime, but we just about did it! We were awarded a total of six prizes.
Llandysul Division 2/3 Canoe Slalom Competition
22/05/11 - Congratulations to Patrick Marriott on his promotion to Division 2 of the National Canoe Slalom League at Llandysul in May. Klay, Robbie, Patrick and John made the four and a quarter hour journey to Llandysul in South-West Wales to compete in this popular competition. Some heavy rain on the Saturday brought the low water levels up nicely for the Sunday to make an interesting course.
A distant Isaac Taylor at the Matlock Division 4 Canoe Slalom Competition
Bala Division 2/3 Canoe Slalom Competition
Congratulations to Matt Cook on his promotion to Division 1 of the National Canoe Slalom League in both kayak and canoe classes. Good results on Saturday 30th April at Bala gave him the necessary points.
Matt and Sean at Bala
Louis Berridge going for goal!
British Universities Canoe Polo Championships
17/04/11 - Four Break Out members and ex-members were at the British Universities Canoe Polo Championships at Doncaster on 16th and 17th April. Mark Stoner and Luke Smalley were competing for York, Louis Berridge was competing for Bristol and John Jackson for Nottingham Trent. The competition was stiff with some of the top teams in the country being present. Four pitches were created on the lake at Hatfield Water Park in order to enable the completion of scores of matches. The excellent weather and organisation helped to deliver a hugely enjoyable event.
Matt Locked and Loaded!
10/04/11 - Congratulations to Matt Cook on winning the Division 2 C1 event at the Matlock canoe slalom competition on both days. He also won the Under 18 K1 prize on the Sunday and is now on course for promotion to Division 1 of the national league in both C1 and K1 classes at the next competition.
Well done also to Jacob on acheiving his best result of the season, beating John for the first time on the Sunday.
John Stoner
Jake at Sowerby Bridge canoe slalom competition March 2011. Courtesy White Flyer Photography.
Hot Potatoes, Keys, the RAC and a little Paddling..... Sowerby Bridge Division 2/3 Canoe Slalom
19/03/11 - Our third outing to the Sowerby Bridge Division 2/3 canoe slalom competition resulted in a haul of six prizes by our eight competitors. It was a very busy weekend - the competition was full a week beforehand, and the organisers had to return many entries - including one of ours.
Mark and Matt put in some terrific performances in the C2 to come away with a win on the Saturday and a second place on the Sunday, when they were beaten by a boat crewed by two Division 1 K1 paddlers. Matt is now paddling his C1 faster than most of our kayak paddlers! His 102 second run on the Sunday was faster than John in his kayak by two seconds and earnt him a second place and 857 promotion points. Matt also won the Division 2 K1 Under 18 prize on both days and is on course for promotion to Division 1 in both C1 and K1 within a few competitions.
The best Division 3 performance was from Patrick, who came fourth on the Sunday in the Men's K1 and won the under 14 prize. And we mustn't forget Klay, who won the Division 3 Under 18 prize on both days. We won't mention his placings... There were encouraging performances from all of our paddlers, in an unusually high quality field.
This proved to be an unusually difficult slalom to organise, but it was worth it in the end! Thanks to Craig Pateman for towing the trailer and providing the food at the bunkhouse. Hopefully he wasn't put off by the flying baked potatoes... Oh yes, and the keys: I've learnt that keys locked in the boot of my car can't be retrieved; not even by the RAC. So Mr RAC man drove down the M1 to pick up my spares from Erin's Dad, who had earlier retrieved them from my house. A slightly later night than I had been expecting...
John Stoner