Last weekend saw the third of six British League Freestyle Kayaking events to determine this years British Champion. This stage was held at the newish whitewater course in Cardiff and it was the first uk freestyle competition to be held there.
Through the day the course was open to all on 8 cumics. At this level a nice hole is produced before the main bend in the course. The hole is quite friendly so is good for practicing moves on. The water is really clear so the bottom is easily visible and although the hole is shallow you don’t hit the bottom to much.
At 6pm the course was closed to the public and turned up to 12 cumics for the competition. At this level a much deeper more uniform hole is formed making for an excellent competition venue. One of the best things about Cardiff was that spectators could watch from the cafe when the really heavy rain hit.
Up first were OC1 with Alan Ward making his debut in this class making for a lively event. Paul King managed to stay focused through Alan’s swims to cartwheel his way to victory.
In the junior girls Rachel Bovill won with some snappy loops.
Matt Rogers won the junior boys with some big space godzillas and mcnasty’s. Local James Cooper got some impressive air in his small Rockstar and Sam Stephenson, who seems to be improving fast, came second.
In the mens Matty Nicholas kept flushing on his first two rides but had an awesome third ride to put him second. Alan had some really big moves in his rides and finished third. I chose the right moves to get three consistent scores in my rides and this was enough for me to take the win.
Photos by Andy Aldred & Dale Mears
This year the sluice rodeo in Dublin was one of six competitions used to determine the British champion. Unfortunately, the sluice couldn’t run due to an issue with a repair to a bridge upstream so it was moved 40k north of Dublin to Stackallen – not great when you don’t have a car. Luckily a local kindly sorted us out with a lift. The feature was a tiny wave that you probably wouldn’t bother stopping to play on if at somewhere like Nottingham. But the event was still good fun and more laid back than most competitions. It was a jam session format with best 5 moves counting.
Its quite hard to stick moves but I really like the hole. The rapids below are pretty rocky and there’s also a big rock in the middle of the hole that you need to watch out for but unlike everyone else I decided to use my carbon boat anyway. It meant I couldn’t plug hard so my loops and space godzilla’s weren’t as good but it was easier to retain mcnasty’s and phonix’s.
In the end my carbon boat only helped me score 50 points more than last year but my rides felt much easier. Results below:
River Exe Levels Guide