Turkey Race 2010

As tradition dictates the end of the year means the Christmas Turkey race from templemills to Salmon Leap CC

Me and old man river Sir Bernard Walsheee decided it would be a great idea to do it together in an open canoe (This was decided approx 2am the morning before)

So dressed as santa’s off we went! the competition was hot and we were left mid table in the results,

But we won what mattered the best dressed!!

Go Team Santa-Canoe :-)

New Job, New Challenge!

Right well December is here and ive got a new job. Probably the only person in Ireland to get a job at the moment so pretty stoked.

Im moving on after nearly 2 years full time in I-Canoe but no fear il still be about (Colm cant get rid of me that easily!)

Ive now taken on a Sport Development / Club Coach Role with Salmon Leap Canoe Club.

 

“Salmon Leap is the premier canoe racing club in Ireland and caters for those new to the sport all the way up to top international racers.  Most members compete in Marathon and Sprint racing, but many also compete with great success in Slalom and Wild Water Racing.”

 

This is a really huge challenge for both myself and for the club which will hopefully be a massive success.

At present I have little K1 experience but look forward to the coming year I may even get to compete in one!

 

With the winter weather upon us heres a few pictures from my first day in the new job Cold but Beautiful!

 

 

.Ad

DIY Neck Seal Repair The Walshey Way!

One of our regular Liffey Swimmers Mr Bernard Walsh popped into the store to give us an insight into his neck seal repair technique.

Armed with his sons football and a

Kokatat DIY Neck Seal Repair kit Available Here

The video in almost real time shows a neck seal replacement in approx 10 mins!

Thanks Bernard! Repairs ARE quick and easy!

Collign Gorge Games 2010

Colligan gorge games seemed to take over where over boater X’s in Ireland were being a premium Irish paddling and party weekend.

The Boater X itself take part in a section of the Colligan Gorge which is fairly continuous grade 2/3. As always the Colligan Gorge Games Crew had worked hard in the build up tapping in suppliers and sponsors for prizes and support. With 200 pre registered it was looking for a high attendance.

 

On a cold Saturday morning I left a dark Dublin for the long trek south to deepest Waterford. To my surprise the route which used to take forever has a nice new shiny motorway the whole way down so even in the I-Canoe truck it cut down the journey time considerably.

Along the way the dawn was breaking in the east with the sun melting off the ground frost and showing us the extent of the previous nights rain with the Barrow notably “in the fields” As we approached the morning was upon us bright sunshine lit up the road. I arrived at the Colligan guest house to roads full of paddling cars and vans full of boats and personnel donning wetsuits and dry suits galore. With the work van I cruised through the masses to a nice close area for sponsors :-)

 

After unloading a supply of demo boats and hanging banners and flags around the course I took to kitting up myself, With well over 150 people there it was an equipment explosion from people looking cold in damp wet suits to the dapper in their dry suits. I personally chose to use separate cag and trousers choosing the Sandiline splash range as is light and nimble and the twin neo seals not only insulate but do not chaff or rub, This with my K1Pro PFD I felt gave me an advantage as opposed to the lads in the full suits and rescue PFD’s. The games opened with the Men's sport as the many men made the long trek up the river over the bridge and up to the start the experts gathered around the final drop looking for lines and extra tactics.

 

after the men's sport went ladies sport, junior men, junior women, expert women and finally expert men. This was to be a hotly contested event after the Crana event 2 weeks previous and colligan events of previous years this event was sure to call in all the big names from all over the country.

 

The River was low with lots of rocks causing people to get stuck up and bouncing off the drops were low with tricky exit lines causing lots of bracing, and the competition was quick.

My first heat started badly getting myself spun at the beginning whilst paddling backwards with the pack I took the opportunity of an outcrop to fire the tail of my boat into giving the boat momentum to turn also blocking off the approaches from behind, after this fun I was sitting in 2nd just behind the leader, Having taken part on a few of these events now I've learnt the key is persistence the top two go through so stay close to the leader and if the opportunity to take the lead arises go for it. In my heat this game plan paid off with the leader just catching a eddy line losing speed I lifted the bow onto the slow moving water and charged forward into the lead and headed for the last drop and safely to the finish line.

