Slalom and River Race
Six Shark paddlers made the trip to Oughtibridge for a slalom and River race competition, held on the River Don, in a quite village just outside Sheffield, with onsite camping, making for a great weekend.
The paddlers arrive on Friday evening to be greeted by a vegan chilli, ready to go, thank you Grant. Some who arrived early enough were able to practice on Friday evening, then for a relaxing night’s sleep under canvass.
Saturday
Plenty of opportunity to practice the course before the main event, which provides the access that entry level paddlers need to hone their skills.
Division 3 Slalom
Ivijah Campbell-Bryan was racing in his first Division 3 K1 Slalom event of the year and came 15th and 5th J14, collecting 120 points.
Peter Skinner, new to The Sharks and returning from having just completed the gruelling Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race the weekend before took 20th place, first U23 and his first 60 points.
Neal Underwood returned to paddling C1 and 4th in the Men’s event and first Mater, 100 points.
Division 4 Slalom
Ian Marsh came 9th in the Men’s K1 event, only his second ever slalom competition.
Nicolas Bozic was 13th and first J18, still very early in his slalom career.
Canoe Doubles
A new ranking pairing of Neal Underwood and Grant Underwood took to the water and 6th earring 140 points, in the national Canoe Doubles Division.
Team Event
Three Shark teams raced in the team event:
Taking third place and probably the oldest aggregate team there was The Fury of Shepperton, made up of Shepperton’s Antony Cowderoy, Grant Underwood, and Neal Underwood, all in K1s.
Sixth place were Super Sharks, consisting of Ian Marsh, Neal Underwood (C1) and Ivijah Campbell-Bryan
Rekiny: Peter Skinner, Nicolas Bozic and Ivijah Campbell-Bryan were 14th
Regional Wild Water Race
A format to enable people to race in as many classes as possible and as may runs as they wish, designed to help develop the sport.
Men’s K1
The fastest Shark was Grant Underwood, who took third place with a time of 43.3 seconds. He gets 1,871 National Ranking points.
Neal Underwood came eighth over all and first V60, his time was 54.5, earning 1,527 points.
in 19th place was Ivijah Campbell-Bryan (4th U14) in a time of 1:20.4 gaining 732 points.
Followed by Nicolas Bozic in 20th place, 1:21.8 was his time, and was worth 690 points
in 20th place was Peter Skinner, who recorded a time of 1:23.0, 653 points will be added to his season total.
Men’s C1
Grant also took 3rd place in the Canoe Singles event with a time of 1:12.6, collecting his first 1,407 points in this class.
Canoe Doubles
Some interesting pairings …
The fastest pairing involving Shark paddlers was Ivijah Campbell-Bryan who teamed up with VikingKayak Club‘s Stanley Sparrow, the came 4th overall and second U16 crew with a best time of 1;15.0, they collect 1,502 points for their effort.
Ian Marsh teamed up with Nottingham Kayak Club‘s Nicky Cresser to take 5th place in a time of 1:22.7, they get 1,328 points. They were also second V40 crew.
Ian then teamed up with Grant Underwood, for an all Shark crew, they came 6th in a time of 1:39.3, which was worth 952 points.
Ivijah raced with Josie Sparrow from Viking KC in the mixed doubles, a time of 2:26.20 gave them 9th place, 4th U14 and 111 points.
And Ian again raced with somebody from Nottingham, when he paired with Chloe Bracewell in Mixed Doubles coming 10th in a time of 3:15.0 gaining a point for their efforts.
A long days racing was rewarded with a walk to the village and a meal at a local victualers, before wandering back to the campsite ready for sleep.
Sunday
After earlyish morning practice another day of slalom begins and a day of total improvement for Shark paddlers.
Division 3
Ivijah moved up to 11th place in Sunday’s Men’s K1 and again 5th J14, his points tally for the weekend was 266, placing him 29th in National Division 3.
Peter lifted himself up to 13th and keeping is top under 23 spot, over the weekend he earned 185 points and is now ranked 38th in Division 3 K1 Men
On a day of improvement Neal, also moved up one place in the Men’s C1 class taking 3rd place and first Master. He is now ranked 10th in Division 3 with 250 points.
Division 4
The biggest climber of the weekend was Nicolas Bozic who took 5th place and first J18
Ian Marsh also climbed up a couple of places coming in 7th
Canoe Doubles
Neal and Grant, like everyone else saw an improvement in their position with a third place finish, they now have 265 points and are ranked 6th in the National Canoe Doubles League.
However, the fun didn’t stop there, the organisers hosted a family C2 event, to encourage more people to get involved and awarded prizes in age groups according to the age of the paddler in the from to the C2, which meant Neal (front) and Grant took first place in the over 60s age group
Nicolas Bozic and Peter Skinner race in the open C2 event coming 9th.
A fantastic start to the Division 3 and 4 season, well done to everyone involved and many thanks to Grant Underwood for managing the Team. Also a big thank you to Sheffield Canoe Club for hosting the event, and to their catering team for keeping us fed and watered during the day.
Do you want to know more about slalom canoeing? Why not get in touch and come and join in the fun, no experience or special kit is required, call/text now on 07951 770241 or email: slalom@thesharks.org.uk.
More pictures to come
Published Sunday May 4th