Kayaking Championships

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On Saturday Ange and I made the short train trip out to Reading in western England to watch big Pete compete in the kayaking championships on Sunday.

Was a lovely rainy and cold weekend completeing the picture for us. Although I think Pete and Erin found it rather balmy compared to good old Aberdeen.

On the big day we were entertained watching some of the best kayak paddlers in the country, including a few world champions. And then there was Pete.

The races were rather interesting to watch - Sunday was a day of endurance races with some of them competeing in the tough 26km paddle and others (including Pete) competeing in the 13km run. To make things interesting - and I'm not sure why they do it, they made them all do a portage every lap - basically they had to get to a jetty get out, run with their kayaks along the shore and then re-enter the water from another little jetty. Now for anyone who has tried to get in and out of one of these very unstable tiny kayaks it is no easy feat. And on top of that these guys and girls were exhausted (some even struggling on their legs when they reached port). Add to that a jostle to get back into the water a heading off again made for interesting times. Lots of swearing, spills and even some snapped kayaks as people fell over each other (we even saw tears). It was an eventful experience.

Why they make them do this I don't understand, but it makes for an interesting experience for the onlookers.

Oh by the way the water was like ice so no one really wanted to fall in. Pete didn't fail us though - he took a plunge - and yes we could hear him swearing as he got back to it. All those years in Tasmania, Western Australia and Aberdeen have condition him to the cold waters though.

So basically after less than perfect conditions on the water and a dunking, Pete didn't do as well as he would have liked in his division, but what they hell - it entertained his cheer squad of Erin, Ange and I on the shore eating our hamburgers.

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Photos

On your marks
The double kayakers lining up for the start of their race

Clean take off
This guy made the portage look easy - he did have no jostlign with other kayaks however

The girls in green left the others in their wake
The girl in front is apparently the world champion. To top it off they are both really attractive. I know I was cheering them on.

Big Pete himself
Full of confidence - but inside he was crapping his pants about having to run the portage.

Lining up to have their kayak's checked by the officials
Pete easily had the slickest kayak in town

All geared up
I tried to talk him inot wearing just his sluggos but he kept going on about the cold water. I think he was worried about shrinkage

Lining up
Pete's back there somewhere lining up with his division

On the return leg of the first lap
They run along the banks when coming against the river flow to reduced resistance. Pete's in the blue

Ahhh Portage time
Pete preparing to get himself back in the kayak at the port

Pete takes a swim
He had such a potty mouth at this stage - emptying the water out so he can get going again. He defintiely wasn't the only one to take a dip. At least he didn't snap his kayak like a couple of guys earlier.

Why
These guys who were racing this style are just asking for sore knees and backs

Determined to finish
These guys were in the lead and then flipped about 50m from finish line while trying to block in the guys coming 2nd. They swam over the finish line and still came 3rd.

Coming back round on the final lap
Watch out for the river traffic!!!

Comments

[Jac]

Gooooo Big Pete!!
Ha! Love the photo commentary, especially the bit where Pete falls out of the kayak! :p