Friday night traffic is never good, but a massive fire on the M6 is the last thing you need on the long drive to Hexham. Despite a very late arrival for some, the paddlers were up and eager to get on the river early Saturday morning and practice on what turned out to be a very tricky course due to the low water levels. It took some getting used to and finding the correct technique was crucial. Alana Middleton had cracked the course in her K1 for the girls and took a very impressive 4th place with Katie Greaves under 1 second behind her in 7th place, for the boys Will Mayer took 3rd place with Harry Kirby just 0.3 of a second behind in 4th. For Harry the best part was both his runs were clean, no mean feet on this particular course. Ashley Holmes took 7th with Finley Croome making a comeback after a poor first run with a clean 2nd run and 10 seconds quicker, taking 12th. For George Hancock in Div3 a clean run secured him 2nd place and Theo Wright managed an impressive 4th despite only managing one run before pulling out with an illness. Full results for Saturday are here.
After a decent K1 run Isaac was in his C1 and on route to gate 4 when his paddle got caught in the shallow water and he was over. He managed to right himself and was clearly upset, but after some encouragement bravely paddled onto the next up gate. It was only as he turned downstream that we noticed he had sustained a nasty cut to his eyebrow. He continued on, but the cut needed seeing too, so much to his disappointment he was called off the course. After a quick clean up he was shipped off to A&E and returned quickly all glued up and feeling fine, but annoyed he wasn’t able to compete.
Sunday was a chilly start, with the added joy of the clock change! Whilst the parents wandered around bleary eyed the kids got on with the business in hand. This time it was Katie who found top gear and laid down a cracking first run. Unfortunately her second run didn’t go so well, but it didn’t matter as she had already done enough to take 1st place and gain promotion to Div 1. Not wanting to be left out Will also turned it up and with two impressive clean runs, took 1st and promotion. A massive congratulations to both of you. Ashley was able to keep 7th position again, but for the others not so much luck, all struggling to improve on Saturdays results. With the exception of Harry and Jack Evans who both managed to gain some positions from the previous day. Full results for Sunday are here.
