Sea Kayaking Irelands Eye

With Ireland still dry (tho rumour had it rain fell in Cork/Kerry) we grabbed the sea kayaks and went for a spin,

Out around Irelands Eye, an Island just off of Dublin the front side a beached coastline and a martello tower the back side and you could be anywhere towering cliffs and stacks with some intresting swells and breaks with hundreds of sea birds perched and poised, the odd seal popping up for a look.

Another vastly underutilised area which is on Dublins doorstep, this was my first trip out but wont be my last.

heres a quick video of the paddle.

Irelands Eye

GMIT Intervarsity's 2012

So the time of year was upon us, where every paddling student in the country descends on one poor helpless town to run riot paddle hard and generally drink the place dry.

This year GMIT were hosting the event in Castlebar, Co Mayo.

The Friday saw the first event in a cold Crossmolina the coaches travelled pulling trailers laden with boats of all colours and sizes, as the Students arrived the polo comp kicked off with an exciting first round of games seeing a brave trinity narrowly miss out to a strong Limerick team, The 2 pre tournament favourites MUCK (Maynooth) and the GMIT had an opening round exchange with GMIT proving strongest taking the convincing win,

As the event continued so did the weather with drizzle and rain to contend with a wicked side wind flying across the pitch, One highlight was to see Carlow or ORK IT as its more affectionally known line up with a single man against a full team of 5. On his own Orky battled hard through tiredness and pain scoring 2 goals on his was to a loss knocking him out of the competition.

DCU took the wildcard place into the Semi-finals against an improving UCD having dispatched there local rivals they were pushed into a tense final against favourites GMIT

After a strong 1st half DCU were holding out at 0-0 and GMIT just couldn't find the net hitting all sides of the goal until finally into the 2nd half Kevin Pierce stepped up to finally score the first goal from then on it was one way traffic to leave GMIT convincing winners for the 2nd year running.

Friday Night the crowds headed to a busy Castlebar for celebration and socialising before the following days events.

Saturday started bright and early with a tough team white water race claiming many swims and a lot of pride after the white water the teams headed south to Tuam Co, Galway for the freestyle event.

The freestyle event took the format of team jam sessions with the top 8 moves of each paddler combined to create a team score, with many current and ex Irish team paddlers in attendance the field was stacked with talent, smooth cartwheels from Colin Wong and fast helix’s of Barry Loughnane saw some huge scores. The point of having a team event meant it was up to the whole team to perform for their combined total with ORK IT again a single paddler making it difficult to accumulate any real points.

A super strong University of Limerick team took the win with a great display working through the score sheet. In second was NUIG led by Barry and Andrew really working the score sheet and in third with an improving performance was DCU showing it could have been anyone's game.

The Evening saw the masses return the the Royal Theatre in Castlebar for a night of Soul with a James Brown tribute band in the house providing the music of the night.

A tired Sunday morning arrived with the long distance races to be held in Castlebar with a lack of rescue meant the race was cut from a healthy 8km to a short sprint over 2km

the K1 was first with a fast race led start to finish by Tom Brennan from Trinity followed closely in second place by Liam Banks of UCD next off was the high performance class again led by Canoeing Ireland athlete Neil Fleming taking a comfortable win with Colin Wong in second place. In the women's class Laura Griffin took the win with Aisling Griffin in second place.

Varsities LD

There were a huge number of GP paddlers looking for the points for their colleges.

The prize giving was held back in the college with some delay while the final points were added the results were announced

1st University Limerick

2nd UCD

3rd Trinity

With the decision made that the 2013 Intervarsity's will be held in Limerick once again.

Well Done to WeeMan Mark O’Connor for putting on an excellent event, thoroughly enjoyed by all!

 

Paddy Tec feeling worse for wear after a fast 2km race

Nottingham Training

As preparation for 2012 European Championships I am trying to get as much water time as possible on a variety of features, due to the nature of irish features being either rain dependant or tricky to learn I decided to take the short flight to Nottingham, UK and get some training at The National Water Sports Centre (HPP) the inlet gate is a smooth uniform hole allowing all hole moves to go, As a training spot because it remains uniform allows learning with lots of time to set up.

