ll&ION NIVI AND •11v1
No.6 SEPTEMBER 1983 PRICE 50p
Coaching• The Ultimate Run• Central Paddle,rs interests of all aspects at the sport. Obviously careful consideration must be given to I I I • the role such an officer would play taking into account the varied needs of flatwater and Official magazine of Why? whitewater canoeing. the British Canoe Why was Feedback sent to all Union Slalom slalom registered clubs? At the Committee To be effective such a position 45-47 High Street, Slalom A.G.M. in November would have to be supported Addleston, Weybridge, 1982 it was agreed that within each discipline by a Surrey. KT151JV Feedback should be adopted as coaching structure similar to The views expressed in the official magazine of the the one proposed by Hugh this magazine are not Slalom committee. It was hoped Mantie at the National necessarily those of the that all slalom registred clubs Coaching Conference. A full BCU Slalom Committee would help to sell 'Feedback'. time National Coach should be or,of the Editor. To this end five copies of each Reproduction of all or appointed now for slalom to any part of the issued of 'Feedback' have been work with the National Team, to magazine may only be sent to slalom registred clubs decide coaching policy and undertaken through for them to sell to their development, keep in touch written permission from members. with research, attend publishers. conferences, train part-time Editor Where? National Coaches and to liase Richard Fox Where are the copies of with the Canoe Union 154, Lichfield Road, 'Feedback' now? Only 43 clubs Committees. Within two years Stone, Staffs. have refund or paid for their ST15 SPY we should have nine part-time Tel.(0785)817016 copies of 'Feedback', so 114 National Coaches operating with• still have the copies or the in the regions ensuring that Treasurer money. ·· Dave Morgan there is coaching at club level. 8, High Park Drive, The present team coaching Bradford, 804 6HS When? structure should continue with Subscriptions at £4.00 When will I get the money for the notable exception that for 6 issues post paid the copies which the clubs realistic remuneration for and club supplies have? £500 is outstanding. Has expenses and a coaching fee available from this your club returned the money address. be offered. or copies of 'Feedback' which it Typing: received? We need to find £16 - 20,000 Stephanie Mawdsley per year to operate such a Lay-Out: Dave Mawdsley How? scheme. The coaching sub• Results: Can you get a copy of committee of the slalom Simon Ford 'Feedback' regularly? You can executive should have its first Design: either take out a subscription ever meeting and.face the reality Tony Tickle yourself £4.00 for 6 issues (this of the situation. We are 20 includes postage) or get your years behind other sports in our club secretary to order them coaching policy and we rely on All copy for next issue to (this method makes a profit for a few top performers and the editor by Saturday, 1st your club.) goodwill of our coaches to October, 1983. achieve results. BD96HS A recent working party reporting to the Sports The probability of a slalom Front cover photo - Management Committee were centre at Nottingham is 'Paddles Up' - told that Sports Council had increasing and canoeing Camera eye view. agreed to the appointment of an continues to receive good Courtesy of BBC publicity Assistant Director of Coaching publicity - we need to do department. to cover the competitive something now to avoid stagnation. FEEDBACK Page 1
Book· Review The Ultimate Run (ONIINII William T Endicott, US Team Coach
Book Review ...... 1 Feedback Information. ... 2 International Round up .... 4 :_.
Interview . .,.._ -~. _. , _,.Ni'..,_ ., Central Paddlers 9 echnique Tips 10 .. ,· .,~- '· ':,. . _,,.. Jez's Jottings . .... 12 ' Advanced Paddling , .--1 Techniques. 13 411~ Publicity 16 .£~ The Ult.imate Run is a progression Problem Page ...... 17 from Bill Endicott's previous text, Letters ..... 18 'To Win the Worlds'. It focuses in much greater detail on a few selected Appointment of themes from the earlier book such as NATIONAL COACH gate techniques, physical and psych• Applications are invited for the following ological principles, preparing a position yearly training plan, ·and types of A NATIONAL COACH to develop the provision of coaches for Slalom workouts. The second part of the Competitors book deals exclusively with case The methods by which the National Coach studies of eleven top slalomists in carries out the policy will be left very much in his/her hands, although being responsible to which their entire paddling careers the BCU Council through the Director of are examined. Coaching and the National Coaching · Committee in co-operation with the Slalom Committee. The Endicott attention to detail is Such a National Coach would be expected to characterised throughout, especially attend conferences held in conjunction with the work, particularly the National Coaching and in the chapter on paddling techniques. meetings. Here he theorises on a variety of The successful candidate will be employed methods for tackling what he calls part-time at a remuneration-of £500 per annum against which expenses may be placed from 'the 30-40 key moves in slalom'. It the point of view of Income Tax. Any further is best as a reference section used increments which maybe earned as a result of the appointment will in no way affect the to relate to individual experiences above arrangements. in training and competition. Although Applications it is hard to visualise some of the No application forms are being issued. Letters of application, which should include a summary situations while reading the book, of relevant experience and qualifications, . unless that is, the text is strap9ed together with the names and addresses of two persons to whom reference may be made, to the deck of a boat on the river, should be sent to: the intricate analysis and reference The Chairman, BCU National Coaching to top paddlers' techniques should Committee, Flexel House, 45/47 High Street, make us all think a little more deep• Addlestone, Weybridge, Surrey, XT1 5 1 JV. ly about what we are doing, or at least trying to do. Page 2 FEEDBACK
In the chapter on training principles year. The Executive will nominate Endicott has succeeded in translat• selection events as :.J1he primary ing some fairly complex physiological choice. There have been recent theory into practical terms for the allegations within the flatwater coach and paddler. Particularly world that competitors have taken useful are the sample workouts based drugs, but the furthest any slalom• on the training plans of elite padd• ist is likely to go is sniffing lers. Most of these can be readily Evostik while padding out a boat. adapted to suit the readers training Access environment. The background of some of these top The Herts Association of Canoe Clubs, p~ddlers like Norbert Saffler, acting for BCU have successfully Richard Fox and Jean Yves Prigent concluded a limited access agreement is exposed in the case studies at with London Anglers Association for the end of the book. Here for me the use of the Dobbs Weir during the the most interesting piece was the fishing season. two separate accounts of Jon Lugbill and Davey Hearn at the Bala Worlds. Canoeing is allowed only:
