First of all, a massive well done to everyone who raced! You all should be proud, and you made Norwich Canoe Club proud.
The Cambridge hasler was characterized by sunshine, boat breakage and a lucky win (I can say that as it was mine).
We started the day with a team briefing to bring everyone together, show that we race as one team, and for me to give some tips. Thank you all for attending and joining in for the team photo. The plan is to keep this going for the next races!
Then for the races. Warrick was our only junior racing Geoff Saunders and came a very strong second, doing NCC proud with such a good race. Tom and William raced K2 in Division 9. Unfortunately, their boat decided they were going too fast and stopped working. Trying to sort it led to them having a little swim, and ultimately they needed to retire. Mary Anne also raced in division 9 and her 7th place earned her a promotion and the full 50 points, due to everyone in front of her getting a double promotion.
In Division 8 Harrison and Megan got us a 1st and 2nd place, and beating 3rd place by more than 4 minutes won both of them a double promotion. Pepi also had a strong race finishing 7th, whereas Kirk had a strong race until a k2 that came flying round the corner sent him for a swim.
In Division 7 Anna had a great race with Julie, who was amazing at keeping the K2 completely stable in the choppy water. The division 7 K1 was won by Stef, whereas Alex just missed out on promotion with a 7th place.
The Sargeant’s had a strong racing day: Jasmine won the division 6 race and a promotion to division 5. This means she will be a threat to her dad in the next race, although Tristian also showed strong form winning his division 5 race. There was another podium place in division 5 for Charlie and Rosco who came 2nd.
Me and Keyleigh (Leighton Buzzard) had a lucky win, as the other division 4 crews, including Grace/Suzanne and Tim/Mike decided the div4 races are too short, and added another 7km by missing the turn. The K2 of Adam/Gary decided to follow the coaches and also made their div5 race a few km longer.
In division 3, Jago was in the top group until he decided to give up kayaking and practice his diving skills. Tom Mableson gave it a 9 out of 10 for diving headfirst into the water. Luckily, Jago got back into kayaking mode and finished the race.
Finally, James raced his second race in as many days to come second in div2, a race in which at the first portage James Russell did not let him get out of his boat. Just remember these results are provisional and promotions could change.
Apologies if I missed anyone; it was great to see such a large Norwich team racing, but that makes the report long. Everyone did amazing and helped NCC to get 3rd place overall just missing out on second by two points. More importantly, it was great to see that most of you had a smile on your face afterwards!
If you weren’t part of the fun this time, your next chance is the Bedford Hasler (28th of April). The more the merrier!