Obivously due to its popularity theirs usually a huge queue so I headed over Fri/Sat for a days paddling on my own before being joined by a lot of friends for a quick Saturday paddle before heading back on the plane to Dublin

 

The aim of my training is to effectivly start from scratch and rebuild by paddling step by step trying to get out of bad habbits and work moves on both sides – thats the aim lets see if it works

Heres some footage I got was using it as a training aid but its here too.

Wavesport Sluice Rodeo @ Stack Event 15th October 2011

After a long season the scores were in with all to play for in the last event of the Irishfreestyle League brought us back to Dublin well almost…… With no rain and the rearranged Liffey Descent unfortunately the ESB could not give us a flood on the river meaning no event at Sluice, so the back up plan was made….. Stackallan on the River Boyne, Co Meath. A small shallow wav/hole feature which was beginner friendly and good eddy access. The thought wasn't particularly appealing but on arrival we were greeted by a magical level seeing a sweet little feature where all moves were possible.
As the competitors arrived the marquees were up and the registration began, For 2011 the UK league was linked with the Irish League sharing Cardiff earlier in the season and this the last event, as a treat we had both World Champion and soon to be British Champion Claire O’ Hara, Soon to be British Champions Sam Anderson, Paul King and Kim Aldred plus Jack Mitchell who just came for the Guinness but ended up paddling with their bands of awesome supporters most notably the best supporter Laura King!
The event kicked off with 18 Junior men in heats full of entertainment big air loops and space Godzilla's leading the way. The standard was high with the ever improving junior men followed by the Junior girls with the same age old battle of Niamh against Caoimhe this time with the addition of UK team member Kim Aldred who showed the advantage of constant UK features to take the win, In the Sport Class Lee Doherty the ringer had a match set with Conor Mathews who recently reappeared on the scene with some cool liked ends and sweet spins Conor edged out Lee for the win. Both of these lads will be promoted to the Expert class for 2012 with some solid performances. For the Girls Sport Kate Mc Shearer Was left as the lone girl out for a paddle taking the win in style with some wicked waving and sophisticated spins.
The expert women showed the class of World champion Claire O’ Hara alongside Muireann and Aisling again proving why she's the best with some super smooth mc nasty's and air loops.
C1 this year had Orky showing off his Carbon for the first time on the east coast and it made the difference with the light swing weight hitting the air on both loops and Mcnastys into 1st place followed closely by UK Champ Paul King with his cool flurries of ends into splits really showing his class.
The expert men with all to play for saw UK Champ Sam Anderson take the win with his well practiced Felix's followed into 2nd by Adrian Durrant  and 3rd Eoin Keyes
The real competition was yet to start with the Masters grudge match Bernard Walsh and Garvan Smith tied for first in the league saw Bish Bash and Bosh take to the water in a fun affair of paddle spins air guitars and crown pleasers as Walshy surfed in for yet another ender he plugged, tucked and pulled through his first loop in competition. The crowds went wild did we really see a 53 year old ‘Cant teach an old dog new tricks’ learn and land a loop! this sent Garvan onto the back foot fighting back with cartwheels both ways and even a cheeky split to seal the deal. As the Scores were counted the crowds waited with Mairead 3rd, Richie Reade 2nd and the suspense was killing them JOINT first Garvan and Bernard the two of them were inseparable.

This was the final event of the year meaning it was also the final selection event of the year,
Event Results are here
league results are here
A huge thank you goes out to all of the sponsors for the day,
Wavesport Ireland have been a constant support of Irish Freestyle based on the banks of the Liffey the whole event really couldn't of happened without them,
You will all be glad to know Wavesport have already signed up as Title Sponsors again for 2012 with new ways to make the event bigger and better a huge thanks to Shane Cronin the man behind the scenes of Wavesport Ireland.
Outdoor Community provided you all with hot soup and sambos from their riverside marquee as well as media and photography
Canoeing Ireland for all their support from the office staff through access, insurances, and trying to book water.
South Dublin and Fingal Co Councils for their support with using the St Catherine's park access and safety management.
H20 Audio For there great prizes for the sports Category winners
Keen Europe for there wicked prizes for the Masters Category
I-Canoe for their support and demo boats as well as competition prizes for the event
Arc Cafe Bar for Party Venue
Paddle4play for event organisation
Event Photos thanks to Vinny @ Outdoor Community.ie