So, if whatever you want to learn - Wednesdays 12.30-17~30 - organised about slalom at the top level isn't groups in Feedback, then order a copy of - 1st Saturday/3rd Sunday each month The Ultimate Run. There is no guar• 08.00-:-12.00 (No Sundays in October, antee that you will actually achieve December, February). this ideal but it is well worth having a go. - The weekends 15/16 October 1983, 17/18 December 1983, 11/12 February Copies available shortly from Pyranha 1984 Watersports Centre, Preston Brook - When unfishable conditions .are Marina, Runcorn, Cheshire. agreed by LAA to exist - 15 March - 15 June at any time
Canoeists must have numbered BCU/HACC identifying stickers (apply T Charnb~s tel:_ Bishops Stortford 724081), wee..._ buoyancy aids, crash helmets and have INIO full buoyancy in canoes. Advance notice of use is required. Solo Buoyancy Aids canoeing is prohibited. A motion for the AGM is to be pre• Canolf an Tryweryn pared concerning the standard for The National White Water Centre has buoyancy aids together with a seen a heavy programme of slaloms date of implementation. Meanwhile throughout the summer, including two George Davis, the Tryweryn officer, on the same weekend in July. The hot has been asked to make available weather has resulted in more water testing equipment for competitors releases than normal to supplement to check their own boats and the Dee and Plas y Brenin took advan• buoyancy aids. tage of one such release to tackle the. river on a raft. They capsized Drugs in the stopper unde r the first bridge. The Sports Council are anxious that For the first time a slalom will be slalom should take part in drug test• held on the Graveyard section. The ing and take responsibility for org- event is the Welsh Open on anising c aying for testing next 3/4 September. FEEDBACK Page 3
ICF Rule Changes Superstar
The response to the questionnaire A date has yet to be finalised with distributed on this subject was dis• Brian Hooper and the BBC for the appointing in a number of areas sporting celebrity to compete at a perhaps most of all in the total of Novice Slalom this autumn. The film• seven replies received from the 240 ing is for a series on introducing ·Di vision 1 and Premier paddlers. Up well known faces to minor sports. until the World Championships some So far Brian has been filmed capsizing 300 replies spelled out the message on the Dee above Llangollen, and prac• loud and c Lea.r , "The ICF proposals tising on gates at Stone with World are not welcome." Champion Richard Fox. Holme Pierrepont Following the first test slalom in Good news came .out of a Sports Council Bourg St Maurice, France the rules meeting shortly after the successes for the test events at Augsburg and of our team in Merano. The ASCOT Lofer were altered. The new format project has been put on their 1985 consisted of 25 gates of standard Capital Development Programme. Not 1.2m width and the existing penalty so good was the reported total of system; there were no designated £7,000 raised in response to the May reverse gates. There will be a Day Paddle. Officials from Nottingham Special General Meeting on Saturday, City and County Councils, together 17 September at 11.00 am at Holme with Ron Emes flew to Augsburg to Pierrepont, Nottingham to discuss study the Olympic course. the implications of these slaloms and any new proposals. Make sure Judging Standards your club has registered its Dales Canoe Club organised a Judges interest and is represented. exam at the Washburn Division 3 in Europa Cup 1984 July. Of the twenty entrants only four obtained the maximum 20 points The ICF published a provisional needed to achieve Grade C judging calendar for 1984 at the World Champ• standard. ionships. The Europa Cup events were Discipline decided as Liptovsky Mikulas, Czech• oslavakia 9/10 June and Bourg St The Executive has expressed growing v\aurice, France 11/12 July. The Pre• concern at the number of incidents World Championships at Augsburg will relating to bad behaviour at slaloms. be held on 16/17 June. France have A motion will hopefully be presented been provisionally awarded the World at the AGM regarding "bringing the Championships for 1987 and Sweden sport into disrepute". Perhaps a have put a bid in for 1989. yellow and red card offence system could also be established. Red card Paddles Up offenders would take an early bath. Well, I'm sure you all tuned in and Fosters. lnternatlenal while some may have their reserva• tions about the purity of it all Our sponsors have doubled their money the signs are that it was a success. for this year's event. The Czechs, Rumours from Pebble Mill suggest Germans, French and Swedes have said that Cliff Morgan, Head of Outside they will send their top paddlers, Broadcasts, was very pleased and while Americans Lugbill and Hearn apart from the possibility of a are also likely to attend. BBC are repeat of this series there is a again to film this event for Grand• chance for further filming next stand. Contact your regional repres• year. Your suggestions as infor• entative for details of selection med observers are welcome, please events (address page 7 in the write to the Editor. Yearbook). Page 4 FEEDBACK
INTERNATIONAL ROUND UP
It has been a busy season for many of Bourg St Maurice the senior team starting with a high• ly competitive series of events in The following weekend May 28/29, the Czechoslovakia in May. B team competed at Bourg St Maurice. They used the team minibus for trans• Liptovsky Mikulas port and were unable to leave until it arrived back from Czechoslovakia. The ten- day training camp and three Nevertheless they were there in time days of competition were excellent for a bit of practice. Mike Dauce preparation for Merana. In Liptovsky produced an excellent result to Mik'ulas the Czechs have made excell• finish 3rd in his first Class A ent use of limited resources to pro• international. The French occupied duce two artificial courses which the first two places with the Prige converge after 300m and provide a brothers, Jean-Yves and Christophe variety of training opportunities. paddling a new boat with a truncated During our stay there one new session bow and extended stern. Graham Ln t roduce d to the team was a flat out Gladwin finished 13th and Russ Smith Grand Prix spring from start to fin• 18th. ish totally irEelevant. It's good fun and it hurts! Fox, Sharman and In Cl Rob Black gained valuable Hedges won their respective events experience in his first international while Jim Dolan began to produce Jane Wilson finished 7th and.Sue Ward some strong consistent paddling and 11th in the Ladies. finished 7th overall. One of the Part of the reason for attending this surprises of this event was the event was to compete in the ICF test defeat our girls suffered at the slalom. Our paddlers, along with hands of an East German team. many other teams, boycotted this event after practice runs and in doing SYLVIE ARNAUlJ ot i-rance at Liptovsky so caused an international incident. What they saw as a test slalom was completely unacceptable as an alteL tive to slalom as we know it and however unfortunate their action may appear new proposals were adopted for Augsburg and Lofer.
World Championships at Merana The team preceded this event with a three day training camp on the River Sauna at Landeck. The spring snow melt had filled the river to provide very demanding training, most paddlers were relieved to arrive at Merana where it was easy to adapt to the RELATIVELY slower water.
