The Burton Phoenix Hasler marathon was on Saturday 10th June. This was out of our region so we do not gain any Hasler points (though we do gain Geoff Sanders points in the junior 2 mile races).
Below is a report from our Marathon Rep Graham Simpkin, followed by screenshots of the provisional results of divisions we were represented in. You can download all the results here.
And you can download photos taken by GSCC members and some from non-member that have been posted on the Racing Canoe Clubs Facebook page.
For photos by Annette, Craig & Alfie Smith click here.
For photos by Rachel Thew click here.
For photos by Rob Weeks (non member) click here.
For photos by Nicol Rudge (non member) click here.
Great day for the marathon team at Burton
A beautiful but breezy day saw a squad of 11 plus 5 “support crew” leave Brigg in the early hours to travel to Burton on Trent for the Burton Phoenix Hasler. This was a great opportunity for our younger paddlers to experience some bigger fields – most races had at least 10 competitors which can make the start of the race quite challenging. Burton is in the Midlands region and there were a number of top notch paddlers present to give our team a real challenge.
Our Geoff Sanders paddlers excelled themselves. Matilda and Oscar fought it out in division B and finished joint second. Declan came second in division C and Edward is making great progress in division B now that he is in a full size racing boat.
Craig and John both put in strong performances in division 9. Craig was in one of our (very) slow Polypippins but still finished only a few minutes behind the leaders. John has transitioned into one of our stable Tempests and his main objectives were to stay upright and finish – both objectives were met.
Sue was our only boat in division 8 and she worked hard to finish in a good time but well down the field.
Charles and Graham were both in division 7. Graham had a poor start but Charles did a flyer and was at the front after about 50 metres. He managed to hang on to the lead until over half way through the race but was eventually overtaken and came in 5 seconds behind the winner who was promoted to division 6 on the result. This means that Charles was within 5 seconds of gaining promotion – Well done Charles! Graham finished only 1 and a half minutes behind but was down in 9th place.
In the afternoon Alfie and Connor raced in the division 6 race over 8 miles. Both started well and after the first half lap were lying behind the eventual winners by less than 1 minute. We then waited for them to come back from the bottom turn. We waited…. and waited before they eventually appeared with Connor looking rather wet. It seems they had a clash of paddles which resulted in Connor going for a swim. Alfie earned himself Brownie points by staying with Connor until he was back in his boat but it meant that they were both now way off the pace. Connor retired but Alfie fought bravely on. His portage was excellent and he managed to overtake a boat that was over 30 seconds in front by his running and re-entry into the boat. The other boat queried whether Alfie had portaged at all.. but I was watching and can confirm that Alfie did it properly.
It really was a great day! I even saw an otter in the river.
Next Sunday the squad travels to Barmby on the Derwent (a lovely location) for one of our local races. It is not too far away and we would welcome extra paddlers as well as more supporters on the bank. Come for a picnic! Any type of kayak or canoe can be used (Phil will be paddling our “new” outrigger canoe). See me this week if you would like to enter or need more details.
Graham