Heres A quick Edit from Conor Macken from the day,

Clare Glens Sunday 18th September 2011

Clare Glens 50cm-42cm

British National Marathon Championships, Worcester, UK. 27-28th August

The weekend started with an early morning start leaving Dublin port on a long and slow moving path for Worcester, UK

Once we arrived we set up the tents on a quiet corner of the Worcester Race Course. This was followed by a quick paddle to learn the course and to practise the portage. As the night closed in we headed for a hearty dinner and early night before the Saturday races.

Saturday was upon us bright and early with clear skies and warm sun showering the tents. As competitors and coaches arrived and the course filled up their was a buzz off excitement around the place.

The venue was Worcester Canoe Club a large clib house located on the banks of the magnificent River Seven. The course ran from just downstream of the club heading upstream in a lap based course with different distances for each group. The portage was a tight beach in and beach out set up with tough hill to get up from the river. The track was grass and tarmac with lots of spectator space. The finish line was then back outside the club house for all to see.

With Wave upon wave of starts heading up the course all under strict instructions from the started giving the commands, The constant show of coloured boats and determined faces leading off into the distance, With different classes and distances set for each group some were off to achieve just a single lap, whilst others the tough 7 lap course encompassing 6 portages.

As a team Salmon Leap were one of the biggest clubs in attendance and with the addition of Neil Fleming the Irish were among the most successful,

with Neil Sweeping the honours both senior men's K1 and with the help of trusty partner Peter Egan taking the Senior men's K2 title as well.

Also in the Senior men we saw some excellent performances from Dermot Hudson (6th) and Pedro Lopez (9th)

In the under 18 junior men saw Sean McCarthy continue his excellent season with a 10th Place finished closely by Iomhar Macgiolla Phadraig with a noble performance paddling the last lap and a half without his rudder. Following them up was Dan Grimes (16th) Donal Devenney (18th) Kevin Croc (19th) and Brian Mcguinness (20th) once again the curse of the Zedtech continued one lost rudder earlier and Bearach then taking a spill early on leaving him out of contention. This was followed by Brady dropping out halfway through to record his first DNF of the season.

Through to the under 16 and Jack O Hagan who has been in flying form all season coming back from a bad injury to just go faster and faster with every session took a well deserved 15th in a very competitive class. Down the field Jack Seery took an unlucky spill off the start line got himself back into contention with an excellent performance pushing himself up into 24th Place just in front of Michael Croc in 26th. Unfortunately Fiachra ran out of steam clocking up his first DNF.

Down to the U12 category with Kate McCarthy steaming off the start line with an excellent start pushing her right up into contention and coming in a very good third place this was followed on the Sunday by an excellent K2 performance with Kieran Kilbane taking a well deserved 5th place these are 2 of Salmon Leaps youngest athletes and definitely have strong bright careers ahead of them.

In the U14s Brian, Mark and Osin have been making a splash all season training daily with huge improvements and strong performances this was their first international race with a tough field Mark came home in 29th just in front of Brian who took a spill just metres from the line and Osin in 35th Place a great achievement in their first attempt.

Into the veteran classes with some very strong performance Tadgh de Barra took a strong 2nd place staying with the lead group from the start in the over 34’s this was followed by Liam McCarthy continuing his fine form in the over 49’s with a 5th place.

Then the one man who like a wine just gets better with age, Deaglan O’ Drisceoil (Digger) taking the win on the over 44’s category by over 2 minutes in his distinct bright orange Nelo he is sure to reek havoc in the coming season giving many of the seniors a run for there money

The Sunday was followed with K2 racing again with some very strong performances and some just blowing up after 2 hard races. Needless to say the bus journey home was a quiet affair!