The reward for a win the long walk all the way back to the top of the course for the next heat.

My second race put me against Dave o Sullivan, Conor Healy in the Flash C1 and Brian Keogh one of the pre event favourites this was one of the toughest races with Dave taking the lead at the beginning leaving myself and Keoghser to get tangled up with boats and blades entangled and the persistent threat for Conor in his C1 we fought our way down at one point pushing each other to the point Conor saw a gap and went for it before we blocked his move, Back to the game tactics I kept on his tail waiting for the error and once again it came with a small drop just taking the bow of Brian's boat slowing him just enough for me to get ahead as we entered the final drop I caught Dave powering to the finish right on his tail not giving up whilst still defending from the continuous threat behind coming home in 2nd place put me into the Semis.

 

 

Once again into the semis this time I faced a strong field containing more of the favourites Paddy and Wongie. From the start the lads forced me left and into the wall of the gorge slowing me down pushing me into last place as I came out I could see the lads steaming on, I put down the hammer and went for it, Around the halfway line I made my move into 3rd taking at an eddy from here all i could do was paddle with Paddy monstering ahead just out of reach making no mistakes at the finish I cruised through and finished up 3rd in my semi leaving me in 5th Place as i did in Crana.

 

Next up was the team event for this I pulled in Ronnie and Jemma to make my team. Jemma had flown over especially for the event all the way from the Custard County. We cruised to the start and got in the queue with each team going in a timed run to determine the winner.

As we headed off we set a good pace keeping the team tight and strong as Ronnie went for the roll I moved to the front like the mighty ducks in formation I hit the river left eddy as Jem went by I made my move smoothly to the river right eddy where i hit the banner, I watched Jem wave to the judged as Ronnie bailed down i eddied out back into the flow before powering for the finish line.

 

We had a clean run completing all the tasks and smoothly with no problems. We made our way back to the van.

 

This is where the drama started with a solid days paddling behind us we climbed the slope up to the top this had been getting progressively muddier as I reached the top I lost my footing on the mud and slipped forward trying to regain my balance with my paddle, I managed to hit myself in the face with the blade, I can confirm AT2’s are a very stiff and solid blade, resulting in a split lip and cracking a front tooth. So as a warning to everyone don't try to eat your paddle!!

While I was cleaning myself up the final took place with an all star cast, Paddy McGovern, Colin Wong, Rob Coffee and YanniMan The Greek. With the Paddy/Yanni rivalry fired up after the Crana event here was the rematch. In what was a close and powerful race all of the lads gave it their all, But Paddy took the win to make in 2 wins in 2 events, With Colin Wong 2nd the same as last year and YanniMan The Greek in third place and Rob bringing up the rear in 4th.

 

In a side not I can honestly say I was very impressed with the sandiline splash range with lots of good feedback it looks great and really did keep me dry and warm the perfect kit for boater X and adventure racing where the performance matters!

The event was hugely successful even with the low water levels and lower than expected numbers, everyone had a great day and the prize giving was really good with Prizes from I-Canoe, The Great Outdoors, Total Experience, MDAC, Bantry Bay Canoes, and lots more The most notable class was the junior men with Neil Slevin and Eoin Keyes  taking the top two places winning themselves Peak creek Cags also taking the junior men's team title to win Peak throwlines and then the Event award of a Palm PFD for their club these two will step up to the experts men next year and will take no prisoners in their quests for back to back titles, These two are some of Irelands best young paddlers.

 

The evening party took place back in Waterford with most people choosing to stay at Villa de Travelodge, It was warm and cheap :-) the party started in the rooms before moving to the road and down to the club, unfortunately due to my terrible injury I found drinking to be painful but was helped greatly with the aid of a straw. With the band rocking and the Nintendo themed fancy dress sporting Mario's, Luigis and various other blasts from the past.