knowledge as paddlers openly practised the moves on the training gates. The British, such great upholders of sporting fairness, and Americans pro• tested and a new course was drawn up with all the desperation that a guilty committee could muster. There was no apparent need to let com• petitors view the course before prac• tice as it took the erection team sev• eral attempts to position and reposi• tion each gate. There is no truth in the rumour that the Executive thought of deranking the event, though they might have brought in our own team £ram Bala to put things right. The first day's events saw the ladies and Cl's compete. The girls were off first and had little opportunity to look at the course and even less to LUGBILL- Incredible watch anyone on it. I remember seeing presentation and a roll on first run, first runs on the top part of the however, left Bushy with too much to course and being impressed by the agg• do. Lugbill true to form led after ression of the French girls, no grace first runs by twelve seconds. He or style but the boat was invariably appears to have controlled some of his in the right place with plenty of revs. animal power into smoother, more con• In fact only Liz produced a better trolled technique this year, but still first run than Grange and Arnaud, goes incredibly fast. The chase was paddling clear to take the lead by 4 on during second runs and Lugbill seconds with a time of 234.18. The was the only one of the top eight race was far from over however. Jane not to improve. Hearn was down on Roderick produced her best form of the splits at the halfway stage and the season paddling particularly well though he paddled well at the bottom on the top section before slowing up he could not pull back enough and a fraction and collecting a five at finished a second down to take silver gate 26. Her total was 236.34, enough for the third time. Bobh this year for second place. Sue again had·prob• and at Bala in '81 he has missed win- lems on both runs and finished a dis• .ning by a narrow margin and must be appointing 24th, while Gail Allen rose the greatest competitor ever not to to the occasion reducing her ·time by have won an individual gold. While two seconds to 239.93 and collecting Bushy failed to deliver what his form a solitary five to finish sixth in her promised Pete Kean paddled the best first Worlds. Liz had comfortably put race of his career, and according to down on paper what everyone already unconfirmed reports his last. Joze knew, that she is the best in the Vidmar of Yugoslavia was the surprise world. Her second run was seven sec• bronze medallist, beating Pete Keane onds faster than her first and but for by a mere 11 hundredths of a second. a gentle touch on gate 11 her win One other pleasing thing to note about would have been more convincing. our Cl's was that they all had a time fast enough to place in the top five. The Cl event promised to be exciting For Jez Taylor, 17th, and Pete Bell, in practice. Martyn Hedges was very 23rd, there is plenty to go away and close on the Americans and indeed work with, knowing that they were not faster on some of the splits. Wrong so far away as the results suggest. Page6 FEEDBACK At the end of the first day it was a at gate 11, while silver medallist gold and silver each for Britain and at Bala, Lubos Hilgert, had a drea• America. Throughout the day the river ded water touch penalty which drop• had continued to drop leaving it at ped him from second to seventh, his the lowest level since 1976. The pro• brother Ivan was 11th. spect for the following day was for slower times and battered boats. In the C2 event there was more hot competition. The Garvis brothers were W±th practice runs and competition favourites to retain their title but runs on the same day, it was for us were challenged strongly by their similar to competing at home. The American team mates, Fritz and Lecky fact that Jim Dolan, Paul Mcconkey Haller, and the Calori brothers from and myself went off in succession France who led after first runs. The made everything even more familiar. Hallers had been unlucky to hit gate Unfortunately Roger Manwaring was 28, left swinging by a crew in front, unable to compete, spending the week• but on second runs they cleaned up end in Innsbruck hospital having his with a time of 246.33 to win. The appendix removed. Caloris repeated their first run almost to the letter (consistent times Jim and Conk returned the same time of among the C2's were a feature of this 218 seconds, although only Jim was race) and took second place in 248.47 clear, leaving him in 10th place. We ahead of the Garvis in their 21 pound had thought that the main threat would honeycomb boat. Of our crews Jamie• come from the Czechs and Germans, but son and Williams were the best in 7th the Yugoslavs, also, looked good in place. They had the fourth fastest practice. As it turned out all three time and were in contention for a countries produced good results. medal but two touches saw them drop Prijon and Micheler had good runs to in what is now a very tough class. put them in second and third, two Smith and Smith collected one five seconds behind FAC with Cizman, the on each run but lacked the pace to young Yugoslav in 4th. The results finish higher than 16th, 5 seconds were close and at the time I thought behind them were Joce and Owen. it was still wide open for second runs. America had retained her supremacy In fact out of the top ten only Jim in the Canadian classes while we h and I improved our scores. Jim did sewn up the kayak events and now enough to retain his position while looked to the team races for more others like Saffler and West Germans medals. Prijon and Micheler ended up committ• ing big errors in their search for Our ladies individually are the stro• speed. I was satisfied with my ngest in the world but have yet to second run of 207.18, leaving me four pool their efforts successfully as a seconds up on Prijon, but Conk unfort• team. Lack of confidence in each unately did not find his form and other's ability and, in some cases, although he reduced his penalties on their own caused avoidable errors second runs to 5 he finished 29th. lost them the gold medal to the We had great support from the crowd, French. Once they had recovered it was really uplifting and made the from a bad time error on second runs effort on the day seem worthwhile. they relaxed and paddled as a unit but could not make up the time diff• Despite John Gosling's comments on erential and finished 15 seconds down 'Paddles Up' age hasn't deterred in second place. Norbert Saitler, who at 32 finished 5th in his eighth world championship. The Cl's too have had problems in the His team mate, Edi Wolffhardt, fared past operating as a team, but on this less well - he clislocated his shoulder occasion their second run with Jez FEEDBACK Page 7 Taylor taking the lead from Bushy The C2 team event caught my eye as I earned them a bronze, and but for a walked up from the finish. In C2 pad• dubious five what could have been dling everything seems to be measured, silver. The Americans were favourites it has to be because it is such a long and their margin of victory was some slog. When the British came through 27 seconds, giving Ian Lugbill his they looked smooth, well spaced and in sixth World Championship gold medal. control. For a moment I thought they had measured out a repeat performancii e of their Bala run. But not to be, they had to settle for bronze with two five second penalties behind the Czechs and Americans. On reflection it was the best every performance by a British team, from six paddlers represented at Skopje in 1975, we had progressed to winning seven med• als, three of them gold. As a team we should not forget the part the coaches and management have played in securing this success, nor the help of paddlers and friends at home. Thanks, we appreciate it. See you in '85. Youth Teams The Youth A Team successfully contin• ued their domination of the kayak events In the period