River Loddon Slalom
Dawn writes:
On Sunday Mirkka, Jon and I went to the River Loddon slalom for the day.
Happily we picked the sunniest and warmest day of another washed out bank
holiday weekend and we all came back with pink noses!
Jon had collected the
boats the evening before, allowing an early start, which meant that we were
on the water before the throng. It was 18 gates on fairly gentle moving
water in an idyllic leafy setting. The last four gates were on the
downstream side of a bridge, so we had two shoots to contend with but after
the Yat that didn’t intimidate us much. I do have to admit, though, that I
was almost fooled by a tricky eddy line at gate 16 on a couple of occasions.
After benefitting from Jon’s wisdom for a while, Mirkka and I signed up for
some tuition from the slalom specialists. Mirkka was put in Rick’s group,
while I went with Nigel. Each group worked on a section of the course (2-3
gates) for approximately 20 mins before moving onto the next section.
Nigel’s advice before we even started was that we should always be
anticipating the next gate and looking for it as we go through the previous
one. He encouraged me to use deeper strokes and to reach right through the
gate to do a big sweep to get me round the poles. One problem I experienced
was that I was worrying about the gates too much and trying not to hit them.
Nigel suggested that I concentrate more on getting the position and strokes
right and worry about not hitting the gates later.
Once training was over it was time for the races to begin. We didn’t
compete, although Mirkka turned down an opportunity to join a div 4 team.
Instead we watched from the bridge as events unfolded. The first run was a
bit of a shambles, as some of the better teams were started too soon
resulting in a traffic jam at the end of the course. And with a bridge
blocking the view, there were a few collisions. The Islington Boat Club
were out in force, and there were a few tantrums but also some impressive
shows of camaraderie within their ranks. We may also have seen some stars
of the future in action, as a couple of the youngsters were members of the
GB junior team.
With the races over, before heading home, we took advantage of the quiet
waters to try a few complete runs and put into practice what we’d learnt.
After repeatedly missing gate 18 during training, I actually made it through
without having to go back for it 2 out of 3 times so that was very
encouraging. All in all a constructive day out and fun too, in spite of
temporary leg paralysis and sore bums. We arrived back at Jubilee at about
7, stored the boats and then parted ways. On Monday morning I woke up
aching in muscles that I’d forgotten existed! Cheers Nigel!
Thanks to Jon and Mirkka for your pleasant company, even if Jon did keep
shouting ‘You’re crap!’ during the training session. Thanks also to Jon for
sorting out the boats and driving down, I’ll sort you out some petrol money
next time I see you.