The event was run professionally and smoothly with a knowledgeable team who have a system which works. This event has potential to continue to develop and improve, Roll on 2011

Thanks to the Colligan Gorge Games Crew

Crana Canoe Weekend

Crana Weekend is an action packed weekend of all aspects of paddle sport in a small town in the North West of Ireland Called Buncrana.

The river running through the area is called the Crana a dam released section containing grade 2 up to grade 4 drops it is here we find the venue for the event.

The event kicked off Saturday morning with the Sea kayak races having spent most the night driving I gave this a miss instead psyching myself for the freestyle event.

Next up was the open canoe skills where participants had to paddle pole and track themselves and their boats upstream against the flow a very interesting event to see.

Slalom popped up next with lots of classes for everyone to take part. The event went well with top paddlers making the long journey North to participate,

Last up was the freestyle a new event added this year and an event I was keen to participate.

The location selected was shallow but useful with lots of juniors strutting their stuff using the same scoring as the Sluice Rodeo gave lots of incentives for paddlers.

Up next was senior men with 2 heats into the second heat we noticed someone may of turned off the water leaving the feature increasingly shallow and the roll area below unsuitable for anything other than rocks but despite this we continued waving, kissing and high fiveing the judges with the odd helix attempt and a couple of Donkey flips for the brave.

Luckily I had done enough to take the Win with Declan O Donnell in 2nd and Ronnie in 3rd.

After a night out on the town and the arrival of Yanni The Greek, We were prepared for the Sunday highlight to the weekend! The Boater X

Up first were the intermediate and junior boater X using a section downstream of the main drop once over the attention moved upstream where spectators flooded the bridge and sanctions to take a glimpse of the carnage about to ensue.

  

The race format takes first rounds top 2 into the Gold event and the Bottom 2 into a silver event. With a few big names taking the hit and falling into the silver left the events with 20 in each from now on it was a straight knockout with the top 2 advancing each time.

 

I started the event well paddling fast picking a clear line through the bolder garden and cruising into the final drop with the field behind me taking a perfect line and into the lead this put me into the Gold event where I managed to face the same chap twice both time he tried his best to spin me off line but taking boater X rules as anything goes as long as no one gets hurt I may of let go of my paddle to give him a sharp shove in the opposite direction this didn't please him too much but he was behind me which was all that mattered. I had a small scare in the semi catching a rock and finding myself at the back of the pack had to work hard to push my way back into contention unfortunately I was left in 3rd and missed out on the Final :-(

The final was won by Paddy McGovern, Barry Loughnane 2nd and Yanni  in 3rd. Due to a disqualification to the leader for changing boats this meant that we all got bumped up leaving me and Ronnie in joint 4th for the event

 

a great result from a great weekend.

Sluice training session

Sluice 10th October 2010 from DUKC Productions on Vimeo.

Sluice Rodeo Training 2010

With only a couple of weeks to go everything is falling into place for what is to be the largest freestyle event of the year.

 

Now time for me to get training!

 

At the moment doing a session at sluice pretty much every day either on the feature or a flat session depending on releases as well as this to build fitness currently running every day.

 

few pictures below

 

 

Liffey Descent September 2010

 The largest annual event in Irish marathon racing was once again upon us with over 800 paddlers over a variety of classes either battling it out for the win or purely their for the Craic. The morning of the race came and with it brought wet and miserable weather with lycra and neoprene being donned and numbers applied to the boats, last minute tactics and lines were being discussed.

I had already set up my boat.

I was to paddle the I-Canoe Exo Fastwave which with some light sticker application became the SpideyFastwave

 

This added to my Spidey mask made me invincible!! :-)  (I hoped)

 

So with Zero Training and never paddled the boat before I made my way to the get on at the K-Club with hundreds of people around to fall in would be embarrassing (Lucky I didn't)

 

The start line was pushing and shoving with paddlers all fighting for the start line.