leadingup to the Worlds at Spittal on 2/3 July. The best per• things had not gone too well for the formances were put in by Rob Wright and kayaks as a team. Our first training Cla±re Pallett who won their respective session resulted in a bruised set of events. Bronze medals were won by Rob ribs and a sinking boat. At Bala two Welsh and Vember Mortlock. In fact weeks before out times did not appear four of out men's Kl's were placed ±n to be quite fast enough to win and the top six and this depth of tal.ent was with the stiff opposition of the Ger• shown clearly in the team results with mans and the Czechs, who had blown us Wright, Welsh and Copeland winning, away earlier in Liptovsky Mikulas we Arrowsmith, Nelson and Oldfield placed were far from favourites even in our third. Unfortunately Karen Davies was own eyes. First runs only seemed to unable to compete due to an attack of confirm this. What we recorded was appendicits and the ladies team was not ten penalties, tu~ned into 20 and we contested. were four seconds slower than the Germans. The team work had been Purucznik, Deacon and Brain under the good on this run, however, and with tuition of Martyn Hedges recovered from Conk happily on form we knew we mediocre placings in the individual could produce a better run. I think event to take first position in the team each of us knew what we had to do and race. just wanted to get on with it. At the Apart from the competition the 12 day finish Conk exploded into a scream and tour included two training stops at we all knew it had been a good run. Augsburg with coaches, Neil Baxter, The agonising part of it was waiting Julia Harling and Susan Small. This was for the other teams yet to come. The the sixth consecutive year British teams Germans had a faster time but they had have w9n medals at this event and the penalties too. We had beaten them presence of the team has been commemor• into second place by three seconds and ated each year since 1979 with an auto• the Czechs into third. graphed team helmet. Paqe B FEEDBACK Augsburg and Loter The senior team wound up the major part of its summer programme with a trip to Augsbury and Lofer at the end of July. With the team finances suf• fering post Worlds depression this was a low budget trip but in spite of this there were still some excellent results. At Augsburg 23/24 July our ladies finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd, Liz I SOBEL GRANT at Seo Sharman leading Sue Garriock and Jane Wilson. Sue injured her shoulder on Shortly after the completion of this trip the Youth B Team was in action at her second run and was unable to cc; Seo d'Urgell in the Spanish Pyrenees pete further. Hedges and Taylor f~ near Andorra. Raspin, Crosbee and ished first and fourth in the Cl's Harrison cleaned up the junior event and there were good results too in convincingly taking 1st, 2nd and 3rd. the C2 event with Jamieson and Willi• In the youth class Wheadon and Green ams taking first and an encourag.ing took second and third places behind performance by Walling and Ambridge Ralph Rhein of Swit~erland. There was in 5th place. The kayaks were dis• no separate youth event for our'- - appointing, and with the absence of girls and the best performance was Dolan and Fox only Russ Smith broke by Penny Briscoe who's twenty penalty into the ~op 20. The winner of the second run won her third place, 32 kayak event was Austrian, Andi seconds behind the winner, Viv Gold• Wolffhardt, World silver medallist, ing from Australia. Ishbel Grant Toni Prijon was second. and Tina Arrowsmith were close behind in fourth and fifth. Simon Warden At Lofer the following weekend Liz was the Youth Cl representative again showed her class winning this finishing 10th in the Cl senior event time from Susanne Erbers. Gail Allen Ahead of him were Philip Russell from finished third to take her first Oswestry,6th, and Dave Rolands from international medal at this level., Chalfont Park, 7th, competing as Jez Taylor came close to winning tl. seniors. Graham Gladwin and Melvyn Cl event, but had to settle for sec• Jones took 2nd and 3rd places in the ond place behind Jean Salame of senior Kl event behind New Zealander France. Our C2's failed to repeat Donald Johnstone. their successes at Augsburg the previous week, on the high water at Lofer. Smith and Smith were the best placed in 6th. This time Mcconkey was the best placed kayak in 14th with Mike Druce 23rd. As usual the Austrian kayaks produced good results taking three out of the first four places. Norbert Saffler won the event A test slalom was held after the main event at each competition. The gene• ral impression from paddlers was that while they were 100% better than Bourg St Maurice test slalom, there still appeared to be no apparent justi• fication for making a change. FEEDBACK Page9 His answer was typical of his forth• Central Paddlers right attitude towards his beliefs and opinions, no beating around the Interview for Feedback bush. by Chris White Den: I'll inform any paddler, even In the June issue of Feedback it was a top one, to stop training stated that there had been a signifi• and start learning. Get back cant increase in the number of com• to basics. petitors in the lower divisions this year. To give added strength to this Chris: Surely, training is what it's welcome news is the formation of a all about? new coaching organisation, Central Paddlers. Den: Look at it this way. Young paddlers attain a certain posi• tion in the rankings by the mimicry of other top paddlers, yes? Chris: Go on. Den: Then they are suddenly faced by a brick wall which, when analysed, is proved to be a skill barrier. When this stage is reached their perfor• mance neither improves nor deteriorates. To overcome this situation, ie to break through the brick wall, the recognised cure tactics are applied. These tactics take the form of training harder and faster in conjunction with a more intensive training sche• dule coupled with even more Who is the key figure behind this sessions on the stopwatch. exciting new step forward in competi• That's not the way to do it. tive canoeing? After a few 'phone calls I tracked him down: Dennis Hennesey, that well known Cl Irish Chris: What is the answer? international paddler. I use the word exciting because the outstanding point of interest lies in the fact that Den: There is no simple answer, but Dennis has paddled as a top class com• when a paddler has reached this petitor right up to the end of the stage he must analyse his tech• 1982 season. This means that he will nique, look for weaknesses and be passing on information regarding compare .his skill with other technique and strategy that is wholly paddlers. This is where coach• relevant to today's slalom paddlers. ing comes in. If a paddler The following is an excerpt from the just trains harder and faster interview I had with him last month. he is merely ingraining old habits. Fine, if these consist Chris: What do you think you have to of smooth, well oiled technique offer in coaching skills in but this is not normally the comparison to other coaches? case. Page 10 FEEDBACK Chris: What's your approach to working with groups of different abili• ties? Den: Firstly, I believe in total org• anisation and professionalism in all aspects. This is the Technique Tips only way to work with a large number of people and to give them all a fair crack of the whip. If a paddler has a part• Reversing icular individual problem I will work with him separately, but in many cases paddlers can While breakouts may be the biggest learn from each other and tog• time waster for most paddlers, reverse ether particularly on the basic gates can cause more serious problems. principles of technique. One which we have all encountered is that of wrong presentation and often Chris: What sort of training sessions on a 'winning run'. Poor boat posi• have you had this year? tioning for a reverse gate can dis• rupt your rhythm and result in lost Den: Apart from some weekday sessions time over the following