Well done to all and here's some videos of the weekend

K1

K2

Clifden Weekend and Oranmore Video

August bank holiday weekend saw the Clifden Beach party rodeo weekend return after a break,

This year was set to be bigger and better with 45 people in attendance,Thank has to go to team paddlers Billy, Bowsie and Barry giving flat-water coaching clinics on a wild windy salt lake, this was followed by a small flat-water competition and a 45 person long eddy queue for the evening hole session.

The Evening beach party was a little washed out but as always the Galway crew made themselves a party under the cover of the IFS tent with bottles of Bucky and anything else they could find.

Sunday saw a slow start to the day with most people opting to hide away from the rain in search of warmth and food.

The comp kicked off Sunday afternoon with a large tide due,

We ran he event as 15minute jam sessions a format favoured by most as it gives time to really work the score sheet.

Off went the heats with big loops and flurries of ends  right up until the tide changed when we ran a quick inflatable comp, this was won by Orky and his Airplane off the bridge. The Heats restarted with the Expert men, unfortunately the timing was slightly out as we spent 15 minutes getting eaten by the hole we were followed by another expert heat which as the hole died saw big rides from both Barry and Bowsie to see them take 1st and 2nd spot in the comp, other winners included

Expert Men – Barry Loughnane

Masters – Garvan Smith

Sport Men – Lee Doherty

Sport Women – Caoimhe Farrell

Junior Men – Billy Brett

Flat-water – Billy Brett

A special mention has to go out to Mairead Barnwell for finishing 2nd in the masters a great performance, well done!

Sunday saw clear sky's and the wind drop just in time for a nice BBQ on the beach,

Monday we decided to head to Oranmore to find out what all the fuss is about, a small tidal feature just outside Galway,

We were very impressed an extremely good spot! very jealous its not on the east coast!

Here's the Video

Team I-Canoe @ Oranmore

Longford Canoe Polo Club Championships Weekend

With the rivers in Ireland still dry and a break in the K1 schedule, I took to the road in search of water, friends and something to do!

As it happened I received a call from Niall Power about a canoe polo competition taking place in Longford, a new venue on the calendar………. An offer I couldn't refuse!

With the van loaded I headed for the venue a small village called Clondra, based on the grand canal with the tease of a dry Tamonbarry to keep focused.

The venue was a small harbour basin big enough for 2 regulation size pitches with parking. camping, toilets and shower facilities as well as a pub. what more could be asked!

The event kicked off 10am Saturday with the first rounds of games. each team would play a league event with the top 4 from each division progressing through to semi finals and Finals.

The Sun was out but unfortunately our players weren't with our first game kicking off with only 3 players we held our own keeping the defence tight and looking for the break. midway through the first half the Calvary arrived bringing ‘Turtles’ up to a full team.

We gelled quickly and put out impressive victory's over our 1st four games on Saturday with teams from WWKC, Kilkenny Irish ladies and bad company all stepping aside.

The evening saw the local pub provide a BBQ for competitors keeping every one both hydrated and fed.

Sunday we awoke with games kicking off at 9am, the early start again caught us short once again 3 players with one late arrival saw us 4 against 5 and on the back foot resulting in a close game and our first loss of the weekend, with one league game left we needed the win to keep us top and meant the easier draw for the semi final, this we did with a full team and good goal difference putting us against Kilkenny in the semi in a 1st against 4th encounter,

Since Saturday the Kilkenny team had become seriously stronger with some late player additions including Billy Brett (Freestyle junior team paddler) again we pushed with skill and brute force taking the game and making it ours with what resulted in a comfortable win.

The sun made a brief appearance over lunch whilst the playoffs went on seeing Kilkenny beat the Galway team.

The afternoons excitement kicked off with a golden goal decided in Div 3,

next up Div 2 final saw Turtles against The WWKC team the game was a very close affair with the introduction of the shot clock causing lots of rushing and mistakes from both teams with a simple lob shot from Eric the decider in an extremely close 3-2 win for the WWKC team.

Last game of the afternoon was the div 1 final with the usual suspects of gremlins and WWKC in another heated final with only one yellow card in a hard fought match seeing Gremlins take the win.

Overall an excellent event in a superb venue with nice weather and lots of good polo and professionalism from all.