As the horn blew the group moved forward with great spirit. Boats and paddles being caught up on one another making their way towards the first weir at straffen.

The rescue were standing by waiting for the lemming like paddlers hitting the weir.

my race continued without much fuss, I quickly got used to the boat and found a rhythm that worked. I paddled on using the weirs as excitement as I paddled on down looking out for friends on the way.

As the race continued the flood caught us giving us an extra burst of speed propelling the boats through the water.

Once I reached Lexilip The lake was their a slow slog through open water this is where the wavehopper slowed with no water the boat seemed to drag. once through the portage at the dam I could relax being on my home straight, Between sluice and palmerstown I felt at home, Probably the trickier of weirs but I took it in my stride with  no real problems a quick eddy out and chat at Sluice and leant the wrong way at Lucan but quickly recovered and carried on paddling.

  

Once past the home turf came a couple more weirs and another flat section towards  the finish. As I approached the finish line I could feel the buzz and excitement of paddlers already finished and waiting for friends.

 

I finished 19 in a time of 2:52 which I was very happy with and will definitely try and beat in the future.

A special mention to the rest of my team with colm and wai har completing with No swims, Mark Coleman powering into 2nd in C1 and John and Lynda the last canoe home after suffering a large crack in the hull and taking on water well done for still completing the race!!

 

 

Well maybe Colm took a quick dip!

European Championships Report 2010

In June 2010 Irish Freestyle sent a team of 14 to the European Freestyle Championships in Lienz, Austria. The team had been training hard for what was to be their biggest event of the year.

Freestyle is a discipline of white water kayaking or canoeing where the paddler performs various technical moves in one place by using a feature to move their boat over 3 different axis to score points for different tricks. The boats are designed to pop and bounce out of the water usually under 6feet in length the boats rotate quickly around themselves to score maximum points.

The Competition this year took place on the River Drau, a large river, running through Lienz, a quiet town in Austria. The feature was a river wide hole which was deep, fast and steep making it a composite boats dream feature.

Being that the Irish summers are known for their wet and overcast weather the team fled the emerald Isle in search of sun and crystal blue water of mainland Europe. With people travelling from all around Team Ireland met up on Sunday 12^th June this was the first time we had managed to get the whole team together and was a special moment for everyone.

Team training was due to start on the Monday with free practice time beforehand and the competition set to kick off on Wednesday.

The team Comprised of

Team Manager/ Coach/ Physio/ Masseuse/Anything else

Adrian Durrant

K1 senior Men

Thomas Dunphy, Barry Loughnane, Brian Cahill, Rónán O’ Braonáin, Paul Lydon

K1 Senior Women

Jackie Ferguson, Dee Ni Dhroighneain, Siobhan Mcgriskin

K1 Junior Men

Neil Slevin, Daniel O Broin, Eoin Keyes

C1 / OC1

John o Rourke, Kevin Mccabe

Squirt

Adrian Durrant

Overall we had taken the 3^rd largest team behind only GB and Spain quite an accomplishment for an Island less than half their size

On the Sunday we took the opportunity to flood the feature with the Irish team getting every paddler we have on the water, this worked as a successful tactic with only a couple of stray paddlers from other countries staying on the water. This gave us the opportunity to evaluate and reflect on where people’s levels were, as since selections there had been no real coaching sessions so it was a great opportunity to see everyone together.

We would video every training session this would give a point of reference to the athletes initially it would be used to work on individual moves and techniques and see where each person is going wrong and how they can improve, then during the team training sessions on Monday and Tuesday the athletes would look at building rides from their individual moves knowing what will score to include and what wouldn’t score to scratch then by practicing these rides as a whole would give the athlete the confidence to perform them in a competition.

During the prelims the athlete only has 2 rides and the combined total of the two rides gives them their score with the top 20 moving onto the quarter finals or the top 10 move to the semi finals.