gates, while we had a whole week at Ludlow lack of control in the gateline speaks which will be supplemented by for itself in 5 second syllables on a week at Grandtully in September. the score card. Most problems stem from lack of practice and. in particu-• Chris: Tell me something about the Org..: lar lack of objective practice. Below anisation itself, ie the admini• I have outlined some conditioning stration, who can join etc. exercises to help improve basic stroke control. Den: Central Paddlers is a non-profit making organisation and is affil• iated to the BCU, we have been To reach the level of accuracy requi• in existence for eight months. red to negotiate reverse gates consi• The qualifications to join are stently you must develop full control simple. The paddler must have of reverse paddle strokes. This mea: already shown progress in com• more than simply practising reverse petitive slalom. gates, it involves a series of stroke exercises designed to improve familia• Possess the self-discipline and rity and smoothness in reverse paddl• determination to get to the top. ing. Most paddlers do a few half• hearted reverse strokes while warming Be willing to break old habits up, but you can be more specific than and learn. this. I came away with the distinct impress• ion that this is no organisation for Stroke Work the 'posers' and 'wallys' of this world. Neither is it an organisation for the paddler who has 'burned out' Back Paddling -· paddle backwards for and is satisfied to sit on a place in 20 strokes counting each side keeping the rankings. the boat on an even keel and as strai• Impetus and new blood can only be good ght as possible. Don't look behind for the sport and I wish Dennis and at first, rather concentrate on a Central Paddlers good luck for the smooth controlled stroke. After 20 future. strokes look over your left shoulder FEEDBACK Page 11 as you push back on that side and over as an exercise for accuracy then over the right as you paddle and consistency. Decide on a parti• on the right. Try and keep the boat cular stroke pattern and repeat each straight although the body movement gate 5 times concentrating on smooth will cause some yawing effect. Carry controlled strokes. You can also on for another 20 strokes looking practise paddling on easy sequences J behind you over the opposite shoulder of gates completely in reverse, avoid• to the side you paddle on. ing stops and starts. Comp.are your 1 \~ penalties over two or three laps of a circuit with those you collected paddling forwards. Reverse Sweeps - to encourage the use of the powerful trunk rotators when reversing. Twist round until your Gate sequences aimed specifically at blade is close to the back end of the improving your ability to turn the ~oat and the lower arm virtually boat quickly under control should also traight. Sweep round in a wide arc be practised. Tight combinations of keeping the blade as far from the various forward reverse manoeuvres boat as possible, finishing up smoo~ over 10 or 12 gates are recommended. thly at the front of the boat. Zig Familiarity with every conceivable zag along the river doing wide power• situation will give you greater ful sweeps evenly on both sides. confidence in competition and this Reach and rotation are the important means attempting those 'impossible' things to consider here. gates behind stoppers and reversing down falls when you get the chance. Reverse Pull - another exercise to practise which will improve your rot• ational mobility as well as stroke For Sale control. Twist and reach back as far as possible placing the face of the 1983 Ford Transit 12 seater minibus blade in the water as for a reverse as new. 10,000 miles. Recommended draw stroke. Pull the paddle through price £7,600 - Special Price £5,800 he water close to the boat until you Contact Brian James at the BCU 'each the hip. Twist the wrist in Weybridge 41341 towards the boat at this point and finish off with a conventional push reverse stroke along the gunwale. J Perform this on alternate sides try• New Address ing to propel the boat smoothly and evenly in a straight line. This is Peter and Janet King, The White House, a common stroke for a Cl, but rather 29 Buildwas Road, Ironbridge TFS 7BJ, more difficult for a kayak limited by Shropshire. Entries for Serpents Tail reach and rotation. Slalom to this address. Gate Exercises Dee Users Roger Hayward is setting up a Dee More specifically you can condition Users Committee and has already your reverse strokes on gates. Two invited National Access Officer Roger gates on one line fairly close tog• Irwin to sit on it. The Executive ether can be reversed several times is to nominate two members. - Page 12 FEEDBACK - ly ladies from Manchester, who had been so impressed by the first two heats of Paddles Up that they caught the coach to Llangollen to watch the girls the following Wednesday. Unfortunately the series had been filmed six weeks previously. BBC commentator, John Gosling, was away on business from his Llangollen home and unable to offer a personal apology. Appendicitis Star Award This most dreaded illness has seri• My man at BCU has informed me that ously affected some of our best pad• the Editor has been getting in so dlers. At the Tryweryn event in June secret training on the Isle of Wight. Jane Wilson was the sufferer but she On a recent seven day visit to the recovered amazingly to come third island with girlfriend Miss Roderick, at theAugsburg International on 23 he was seen ·sailboarding and sea July. Roger Manwaring was less canoeing. Their hosts for the week fortunate, going down during the were hoteliers Roger and Sandy Irwin, week before the Worlds. He had an he of Access fame. In his official operation in Innsburck and is now capacity Roger awarded our man with on the mend, best wishes for a a BCU One Star award for his efforts speedt- recovery. Meanwhile Karen on a surf ski and recommended some Davies was struck at Spittal but as flat water gates to improve his boat I understand it has yet to be handling ability. operated on. Hit and Run Romance Our ambassador to the ICF, Albert Our 17 year old debutante at Meran Woods, was the victim of a hit and Gail Allen, christened 'Knickers' run motoring incident with a diffe• while training in Czechoslovakia, rence. After a car pulled out in caused more than a stir at the World front of him nearly writing him off, Championships. Apart from her great Albert sped past, as he does in his performance in the event where she XJS, and pulled up to gesticulate in finished sixth, let us just say that a manner that only irate Greeks are she was very popular with the capable of. Unfortunately the fol~ Austrians. lowing car failed to stop in time and rammed into the back of Albert's On the baby front Ray Calverley, car. The four drunks he encountered Chairman of the Harishok Empire, was were such a fearsome sight that he recently instrumental in the birth decided a company bill for the damage of his second child by wife Caroline. was less trouble than exchanging Meanwhile Stafford and Stone members addresses. have been get.ting it together. Con• gratulations go to the Editor's personal mechanic, Chris Edwards and Dedicated Fans wife Pauline. Also recently married was another member of the 1981 World I received a report from the Llango• Championships erection team, Paul llen tourist office about two elder- Booth. FEEDBACK Page 13 ADVANCED PADDLING TECHNIQUES The second part of John Macleod's talk to the Coaches Conference. be inspected. Paddler/Coach discus• sion can help a lot but decisions should be up to the paddler - never Competition take this away from him, after all he will be faced with decisions in The aims of the top paddler in compe• competition. The coach's role in tition can be divided into: course analysis is, therefore, one of ensuring that'the paddler has - winning recognised all pitfalls and advant• ages, and most important that the - learning paddler had made a decision about every manoeuvre. The coach works on