We had a great day on the river on Sunday. A long and tiring day for the coaches but a great day nonetheless!
Morning Public Try-It Session
In the morning in glorious sunshine we had 130 paddlers on the water (not all at once!). This number includes three who turned up for the afternoon session by mistake. Some have already joined the club so a great success!
We were amazed at the response, and almost overwhelmed, but a rallying call for more coaches to pop along helped reduce the pressure. Thanks to all the coaches and to the support staff for booking-in, fitting buoyancy aids, catering and selling cakes. You all know who you are.
And the Katakanus showed their worth: one young man refused to let go of the jetty in a canoe, but he really enjoyed himself in the Katakanu! (which made Michelle’s day!)
We don’t have any photos of the morning as I was too busy on the water.
Afternoon club Fun Session
We didn’t count the number of club members who had fun in the afternoon session, but we had a good turnout and quite a few of their family members joined in too.
The new extra large paddleboard was a big hit with everyone and both Katakanus were getting a lot of use. It must be worth mentioning here the Katakanu race! Martin (now a Katakanu convert) was paddling towards the road bridge with three adults who don’t normally paddle. Suddenly there was shout from behind “lets race the oldies to the bridge” (that was Oscar with the youngsters. Though the oldies had a slight headstart, the youngsters were already up to their max speed, and the race began. I this point I should mention there were SIX youngsters, five of whom are in are marathon squad, versus four oldies. The oldies won!
For some photos of the afternoon see the links below.
Cake Stall and Raffle
£176 was made during the day. Thanks to everyone who bought cakes, raffle tickets and made donations, also a big thanks to those who made some cakes, always gratefully received.
The cash will be split between ourselves and The Beat Goes On, a local charity who we will be supporting this year.
Photos
Click here for my photos from yesterday afternoon. There’s not many as I was on the water most of the time. I did risk taking my camera on the Katakanu though!
The first few photos are of a family that missed the morning public session but we couldn’t turn them away!
Click here for a selection of photos from Sunday afternoon taken by Alfie on his super new camera! He’ll be after my job!!