Tuesday night saw the opening ceremony an official affair with organisers and leaders of organisations in attendance. This was to be the largest European championships with over 170 Athletes from 19 Nations across Europe.

The Wednesday morning, The first day of competition and up first Irelands own Kevin McCabe to be the first ride of the 2010 championships with John o Rourke in the 2^nd heat of OC1.

OC1 is a cross between a bath tub and a canoe the idea is to move your craft through various axis with a single blade to score points before you fill up.

Both lads went out with fierce competition and unfortunately neither got onto the score sheet but there were no swims, breakages or loss of dignity making the first event a true success!

Next up were the Senior women this is a category where Ireland are very strong with some of the world’s best ladies paddling in Ireland. This year was no exception with Jackie a veteran of both Freestyle and Surf world events , Siobhan competing at European and world championships and a new face on the team this year Dee who is a girl with motivation she trains hard but had a rather close encounter with a few rocks earlier in the week bounced back with a big smile.

The girls were up with unfortunate flushes and harsh but fair judging leaving the ladies way down the order with Siobhan managing to get a solid ride to boost her up to 13^th none of the ladies made the semi final cut.

Junior men were set to go with Eoin Keyes and Neil Slevin fresh from completing their level 5 proficiency awards in Italy and Daniel o Broin showing off his brand new Pyranha Molan.

Daniel put down his best ride of the competition really using the feature moving around nicely but just not quite scoring leaving him on zero points following this Neil made some silly mistakes and flushing also not getting on the score sheet. But hope was not lost Eoin stepped up to the plate working hard all week on his loops sticking them sweetly in the competition this along with a few cartwheels and spins left him up in 8^th place making the cut for the Semi Final.

Last event of Wednesday was the C1 Competition this is another event where the competitor kneels in a kayak with a single blade. The moves these guys pull are unreal with more leverage and higher centre of gravity always leads to large scores. With the absence of the current European and world champion this was an open event with everything to play for.

Orky was up, landing his spectacular loop we’ve been watching him practice all week. But unfortunately he may have spent too long practicing a single trick, leaving him below the cut off.

Kevin McCabe at his first big event had a couple of disappointing flushes leaving him without a score.

Thursday was the day of reckoning when the testosterone of Europe lay down their rides, man to man. With 60 senior men the cut would be top 20.

Up first was Adrian Durrant as a last minute reserve for Thomas Dunphy who had been training hard all week had to head back to Ireland the day before for family reasons this was a massive loss to the team as Tom had been putting in some massive practice rides really working hard leaving it to the Team manager who’s training had been limited to step up. Adrian worked the hole scoring loops and cartwheels with unfortunate flushes on his second ride leaving him with 100 points a very noble effort.

Next were Paul Lydon and Rónán O’ Braonáin being drawn in the same heat giving them an added motivation to perform well. Paul kicked things off but couldn't make things stick until the last 15 second when he laid down a flurry of ends and loops to get the points on the board. As Ronnie dropped in the pressure was on. The usually cool and relaxed man from Maynooth was a bag of nerves and it showed his first ride was pretty poor by his standards as the heat moved along both lads relaxed and began to enjoy the occasion putting down solid second rides of loops and cartwheels to leave them in the points.

Brian is a veteran of past events and it showed, as he dropped in looking composed he stuck an awesome air loop, the first we'd seen from him all week. Brian paddled as he'd practiced linking ends with clean bonuses and splits to rack up the points.

Last up was Barry, this is a lad for the future he has a fantastic style and loves to go big..... But has issues with stopwatches he hates paddling with limitations. Barry laid a solid ride out but just couldn't bring the boat around for the mcnasty leaving him with a good score.

As the scores came in the whole of Europe held their breath. The competition was tough with none of team Ireland making the cut for the quarter finals.

Brian 210 points, Paul 150 points Barry 136 points, Ronan 111 Points, Adrian 100 points

This left team Ireland with only two competitors left Eoin in the junior k1 men’s semi and Adrian in the squirt event.