winning by providing Mental rehearsal plays a large part the paddler with necessary feedback ~ in success. On the river bank walk• information on elements of the compe• ing down the course purposefully, tition. He or she must also take sole going through strokes gives a paddler responsibility for setting up the long that extra feel for the course. Even term aim of learning from the compe• off site or on the start line, going tition. Both paddler and coach can over, treating the course as a contin• evaluate but the coach must collect uous flowing unit, will enhance the information on what has gone on during performance. If you know more about the day's events. the course than the next guy then you have put yourself at an advantage. To Win Gate situations for which the paddler Some can afford the luxury of winning isn't prepared means the coach has to meaning being first. Many can't and initially reassure and make sure that must be re.alistic about the levels to all considerations are made - then he which they must attain to 'win', eg notes for inclusion in future skill 1st Youth, 1st Junior, top ten, top sessions. ,twenty, top five youths etc. Beating a particular individual may be satis• No doubt some gates will cause more fying but won't necessarily mean concern than others. If a dispro• progress and therefore is rather a portionate amount of time has to be hollow objective. spent on a sequence then it is quite likely that the final decision may Pre-Event be 'cloudy' - a non-productive way of preparing. Best to spend a moder• Awareness of times of 'happenings' ate amount of time considering, dis• is essential, ie start of event, cussing, and then make a decision individual start times. .Good orga• and go away. If, later, the decision nisation of peripherals such as is doubted go back - but don't hover transport, accommodation and food, and this really should be the final and warm up time and location will decision. facilitate focusing on the event. Paddlers can lose perspective in going Pre-Event: Course Analysis for speed and not safety, or paying too much attention to a fraction of Skill training should be developed second to be saved when there are far enough so that each situation can more pressing things like consolidat• be recognised and analysed from the ing what to do on the other 29 gates. bank. EVERY part of the course should Coach should keep perspective in order. Page 14 FEEDBACK Paddler start line arousal cannot be Coach best prepared if he sees achieved with pre-event distraction. all the practice run and then views Essentially pre-event behaviour should other paddlers, drawing conclusions be known to both coach and paddler. from other performances and using Other paddlers on the bank are not these if his paddler requires. necessarily a good influence, parti• Sequence routes, manoeuvres, strokes, cularly when technical on-course rotation speed and breakout entry matters are discussed - though some and exit heights are factors to note paddlers rely (but not wholly) on in practice. Split times on short this technique and others are extre• manoeuvres are good back up. Split mely capable of ignoring, especially times over 15 seconds are suspect if they know that they have the mas• because paddlers vary in practice ter plan. Paddler getting keyed into run paddling speed. If a paddler the competition run is where the didn't do a practice run at very coach can be of real assistance - close to competition pace then some• often by doing nothing, so long as body else probably got a better he is there. If coach wants to break practice run than him. into paddler's psyche up with informa• tion he is to remember that any infor• 1st Runs Coaching Strategy matri.on given could distract and there• Ideally the coach should gather this fore must be communicated with ease information: and be absolutely correct. Too much, or irrelevant information, has a - \ course splits on paddler and very noticeable detrimental effect. peers (selected) Practice Run Over details of all 'touchy' poles Practice run over means the mental - splits and details on debatable rehearsal - What exactly happened? manoeuvres Where was he safe? Did he take risks? Are there any weak strateg~ All to be presented in a fashion ies? First consideration is to suitable for paddler to note without recognise areas in which strategies having information digestion, ie may be wrong and make a decision coach pre-selects from the relevant possibly on what other paddlers information, paddler then absorbs were doing. Second is to recognise what he needs. Coach can achieve touchy poles. Then the speed factor all this only with the help of other comes in. Get both the good and bad coaches. If on one's own a complete points recognised but remember too analysis is not possible, though with much information car confuse. Reli• careful selection of what areas to ance on training giving the paddler cover and which paddlers to watch a the necessary is paramount - then single coach can be extremely he can pay attention mainly to work• effective. ing off the odd fraction of a second. 1 - 8 8 - 17 17 - 24 24 - 30 TIME -- -- Joe 45 39 62 52 202.6 Bill 43 38 -60 52 197.5 Steve 43 65 64 50 224.4 Ian 41 40 -60 51 196.6 Best 41 38 60 50 Figure 1 FEEDBACK Page 15 ¼ Course Splits become distorted and so that direction is given to future schedules and compe• Use of the overlapping sheets techni• tition preparation. From the¼ length que breaks down a course (Fig. 1). splits, if there are enough results; On time, Steve can see exactly what one may deduce a pacing -p rob Lern - too he lost - quickly. A zero error of slow off the start, too slow off the about 5 seconds suggests that the bests finish o rt tioo slow all over. The 41 + 38 + 60 + 50 (+ 5) gives an opti• natural thing to do is find an explana• mum for the course= 194 seconds. tion and get down to making sure it Sequence Analysis does not happen again. Other problems involving failure to complete or to do Use of the sheet shown in Fig. 2 helps well on a certain technical move - may• clear presentation of information. be a short term strategy will cope - maybe it will take all the next twelve Times and notes allow quick evaluation months to get-Tight. Whatever, the 0f what works and what is popular. For quality of post competition analysis ·his type of analysis the coach need will dictate the next result. Other not log every paddler. The sheet is information that should be recorded able to suppo~t conclusively his deci• is penalties with a note on gate condi• sion on what is best. tions and what part struck the pole. In analysing several competition results 2nd Runs Coaching Strategy it is extremely likely that one type of penalty crops up above all others which, Note of paddlers performance plus some when recognised, means that skill ¼ length times as for first runs will sessions have to deal with a safer nego• provide useful material for designing tiation of that type of gate. Competi• future schedules. tion is the only time when all physical I and psychological stresses are put on Post Event top of the skills learned. Achievements must be nurtured and failures remedied. Whatever the result there are still Making the same mistake twice means you the lessons to be lear~ed from compet• have failed; get the errors out in the ing. In training we are used to gradu• open and concentrate on preventing their al development through experience. recurrence. Competition treated like the Grand Slam .s good for paddler concentration in I BEWARE: Experience teaches slowly the event but rarely encourages thoughts and at the cost of mistakes. of how to do better. Coach must get in all the facts so that ideas do not SPLIT TIME Gate 1 to Gate 3 2. Joe 12.3 2,5/G Bill 13.5 Clear Steve 11.9 2,5/G Ian 15.3 clear Figure 2 Good control ------Page 16 FEEDBACK TV COVERAGE: More often than not this Publicity is handled by BCU. Remember how dis• appointed we were at the television coverage for Bala '81. There was tele• World Championships Press Coverage vision coverage for Merano though many unfortunately did not see it because it was given no publicity. Arrange• ments to show film from Itary were BRITONS DOMINATE ... •" c, ".'