200 Club

After a lot of hard work behind the scenes from Paul Lynes and others, the 200 Club has been launched. It has been set up to raise funds to enable us to purchase the club premises and grounds outright.

50% of the money raised will be given out in prizes, with the remaining 50% going into the fundraising bank account. Membership costs £2 per month per lottery number, or £24 per year.

 The draw will be made on the last Saturday morning of each month, just before the 10:30am training session.
If we have 200 members, the prizes each month will be: 1st Prize £70 2nd Prize £30 3rd Prize £15

The Christmas draw in December will also be held with the additional prizes: 2 x 1st Prizes of £500

(based on 200 members)

The 200 Club is not restricted to members of BDCC, so friends, family, members of other clubs, please feel free to join!
Full details, application forms and all that malarkey are here.

Sorry about the lack of news recently. Plenty to catch up on.

New Year's Paddle
If you want to clear away that hangover and get the first paddle of the year under your belt, Dom's leading a training session tomorrow: 10:00 for 10:30am.

Lightnings
We have two new (well, secondhand) lightnings, bought from Northampton CKC. Thank you to Debbie Anderson for this.

Club Grounds
The club grounds day went well: new racking has been put up and weedproof membrane and gravel put down. The trailer has been sold on e-bay and has gone to a dragonboat club at Pershore.The shed has been moved and tidied. Many thanks to everyone who helped, and to the Nicholson family for their generosity.

Congratulations to everyone who helped the club to achieve second place in the Hasler Final yesterday. A fantastic, and most unexpected, achievement. A huge number of good performances - not just the twelve scoring paddlers but all the others who placed highly, thus pushing other clubs back.

Congratulations, too, to the lighting team on winning the national league. The Geoff Sanders trophy can now be added to the Spanish Galleon National championship trphy.

Not bad for a village club.

Disappointingly, the Poole Harbour Race has been postponed until 18^th September, meaning that it clashes with Pangbourne.
A message from the organiser says: The weather prediction for Sunday the 11^th has now settled into a Force 7 gusting Force 9. Not good for putting up marquees let alone racing boats. The weather for the following Sunday appears much better.

Congratulations to everyone who did so well at the National Championships.
Medal winners:
1st. U23 Ladies K2 Alice Murphy & Sophie Rooney
1st U10 Girls' K1 Esme Davison
2nd U23 Ladies K1 Sophie Rooney
2nd O59 Men K1 Robin Avery
3rd U23 Ladies K2 Laura Ferguson & Steph Holmes
3rd O54 Men K2 Robin Avery & Graham Warland
3rd U10 K2 Esme Davison & George Urquhart

And... National Lightning team champions Esme Davison, Toby Goater,  Max Harper, Hannah Jault, Luke Johnson, Sandy Lobban, William McCracken, Arthur Urquhart,  George Urquhart, Jessie Urquhart.

Also, Div 8K1, 3rd Paul Smith

Final Southern region league table. This table is unofficial and includes only those races run since September 2011.

1. Banbury          72     Southern Region Champions.
2. Basingstoke   68 (75)
3. Reading           68 (73)
4. Southampton  59 
5. Falcon              54 
6. Pangbourne    49
7. Longridge       30
8.  Wokingham    29
9. Cokethorpe     18
10. Bourne End  11

Excellent team performance at yesterday's Southampton marathon. Challenging racing conditions made for a very enjoyable race - lots of gusty wind and confused chop. Funnily enough, the mass sessions on the canal simulated the conditions pretty well.

Loads of winners and orher medallists - or muggists - Great win for Paul & Jack in Div 9, and so nearly a win for Tamsen & Kate in 8 (we won't mention the turn). A storming win for Guy in his first Div 7 since promotion - probably his last Div 7, too, and first place for Andy and Max despite the Chuckle Brothers act at the portage.
Tremendous second for Alice and third for Patch and numerous other top performances, and that's without even mentioning the lightnings. Nine - yes, nine - lightning paddlers. Wins for Max in K1 and Molly in K2, second for Molly in K1, third for Jessie in K1 and Toby and Wiliam in K2 on their racing debut.

As for the new venue - good, apart from the difficulties of getting the lower div boats on the water in time and the interesting portage - out at one set of steps and in at the next might be a better option.