In the Semi Finals Eoin paddled superb again really getting his ride together consistently but with the standard improving , leaving him in 10^th Position overall a great result for team Ireland!

With the last day of competition upon us first up was the squirt event

Squirt boating is a form of free ride the athlete must use the river and its features in a specified area to score points through a smooth series of vertical rotations followed by using the feature to submerge the boat and sink, by submerging the boat and paddler the athlete gains a multiplier of up to 2x their score.

The event started bright and early with three runs for each competitor. The water was cold and the skies overcast the event was hotly contested with the reigning European and world champion in attendance there were sweet linking cartwheels and washouts followed by smooth mysteries. Adrian paddled well coming in 4^th place just off the podium.

As a fun event Teva sponsored a cardboard boat race this involved building a craft out of cardboard boxes and parcel tape to get a crew down the river and through the feature. Team Ireland took this event seriously building a huge craft with four crew successfully making it down the river in full view of the gathered crowds. This was an excellent performance from the Irish team paddlers.

The European championships was a successful event for team Ireland with many gaining competition experience while others used the event as a warm up to upcoming events.

Next year the world Championships are being hosted in Plattling, Germany to which Team Ireland hope to be able to send a full squad to compete at the biggest event in Freestyle kayaking.

.Adrian Durrant

Europeans Video Austria TV

Small clip of me squirt boating at 3:20 Adrian

 

Teva Cardboard Boat Race the Video

heres the video team Ireland and their Giant Penis

Adrian, Daniel, Brian and Kevin

European Championships 2010 Photos

Photos from the european freestyle Championships 2010 in Lienz, Austria Available to view HERE

European Championships Day 11

After 5 days of rain this morning we finally decided enough was enough and we were leaving Lienz for warmer dryer pastures.

So we packed up camp and 3 cars headed for Munich on the way we realised just how cold it was with fresh snow on the same road that was 34 degrees just 10 days previous

 

We reached Munich late afternoon booking a couple of rooms at a top quality holiday inn! it had a pool, sauna and steam room which we took full advantage of before heading for town, we jumped on the underground for a few stops getting into town on the hunt for a litre of beer and food.

 

first up we found food a lovely pizza house with gooooooood pizzas. litre of beer was proving a little harder on a Sunday evening strolling around Munich admiring extravagant buildings and the power of water and fountains about the place.

We eventually came across an open pub and on our table landed 4 litres of beer nice!

the evening moved us to a local Irish bar to enjoy some karaoke bad Guinness and a train ride back to the hotel for a well deserved sleep!

 

European Championships Day 10

Day 10 was to be finals day the last day of competition after a long and lively losers party the night before we wake to remember the squirt event had been moved forward from a respectable 5pm to an unsociable 10am. still feeling the after effects from the previous night we head to the hole.

Squirt boating is seen as the dark side of the sport with so many masters weather it be flat water routines of movements and rotations or the deep water specialists the guys who love to sink. With an eddy lined with glitter and a river almost freezing off we go.

with the best ride counting we had to make it good. with a flatwater routine to build the points and a quick dunk to make a multiplier. unfortunately sinking wasnt easy on the feature meaning a lot came down to the flatwater.

This was only my 2nd time in the boat since damaging my ankle and made the most of it putting down a solid ride including party tricks cartwheels even a cheeky switch wheel it felt good but with no mystery it left me in 4th position just 3 points off of 3rd place and a place on the podium.

the day was then spent building our craft for the cardboard boat race their was lots of creations pirate ships and hens and the paper paddys and their massive penis.

  

As we had boxes spare i managed to make myself a costume looking a bit like ET! our Giant penis floated without a problem even managing a cheek surf in the hole with no swims we cruised down to the waiting safety crew to pull us in!

We spent the rest of the day watching the finals with pringle unlucky to be beaten in the mens final but Peter laying down ride of the competition 985 points to take the title leaving word cup winner pringle with the silver.