. • !u Britain C • Q) finalised at the very last minute. places ir anoe 01r i ,..... event, pa ea 1 1 ~ chamJ?lon ------• ~ y~riiay. • ..••••• eve - "'·1 Liz tops : - ITV bought film from the Italians and up.~ -- - - i-~ ~ C, !'. ··s:. Richard Fox's first run was shown on the British screen in World of Sport . ~ g ~ the world ~,£ the same day. Liz won the women's slalom r ~ ~ 't, in the kayak siDgles claSa I ;i,..... __,., ...,_ finishing over a stre~h of th• : 'Cl'J i"- 0 boiling River Passirio with ~ i:-,. 0) fellow-Briton Jane Roderx:k 'Cl'J TV AM made canoeing their theme on . ij taking the silver. . ., ..• -· e 18 June when the final results of the Ladies Team event were actually f;J._\uts i~;~ :s given out to the British public at the same time if not actually before the .I 'rJ'~ u official announcement was made at the go\d anu :..~. :,, t Slalom Site in Merano. o· ~-r~ ~ 1 : tbe cu~_ ~ ~J~t; O TV Coverage in General t,. . -- ~-- '"::.:"'--- .£~~-& ~ --r-CO..., J ~(..:'TM CHANNEL 4 showed an excellent program• me on canoeing in general earlier in THE NATIONAL PRESS: Canoeings is a the year. minor sport and so reasonably enough no national papers were prepared to send reporters all the way to Italy, BBCl and PADDLES UP: A series of f~._f though they knew of the event and the programmes on slalom with a comment date some six months before. The by Alan Parry and John Gosling. This coverage of the Worlds must, therefore, was shown in July and has·been watched be compared with Jonquiere '79 and and enjoyed by many who know nothing Spittal '77. The '79 results were of canoeing. not in print until the canoeing press got round to it weeks after the event. This year there were approximately Both these programmes were shown at 33.50 column inches in the national peak viewing time. press with the Daily Mail giving a total of 13.75 column inches. IF YOU WATCHED THES~ PROGRAMMES AND REGIONAL PRESS: As far as I can ENJOYED THEM PLEASE WRITE TO THE gather from the few reports received PRODUCERS AND SAY SO. coverage here was very good. The importance of local press x shou Ld not Yet to come - Rapid Races on Channel be under-rated. The large numbers of S4C September 27-30 and World of local papers published confirm the Sport - plus Fosters International. statistics which inform us that people in general prefer local news to natio• nal news. Jennifer Munro FEEDBACK Page 17 FEEDBACK ADVICE COLUMN At a recently successful coaching day where locally to hang a few lir~ organised by members of the North even if it's on flat water. If 1JU Staffs Canoe Centre several questions don't make an effort no one will have arose from paddlers which are worth any sympathy. If it's really imposs• highlighting. ible then there are aspects of tech• When I'm practising the course at a nique you can work on. Read slalom should I do the moves slowly 'Technique Tips' in this issue on and think about the strokes and r eve rt-e paddling for ideas to improve technique? your stroke control. Work out a rou• tine of forward paddling, sweep Unless you are using the slalom pure• strokes, and bow rudders concentrat• ly as a training exercise you would ing on long smooth powerful motion do better to practise the course at through the water. Simulate slalom the speed you will paddle in compe- courses for 60-90 seconds, without ition. Slowing down your paddling the gates you will have to visualise to consider the effectiveness of the technique and put more emphasis technique is best done away from the on the quality of stroke work. Make slalom. Between events you can work the most of every trip to a slalom or on smoothing out strokes and improv• training site and develop your visu• ing boat control in the gates while alisation of technique to practise at the event it is best to settle courses without gates. for techniques you can guarantee What type of training would you rec6m• success with at competition speed. mend for a 13 year old progressing Remember too to paddle the course through the divisions? as a whole rather than just the At that age the emphasis in training 'hard bits'. should be on general development of My son uses a 180cm Freeblades all-round paddling ability. Look to paddle. Do you think that is too the type of training top paddlers did short? He is 13 and under 5' tall. when they were young, not at the Paddle length is always difficult to types of lateral workouts and strength determine particularly when one is training they do today. growing. Even more difficult to Concentrate on building up as much ~etermine at the moment is the opti- paddling experience as possible mm blade size for your paddle, since through river trips in winter, sea the majority of manufacturers produce canoeing, surfing, etc. While it is only one shape. Reducing the paddle important to develop slalom skills on length to cope with the same blade gates don't do this to the exclusion area a Premier Division paddler pulls of everything else, and where possible is a good idea. A young person wants seek advice, watch better paddlers, to develop good paddling habits early and train with others - you don't want on, and a shorter paddle should help to be bored by 16. to encourage a realistic stroke rate Participation in all general activit• and better control around the gates. ies at school will help develop a back• Remember to reassess the length of ground of natural strength and physical paddle at regular intervals allowing ability. for wear and tear on the blades as well as growth. Learn as much as you can from each I have no ~§tes to train on, the slalom and don't expect miracles over• neare~t place is 30 miles away. Is night. there any way I can improve my For information regarding further technique? training courses in September and Before people started training seri• October contact Brian Gladwin·, ously around the country there were 1 Cooks Bank, Acton Trussell, Stafford no gates anywhere. Try to find some- enclosing sae. Page 18 FEEDBACK Dl&IIW IIIIIIII Dear Feedback, The 'Year of the 17 September - Special General Meeting Novice' is clearly important for the 11. 00 am Holme Pierrepont future of slalom. One problem for Nottingham young canoeists interested in slalom is to obtain a competitive boat. 29/30 October Fosters Lager Some can afford new boats and others International manage to get one second-hand for a reasonable price. However, for ma 26/27 November Mike Jones Rally novi.ces the best plan would be to Llangollen build their own boat. But here there is a problem because as far as 3 December Slalom Committee Annual I can see it is impossible to hire a General Meeting mould for a low-line boat suitable 11.00 am for a light (7-9 stone) paddler. The Strathden Hotel otherwise suitable Trylon Lynx has berby Road too great a displacement for this Nottingham weight range. Motions and nomination's due on or before I would be very interested to hear 3 November 1983 from anyone who has a suitable mould for hire. Also I would suggest that as part of the 'Year of the Novice' the Slalom Executive should try to obtain such a mould and make it available on reasonable terms to TRADERS I novice slalomists. Bruce Lynn Tonbridge & West Kent CC To advertise in this Dear Feedback, Thanks to a number of willing volunteers we were able to space call collect the first data in the project aimed at clarifying the effects of Dave Morgan stresses of paddling and competing in (0274) 487755 slalom. or The tests held at a National Squad Training· Weekend revealed some inter• Richard Fox esting differences between the levels (0785) 817016 of cognitive (Mental) activity before and.after paddling a full length for details of our highly slalom course on the Tryweryn and bet• competitive rates. ween different groups of paddlers._ This pilot study gives us the confi• dence to go ahead with a series of such