Things are looking good for the Southern Region championship: we must have scored heavily enough to be there or thereabouts, and with one race to go, and a fourth as our dropped result, it's ours to lose, I think.

Lightnings too are looking good. They must have scored a whack of points and may be closing the gap on Ealing in the Sanders trophy.

Well done to the sprint team for 7th place in the National inter-club championships.
1st. Reading 458
2nd Wey 455
3rd Nottingham 440
4th L.Buzzard 434
5th Worcester 425
6th Richmond 418
7th Banbury 412
8th Chelmsford 410
9th Norwich 397
10th Elmbridge 393

45 teams competed.
Full team results here. 

Latest regional Hasler tables. These tables are unofficial, but should be accurate. Southern region sees five teams fighting for four Hasler final places. Banbury lead by three points from Reading, with Basingstoke close behind. These three look safe, but behind them, Falcon and Southampton are just a point apart. With Southampton's home race to come, Falcon will have to launch a determined challenge if they are to qualify.

It's a similar story in Eastern region, with Norwich, Leighton and Chelmsford clear of trouble, leaving the Barking Bishops battling for the last berth.

As I understand it, five teams qualify from LSE (why that is, I'm not sure - can anyone enlighten me?) and with several races to go it all looks done and dusted.

Burton are running away with Midland region - more tens than an olympic gymnastics competition - and once again, qualification looks to be decided already: eight teams well clear, with the other five fallen off the wash.

Qualification from the other regions is straightforward, but even so, competiton is fierce in the North-West with all four teams on the same points.

25.06.11

Sorry for the lack of activity on the website recently - I've had no internet.

Good luck to our two Cheshire Ring teams: will Banbury claim a new course record for a third year in a row. Conditions look good, and the teams look strong on paper.

A disappointing team result at the Reading Hasler yesterday: we were only fourth, behind Reading,  Basingstoke and Southampton, despite putting out a fairly strong team. All the recent promotions have taken their toll, for whilst there were plenty of good individual performances, we racked up lots of 17s and 18s rather than the 20s that we needed. Some of the notable results were a strong 4th for Irene and Ray in 7K2, good debuts from Rhiannon and Siobhan, 11th for Robin Flack inhis first Div 8 race, a win for Esme in U10 girls, and a 3rd for Tom in U10 boys, 3rd for Alice & Tasha in 5K2, with Max and Gary in 4th, 4th for David W & Andy in 6K2, demonstrating their patented portage technique, and 4th for Becca and Sophie in 4K2, with Iain Weir and friend in 5th.

Results - unofficial - just from my adding up:
1. RDG  235
2. BAS  223
3. SOU  220
4. BAN  210
5. PAN  204
6. FOX  199
7. WOK 149
8. CKP  128
9. LON   85
10. BEJ  26

We got a bit of a kicking!

But on the bright side, we now have 26 paddlers qualified K1 for the Hasler finals, and another 25 qualified K2.

A good set of results from the Basingstoke Marathon, considering that we put out a relatively small team with some big hitters missing. Congratulations to Becca, Dan O and Robin F on their promotions, and congratulations too to the lightning team for amassing a huge 121 points between them.

We were second on the day behind Southampton with Basingstoke third. This keeps us at the top of the Southern Region table for the moment, but the next few races are all in Reading's backyard so we need to keep putting out strong teams if we want to stay there.

We now have a reasoanble number of people qualified for the Hasler Final. Hopefully this number will continue to grow - to qualify, you need to do three races, and there are plenty of people sitting thee on one or two.

Irene finished the DW in just under 27 hours, placing 6th in the Ladies K1. Superb effort!

Congratulations to Dan and Alice who have won the mixed doubles in the Devizes to Westminster race in 21 hours 2 minutes - an outstanding achievement. Ray and Melanie were amongst the 26% of competitors to retire from the race: they were in good company - Ivan Lawler and Ben Brown dropped out too.

Well done to Mealnie and Ray for a striong 6:45:32 for 12th place in waterside D mixed doubles, and to Irene for 8th place in ladies K1 in 7:34:03. Alice and dan time trialled the course the pervious day in 5:41 which would have seen them 4th in mixed doubles.

