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| The Glenarm. A wee gem. |
Back in mid October the biggest freestyle event of the year took place at the Sluice in Dublin. I had not paddled in a playboat, never mind a competition, for at least two years so was excited to jump into an old riot disco and have a go, old school style! I was really impressed with the standard of paddling in the tricky feature. The juniors in particular were amazing and could have easily competed with the experts. It was great to see such a big crowd at the event and credit must go to the Irish Freestyle team who are doing stellar work. The winners in each category were:
Mens Expert - Tom Dunphy
Womens Expert - Three way tie between Aisling Griffin, Muireann Lynch and Erica Hennigar
Mens Sport - Andrew Regan
Womens Sport - Aishling Goff
Junior Mens - Robbie O' Shea
Junior Womens - Caoimhe Farrell
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| Looping in the Sluice |
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| Give us a wave Moogie! |
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| Take off. |
At the end of October we had the Crana Canoe Weekend which was held in the most northerly point in Ireland on the amazing Inishowen Peninsula. This was only the second year of the event but it is already one of the biggest in the country attracting paddlers from all over. A number of releases were organised for the short class III section of the Crana River which flows through Buncrana town. A slalom race, freestyle event and sea kayak race were all held on the Saturday.
I have to confess at this point that I missed all of these events as we went on a wee drive very early Saturday morning to the Glenarm River in Co. Antrim. This was a river I had heard a little bit about but nothing prepared me for what was in store. Paddling with a good group of local lads we put on at a spot where it looked decidedly low. They said it would be scrapey for a while but that it would be worth it. It certainly was. The river was tight, technical and steep all the way down and with the bright sun shafting through the trees every so often it really was a magical run. The drops just kept on coming as the river cut deeper into the valley. At one point the guys shouted about a 25ft clean waterfall coming up but I just laughed, not really believing them. This may well be my new favourite run!
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| Andrew tucking up on the big one. |
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| A magical place. |
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| Big slide on the Glenarm. |
On Sunday morning the boater X kicked off on the top section of the Crana, taking in the main rapid aptly named "The Claw". Heats of four paddlers went head to head until we were down to a select few. My first heat was going well until I capsized on my way down The Claw, splitting my boat in the process. Very annoying but at least I got to enjoy the final few races. This was a very close competition in the final stages with the guys in Pyranha G3's having a distinct advantage. The guys in Buncrana put on a great weekend that will surely be bigger and better again in 2011. The final results in the mens expert were as follows;
Men's Expert Results
1. Paddy McGovern
2. Barry Loughnane
3. Yanni The Greek
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| Racing on the Crana. |
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| Barry atop The Claw |
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| Paddy well ahead in his G3. |
The rain started to fall a bit heavier during November and we had fingers crossed that there would be water for the Colligan Gorge Games. This annual boater-x has become the most popular of the year and 150 paddlers of all abilities were registered to start. We didn't get the heavy rain but the level was still good and made for some super racing down the narrow gorge. The start in a pool above the first rapid proved crucial in all races as many well known paddlers found out! The men's finals saw a well deserved win for Mr. Consistency, Paddy McGovern. There was skin and hair flying in the women's final with Jenny Kilbride eventually coming out of the maelstrom in first place. Thanks to the CGG crew for another great day out and the after party didn't disappoint either!
Now I'm heading off to find a big hill and go snowboating. Let's hope things start to thaw out soon. I'm missing the river.
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