TEAM MANAGER & CHIEF RACING COACH REPORT FOR 2013

From the eleven members who qualified as Level 1 coaches in 2012 there are three who coach a number of times a week without fail. They are Wayne Dilks, Graham Doughty and Deborah Quittenton. There are others who also coach regularly and others who can be called upon when required. I am sure that Gary will have given you more details in his Coaching Coordinator’s Report but I feel that I should also add my thanks to you all. Our present coaching regime has transformed the way beginners are catered for and developed. Any member interested in coaching could begin by becoming a “Club Coach”. If you are interested please have a word with Gary. The BCU now has a category for parents and non paddlers to help out as coaches.

Congratulations to Elizabeth Gray and Peter Quittenton for gaining selection to compete for the GBR Junior team at the Olympic Hopefuls Regatta in Racice, Czech Republic. This achievement ensured that the club had yet another year where at least one member competed in a GBR team each year since 1964 – apart from three years at the end of the 1970s. This adds up to 47 years in the last 50.

The excellent East Midlands (East) training day took place last March. This year’s event will be held at the club on 8th March. There have also been Regional Training Days and Local Training Days, the details of which I am sure Gary will have included in his report.

MARATHON RACING

At the National Marathon Racing Championships 5 members won 3 gold and 2 bronze medals.

In 2012 there was a tremendous improvement in the numbers competing in events. 44 members, aged between 12 and 70 took part in National Marathon races, plus another 8 in the Lightning events. This year the numbers were 42 and 10 respectively – two down in the adults but two up in the Lightnings.

Our own Lincoln race, thanks to Dave Mylett, successfully, in spite of the rain, took place in October last year. Many thanks to the considerable number of members and friends who helped out. I hope everyone who is not involved with the organisation on the day, will race this year on 5th October.

Marathon Racing is for all who can paddle 4 miles. The lower divisions cater for those who only paddle on a casual basis. It is easy to progress from Lightning to Division 9.

SPRINT RACING

In 2012, 35 members raced for the club at the five National Regattas. In 2013 there were only four regattas. 34 members, aged between 12 and 77 took part plus another 14 in the Lightning events, although only 3 of these competed in more than one regatta . Six members won 5 gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze medals at the National Championships. I must give special mention to Elizabeth Gray who won 3 gold medals including the K1 500m and 1000m National Championship in the Girls U14 age group, and Peter Quittenton for winning 2 gold and 1 bronze in the Boys U16 age group, including the K1 200m National Championship.

Sprint Racing at Holme Pierrepont is a serious business! It is the ‘top end’ of racing – an Olympic sport! All those competing there should be training at least three times a week. Last year I mentioned that frequently some of our junior members didn’t seem to be enjoying racing at regattas after being eliminated in the K1 heats! It is good to see that there are now more crew boat entries from juniors within our club. Only a few members of the club will achieve success in singles but others can be successful in crew boats if you train for them. They are good fun and much more rewarding than ‘going out’ in the heats in your K1! Also, by doing more races you achieve a much greater training effect. There are qualifying times for all classes in K1 at Holme Pierrepont. If you can’t achieve these times you shouldn’t be racing there in singles until you can!

I was disappointed with the Inter Club regatta result, after all the effort put in, where we finished 10th compared with the previous year’s 6th.

Now for a word of caution! As has been shown already by John, in his Secretary’s Report, statistics alone can be deceptive! The number of members shown above to be competing at Holme Pierrepont has shown an increase. However, of the 27 junior members who raced in 2008 and 2009 only 5 were still racing by the end of 2013 – 22 have stopped racing! The club has always ‘lost’ members each year for various reasons, but this rate seems excessive. We need to do more to retain our racing members in order to achieve our Development Plan target of having a member in each racing class.

I would like to thank Ellen Doughty for collecting the regatta entries and money in 2013 and for accompanying me to the Team Leaders’ Meeting at each regatta. Ellen has agreed additionally to collate and send the entries and take over my responsibilities at the Team Leaders’ Meeting in future. Thanks very much Ellen. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Andy Grimwood for collating and sending the entries for the last 20 or so years!

CLUB EVENTS

I would like to thank Debbie Quittenton for volunteering to organise the Challenges. For the first time since 2009 they all took place. I enjoyed competing in them. I hope we can build on the numbers taking part in the future now that, thanks to Debbie, their future looks secure.

Many thanks to all who organised, and helped run, the ‘Super Sprints’.

The Summer Mini Marathons were again a success with 44 (38 in 2012 & 27 in 2011) members taking part.

Our thanks go to Debbie Quittenton for organising the Junior Club Championships and Dave Mylett for organising the Senior Club Championships and to all of those who helped out. There was an improvement on the numbers taking part. There were 8 seniors (4 in 2012) and 20 juniors (14 in 2012).

(1994 = 20, 1995 = 19, 1996 = 17, 1997 = 20, 1998 = 19, 1999 = 17, 2000 = 18, 2001 = 17, 2002 = 16, 2003 = 24, 2004 = 19, 2005 = 20, 2006 = 23, 2007 = 21, 2008 = 28, 2009 = 34, 2010 = 27, 2011 = 18, 2012 = 18, 2013 = 8 S, 20 J).

Mini Regatta entries were up, = 55 (+7) the highest since records began.

(87=39, 88=43, 89=48, 90=38, 91=36, 92=30, 93=31, 94=24, 95=22, 96=23, 97=26, 98=29, 99=34, 2000=28, 2001=33, 2002=21, 2003 =27, 2004 = 29, 2005 = 28, 2006 = 25, 2007 = 30, 2008 = 38, 2009 = 50, 2010 = 53, 2011 = 52, 2012 = 48)

Mini Marathon entries were up, = 69 (+15) the highest since records began – one more than in 2010.

(87=45, 88=39, 89=52, 90=42, 91=39, 92=32, 93=33, 94=25, 95=24, 96=17, 97=29, 98=33, 99=33, 2000=35, 2001=34, 2002=28, 2003 = 29, 2004 = 34, 2005 = 25, 2006 = 33, 2007 = 38, 2008 = 40, 2009 = 62, 2010 = 68, 2011 = 58, 2012 = 54, 2013 = 69)

Big thanks, once again, go to Dave Mylett for organising the events and producing the results and to those who help out with the starts and finishes. As always, I would remind you that we have everything here which you need in order to excel at canoe and kayak racing - the water, the boats, the coaching, the experienced paddlers and above all the support from the club.

It has been a pleasure to respond to the requests for coaching help this year.

If anyone would like any advice just ask and I will be pleased to help.

I hope you achieve your realistic goals.

Enjoy your paddling. Laurence Oliver. 11.01.2014

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