The marathon season has restarted with a smattering of out of region races. Tony Gonzalez put in a good effort to come 6th in Div 7 at Cambridge - a choppy course which is not best suited to diggers. Peter Button was 14th in Div at Anker Valley, whilst Dom Murphy was 10th in Div 4 after a lengthy swim following a pile-up on the start line.

It's heartening to see bigger fields in the North-West, and the team results suggest theat it's going to be a competitive season: after three races, only one point separates Macclesfield, Trentham, Chester and Runcorn.

Eastern region clubs have attracted some new paddlers over the winter, judging by the eleven people - almost half the field - promoted from Division 9 at Cambridge. With only two races held, Norwich, Chelmsford and Leightin Buzzard have a slight gap over the rest.

Fourteen teams are contesting Midland region, though with eight teams to qualify, big clubs such as Worcester can pick and choose their races. They currently lie 8th, on 14 points, having only contested two of the four races. Burton and Lincoln are way clear of the rest on 38 and 27 points respectively.

No action in the rest of the regions yet. The first southern region race is Basingstoke in May. We will need to field a strong team to maintain our lead in the table, with Reading, Basingstoke and Falcon all well within striking distance.

Some high quality fields, too, in the Midlands, though with eight teams to qualify,

Like everybody else, we get bombarded by spam e-mails.
We recently received this particulalry inept attempt to begin a scam:

Greetings
I want to make inquiries for a private sea Kayaking lesson for a group of 5 Adults that will be coming to your facility to take classes for 4 weeks or more,depending on the routine of your classes,this classes will run through the months of July through August,in between the dates July 4th 2011 to 2nd August.If my request is granted,i would be glad to also make plans for  training kits if possible or necessary,please advice.
what are your safety measures?
Do you have accommodations,guest house or hotel close to your facility?
Get back to me in details with necessary information we need to know.

Regards
Allen Davis
Group Co-coordinator

Dates and prices for the Olympic Sprint regatta have been announced. Regatta is from 6th to 11th August, and £20 tickets are available for all days except finals days.

The slalom competition dates have also been announced: 29th July to 1st August.

Congratulations to Sophie Rooney - National indor kayak champion for Under 18s 500 metres. Sophie also picked up a silver medal in the 1000m, whilst Becca Seika took bronze in Under 16s 1000m. Good efforts too from Kathryn Stone and Natasha McLean.

A BBC news clip of the event, featuring Mr Brabants.

Clubhouse appeal

Clubhouse appeal

We were visited today by local MP Tony Baldry who turned up in a very tasty red MG with set Catherine's heart a-flutter. He made a very generous donation of £100 to the clubhouse appeal and offered us some very useful advice. Contrary to popular rumour, he did not go straight up to Matthew nd say, "Boris! Glad you could make it."

And the previous evening, the club was featured on BBC Oxford TV news, with budding luvvy David Woodcock the star of the show.

Appeal fund now stands at £716. Soon be £1000 down, another £134,000 odd to go.

Clubhouse appeal

Clubhouse appeal

The fundraising campaign to purchase the clubhouse has begun. Time is short, and we are lobbying to push back the deadline. We will need support from everyone to raise money, and a dedicated fundraising page is under construction. For now, though, both club members and members of the public can help us by:

1) Buying a brick for £10. You'll get a numbered certificate and your name on the website. Send your orders to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

2) Donate any old boats to us, which we can either use or sell. Don't worry if it's in your garden or shed, we can use it.

3) Tell us of any grants, trusts or sponsorship you know of, and we'll get the applications in. If you're a local business you might want to sponsor us too.

4) sign up for easy fundraising, it's a website that gives you cashback for your favourite causes

5) Come to the EGM on Sat 25th and volunteer to run an event or help at one someone else is organising.

Well, we came very close, but it wasn't quite enough in the end. Congratulations to Reading for winning the Southern Region title.

Despite some good performances, our depleted team didn't have enough strength in depth to win at Longridge. Scores on the day were:
1. Reading 226
2. Basingstoke 220
3. Banbury 219

I'm not a great believer in good and bad luck, but it was a day of if's and maybes. IF Alice and Tasha hadn't been capsized by an idiot in a cruiser 300m from the finish of Div 5K2 when leading the race; IF Graham and Dave's rudder hadn't broken; IF Matthew hadn't got cramp; IF the marshalls hadn't sent our Div 9K2s 300m past the turn before calling them back ... then MAYBE we'd have got the extra seven points we needed.