studies and we hope to recruit FEEDBACK Page 19 a number of paddlers (of different skill levels) to help. We intend,to publish a fuller account Stone Boat Building of the results in a future Feedback when we have completed the appropri• Company ate analyses. In the meantime we Canalside, Newcastle Road, Stone, are grateful for those paddlers who Staffs. helped us test the machine we were Telephone stone (0785) 812688 using and equally to all those who Open 7 Days expressed interest in helping. Thank you. John A Fazey Elain McClelland Velia Smith UCNW Bangor !!J@ Dear Feedback, The BBC is very consci• PREEBlADES ous of its public image and it reacts to public opinion. The ability to ,anh have more canoeing on television dep• acompleteserviceforcanoeists ends upon response from trial program~ mes. It is, therefore, essential for every canoeist to write to the BBC and say how much they enjoyed PADDLES UP and show how much interest there is for canoeing on television. We cannot sit back and pretend someone else will write in, as· Joe Public will watch anything as long as he does not have to think or do anything. To see more canoeing on television we need to convince the channel control- 1.ers (BBCl or BBC2) by convincing deads of department, eg Sports or Regional Departments like Pebble Mill, that canoeing is enjoyable to watch and has a wide appeal. PADDLES UP is a start but we should aim to have several national events televised every year, including British Open and any international slaloms, and WWR, National Sprint finals, D/W and Round London marathons and Crystal Palace For advice on your canoeing Polo finals. So don't just sit there, write some- requirements thing now to: Call Richard Fox Letters Editor Radio Times on(0785)817016 35 Marylebone High Street Now in Stock London WlM 4AA The Ultimate Run by Bill Endicott Robin Stonestreet FEEDBACK Results Results Results 11th/12th June, 1983 2nd/3rd July, 1983 K1L IRON BRIDGE BRITISH SCHOOLS 1 L. Henderson Forth Div. 4 & Novice CHAMPIONSHIPS 2 P. Watts lsslington FAIRNILEE Novice Team Junior Lindsay/Parker/Davis B'ham Univ. Midgley Trophy - Schools 1 S. Harber Winchester 1 Wallace High School Div.4 Team 2 Millbrook School Youth Taylor/Coates/Hawksworth 3 Richmond School R. Dumper I.V.C.C. C1 Novice Whitmore Trophy - Clubs Men K1 1 R. Cant Man. Univ. 1 Tees Kayak Club 1 D. Kearsey Gloucester 2 B. Doverman Sheff. Univ. 2 P. Booley Grimsby Team - Matlock Trophy 3 J. Kilbey Oswestry C2 Novice 1 Richmond 'A' Tees 1 Kilham/Dixie Islington Junior 2 Harvey/Cooper Fraber 1 S. Biggs Tees K1 Novice 2nd/3rd July, 1983 Youth 1 J. Parker B'ham Univ. WASHBURN 1 R. Graves Bromley 2•P. Rogers Chippenham J. Div. 3 3 R. Gardner Wyedean C1 Team 1 A. Gillibrand Chester K1L Novice 1 Davison/Davison/ Jenkins Soak C2 1 S. Couling Bath Univ. Bromley 2 P. Walker Leeds 1 J. Leggott/D. Roe 3 L. Black Leeds K1 Men Div. 3 Team 1 M. Watkins Luton C1 Div. 4 1 Williams/Wade/Welsh Ribble 2 S. Woolands Midland 2 Gibbons/Carte/Rollers Dudley 1 A. Gillibrand Chester 3 S. Briggs Matlock 2 A. Leare Swansea Univ. 3 Ellis/Jayes/George Rich Men K1L Judges C2 1 J. Davies (Div. 1) Mold 1 Eaton/Dobson ACU 1 I. Campbell Jubilee 2 W. Johnson Jubilee 2 J. Terry (Best of Nov.) Cargelte Scout K1L 3 C. Major Kingston Poly 3 G. Slade (Div. 1 /Prem) Luton 1 H.Carr B'ham Univ. C1 K1M 1 I. Duncan Notis. Univ. 1 M. Holder Shrewsbury Div. 2 . 2 M. Pritchard B'ham Univ. C2 3 M. Woolley Lanes. Univ. 1 Fray/Ellis Leicester Team Fetal entrey: ) _16. 1 Marshall/Wade/Hanham Total entry: 237 2 Cammon/Brodslow/Cooke ·3 Courtier/Courtier/Harrison 18th/19th June, 1983 K1M TRYWERYN 16th/17th July 1983 1 T.Cannon Manchester Div. 2 TRYWERYN 2 A. Gray Winchester 3 D. Bradshaw Manchester Team Div. 3 Slalom 1 Clark/Barn.es/Greenwood This years competition attracted a large K1L J. Fryers Adlington C2 entry of 122 men, 32 ladies, 16 1 1 Arrowsmith/Brain (Y) Canadians and 37 teams, with over 90 C1 main L 1 entries returned after the entry 1 B. Joce Winsor C1 limit was reached. 1 P. Richards C2 1 Drake/Hardwick RAFCA K1L The competition was on a new site at the 1 K. Ceney (Y) head of the river close to the Tryn Cebyn Judges dam, by special permission of the Welsh 1 M. Welsh Ribble K1M Water Authority. 2 G. Helsby Manchester 1 D. Berrisford 3 P. Bowles Manchester 2 A. Eaton The river was shared with Manchester 3 S. England C.C. who ran a Div. 2 slalom downstram Total entrey: 201 on the championship site. 30th/31st July, 1983 WASHBURN Thirsty visitors will have noticed that Div. 2 25th/26th June, 1983 refreshments were not on sale on the CARDINGTON site because of a restriction by the Team Div. 3 Water Authority, hence the appearance 1 Gray/Barker/Shervey K1 Men of a strange refreshments tent at the K1M 1 S. Wright Exeter boundary gate some 200 yards away. 1 N. Nicholson Buttershaw 2 P. Jenkins Lowest oft 2 A. Barker Staffs & Stone 3 S.Rose Broadland A full water release helped Johnathan 3 I. Macro Richmond Kinnear in setting an excellent course K1L including the 'Irish Bridge' tunnel and K1L 1 L. Spiller Long ridge the 'chipper' trash screen which 1 A. Hall Chester/ 2 S. Fewell Maidstone claimed a few unfortunates who are Leicester 3 S. Manley Maidstone probable now looking for new boats, the 2 L. Goulding Windsor C1 ends missing. 3 J. Johnson West Yorks. t S. Richmond Army The hot sunny weather finally gave way C2 to a violent thunder storm on Saturday C1 1 Rose/Legott afternoon. A delay followed whilst the '1 S, Talbert Herner Vet judges brollies were distributed, only to C2 1 Venables · find thatthe water had been turned off 1 Stonehouse/Edwards Rutland by a lightning strike at the dam control. Team Thankfully the water was restored and Judges 1 Gibson/Williams/Kelsall competition continued after an hours 1 Ir Raspin Tees Total entry: 11 O delay. Brian Billington 2 Ro. Osborne North Notts. Results Spanish Slalom - Seo D'urgelay Tony Tic 25th/26th June, 1983 SHEPPERTON NOVVICE Div. 3 The sun shone throughout with, for a novice slalom, very big water. Many who should have known better took full advantage of the Organiser's recently granted discretion to accept late entries. None would pay double fees and the suggested alcoholic bribes did not materialise in sufficient quantity to prevent everyone having a good weekend. Several unranked non BCU canoeists were given an introduction to the course in between the Saturday team runs. These were dominated by a strong Army Canoe Club presence with the youngsters of Millbrook pushing to a very creditable second place. There was slight reluctance to get up on Sunday morning and, coupled with the extra entries and initial difficulties of some inexperienced competitors, the programme ran straight through opening time. Nev arrived mid morning. After half an hour when no-one asked him to do anything he ran a Judges exam and Messrs Nevin, Sayer and Wood joined the Grade Cranks. By the second run the majority knew what was RUSS WHEADON expected of them and an unusually large Canadian entry, graced by several famouse names, duly provided the hoped for entertainment! In all, 19 males and 5 ladies gained promotion. K1MN 1 Kevin TytlerTYM 2 George Woods TYM 3 Michael Wilkner JWC K1LN 1 Joanna Purr TYM 2 Louise Crunden Reigate S 3 Jackie Rusbridge Reigate S C1N 1 Paul Kavanagh TYM 2 Paul Warner Shepperton C2N 1 Jayes/Baker Shepperton 2 Pearton/Stock Herts 3 Jones/Nutt Eyot Team 1 ArmyCC 2 Millbrook Total entry: 129 9th/10th July, 1983 IAN RASPIN PIPE BRIDGE Div. 4 & Novice Novice Team Armstrong/Dixon/Huntsman Div. 4 Team Pritt/Bolton/Chester K1 Men Novice 1 R. Rainbow 2 A. Armstrong Gateshead 3 T. Smith CY.C. K1L 1 J. Armstrong Tees C1 1 M. Adams West Cumbria C2 1 Hansell/Tindall Tees K1 Men Div.4 1 D. Fogg RAF 2 S.Duffy Ribble 3 N. Armstrong Tees K1L 1 S. Janes St. Albans C1 1 G. Middleton RAF C2 1 Phillips/Vessey Umist Total entry: 113 DAVE ROLAND l>REEBlADES Freeblades, the sole choice of Ladies' and Men's Kayak Slalom Teams at Merana, 1983. 51 King Edward Rd, Northampton. 0604 859366 or 0604 27183