Conditions were awful: strong, blustery winds, a fast flow and a lot of chop. Our paddlers, with one notable exception (ahem) coped very well, and there was a string of good performances. I've not got the results, so I'm bound to miss some people out, but: Katie & Ryan 4th, Isla 3rd, Sam Jones 4th, David & Vicky 2nd, Elena & Helen H 2nd, Kate & Dawn 4th, Ian & Paul 4th, Max H 4th, Helen C & Colette 3rd, good K1 performances from Max D and Micky and a moral victory for Alice & Tasha.

A video, courtesy of Gailey CC, of Jackfield Rapids during Sunday's Ironbridge Marathon.
Look out for
Chris Hills & Gary at 5 mins 20 secs
David W & Vicky 6:30
Dom 7:50
Ian W (briefly) 9:00
Chris J 9:27

Two race reports from Chris Hills:  the Cheshire Ring and the Bath to Bradford Race. Apologies to Chris that it has taken me so long to get this put up on the website.

Also, an article from Andy Flack which has been on the site for a while, but which you may have missed. Kayaking Around Bardsey

A good day's racing at Wokingham yesterday. I can't do my normal results predicition as I had to leave before the higher division results came out, but we scored good points in the lower divisions thanks to some excellent performances.
Well done to all those who made their racing debuts: Chris, Elena, Fiona and Caroline (hope I haven't missed anyone).

There were wins for David W & Vicky in 8K2 and for Gary & Helen H in 7K2, thirds for Simon H in 7K1, Elena & Tamsin in 9K2, Seb & Katie in 5K2, and Julie & Chris H in 7K2 and a plethora of fourth, fifth and sixth places. Also, congratulations to Helen Clarke on her promotion to Division 8.

By my reckoning, we've scored around 228 points, which should put us up there among the contenders.

Swimmers' page has been updated. Please check to see that I've credited you with the correct number of swims.

The Mikron Theatre Company are making a welcome return this weekend and wil be performing in the club bgrounds on both Saturday and Sunday evening. Well worth seeing.

South-West region Hasler table has been updated after the Camel River marathon. Watch out in future years for the name Bronte Holden. An under 10 girl, she won Div 9 K1. Div 3 by the time she's 14, that's my prediction.

It was only a small team (31 paddlers) that we took to Southampton, but what a performance. Only one win (Robin in U12 boys), but plenty of second and third places, giving an unexpected and very pleasing second place overall.
1. SOUTHAMPTON    238
2. BANBURY               224
3. BASINGSTOKE      223
4. READING                203
5. PANGBOURNE      197
6. FALCON                 187
7. COKETHORPE         38
8. WOKINGHAM         37
9. ITCHEN VALLEY    19 

This puts us back on top of the Southern Region table with 73 points to Reading's 72, though the clubs are level on countback as Reading drop a 7 to our 8.

Congratulations to Max Davison, promoted to Division 6 and Micky White, promoted to Division 5 at Southampton.

Some good performances in today's Pangbourne Marathon. We had a bumper crop of 48 paddlers out, and they did well. A fine win in Div 1 for Dan, roared home by the rest of the Banbury team. Laura Tanner, after saying "I don't think I'll be good enough to race" won Div 8K2 with Julie. Lucy Ryan was second in 6K1, Andy Flack was 2nd in 8K1 Ryan and Abbie were second in 9K2 after another blistering start, and Max Harper was 2nd in U10 boys.

Plenty of promotions, too. Lucy Ryan and Gary Harper up to 5, Andy Flack up to 7 and Rob Austin and Andrew Lovegrove up to 8, despite coming 8th and 9th in 9K1. Must have been a very strong field. There should be several promotions form K2 to add to these.

We now have 43 paddlers qualifed for the Hasler Final, and plenty more who are only one race away from qualifiaction.

I normally publish a list of the team positions after each race, based on my rough calculations - but not this time: it's too close to call. Reading have won it, that's for sure. It's very close for second between ourselves, Basingstoke, Southampton and Falcon. My guess is that we've finished third, but I'm keeping my money in my pocket.

A flurry of promotions after the Reading Marathon; some of them expected, some of them rather surprising. Congratulations (or commisorations) to all.
Steve Flynn from Div 7 to Div 5.
Dan Golder from Div 2 to Div 1
Natasha McLean from Div 6 to Div 5
Ian Warren from Div 7 to Div 6
Iain Weir from Div 6 to Div 4 in kayak.
Iain Weir from Div 5 to Div 4 in canoe (although he didn't race in a canoe!).

Southern Region Table.

South-West Region Table.

Well, the sun shone on the racing at Reading today, but my oh my, wasn't it lumpy? Gusty wind against the flow mixed in with the wash from the Hoorays in their gin palaces produced some interesting water.

Some good individual results from our paddlers, but a disappointing team result of third - mind you, I can remember the days not so long ago when third place would have been celebrated as a major achievement. Let's hope that this eight points is the one we drop at the end of the season. Reading, not surprisingly, won, but Southampton really got their team selection right and pushed them very close. Good performance from Falcon, too.

Unofficial team results:
1. Reading           235
2. Southampton  232
3. Banbury           222
4. Falcon              216
5. Basingstoke    200
6. Cokethorpe     139
7. Pangbourne    101
8. Wokingham      98
9. Longridge         77
10. Bourne End    31
11. Eyot, Henley  14

Congratulations to Max Davison on promotion to Div 7 after taking 2nd in Div 8, and to Ian Warren, promoted to Div 6 after 6th in a high quality 7K1. Bound to be some K2 promotions too after a huge win for Tasha & Iain, a 2nd for Abbie & Ryan, a resounding win for dan in Div 2 K1  and several other high placings.
Well done to Max Harper for winning U10 boys K1, and Isla for 3rd in U12 girls. ALso to Esme, Colette and Helen H for their racing debuts.

Midlands Hasler Table after Anker Valley.

Eastern Hasler Table after Bedford (Unofficial)

Discovered by Graham on You Tube - John Noakes does the Liffey Descent. If you don't know who John Noakes is, you're too young to watch!

Congratulations to Dave Gallimore, promoted to Masters B at the April Sprints.

Plenty going on this Sunday, 18th April. Firstly, Graham is organising a race training session on the Thames at Wolvercote in the morning. Please see the sign-ip sheet in the clubhouse.

Secondly, Irene is organising an Easter Egg Hunt at the clubhouse in the afternoon from 2 - 4pm, This will be a junior fun afternoon with a mix of sprint and egg obstacle races, and a few challenges on dry land. All standards are welcome. The prizes will, of course, be Easter eggs. If any adults would like to stay and help please let Irene know: she will need adults to steer the Canadian canoes.

Please let her know if you are coming by Saturday 17th. A £1 contribution per child towards prizes would be appreciated. Squash and biscuits will be provided.
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or phone 01608 730152

As previously mentioned, On Saturday 24th April, Ron Heritage of the Inland waterways Association (IWA) will set out from Banbury to retrace the voyage of Tom Rolt's Cressy, this year being the centenary of Tom Rolt's birth.

It wouldn't be much of an exaggeration to say that the journey just before the outbreak of World war II,  and the subsequent book Narrowboat saved Britain's canals from being closed down and filled in, so all canal users, be they paddlers, narrowboaters or,yes, even anglers, owe Rolt a huge debt.

Events in Banbury start at 10:30am, with Ron sallying forth at 12:00 noon. It would be lovely to have a flotilla of kayaks down at Banbury to be part of the celebrations.

More details about the voyage can be found at http://www.banburycanalday.co.uk/Canal_Day_2010/canal_day_2010.htm

A good weekend's racing coming up. Saturday April 24th sees our own WildWater Race on the Avon at Stratford, then on Sunday April 25th it's the Anker Valley Marathon. This is an out of region race, near Nuneaton. Nice location, friendly host club and excellent refreshments. What more could you ask.

Details of both races are on the race calendar (click on calendar, not on calendar table).

Training times can now be found on the website: Club > Coaching > Training Times.

The club calendar is now fairly up to date, though there are still some dates to add.