Coquet Canoe Club

22^nd Round the Island Race

June 26^th 2011

One of the warmest days of the year, but there was still a stiff offshore breeze. The sea was reasonably calm, although one paddler managed to get caught by a bit of surf while rounding the island rather too closely, and had to roll!

43 boats went round the island, including 3 doubles and 3 slalom boats.

First back was Nicky Cresse, from Tees Tigers, in a WWR. This was the fastest ever recorded race time, 43m 34s.

The ‘proper’ winner (only seakayaks count!) was, again, George Oliver from Nottingham in an Anglesey. George first won this event in 1992, and this is the 8^th time he has been the first seakayak home. He is now in the Grand Old Man (55-64) category, and shows no sign of slowing down.

Roswitha Wagenknecht of Tees Tigers was the first female back, one of the bunch of 18 to come in under an hour. Then we had Dave Brook, first in the 65 – 75 age group (Old men of the Sea), and Ann Jones (1^st Grand Old Woman).

Erin Turner was the youngest to go round. Only 10, but paddling in a Topo Duo with her father.

Tees Tigers were the only Slalom boats in the long race: 15yr old Brendon Watson was only seconds ahead of 14yr old Bethan Kelly, in a fast time of 1 hour and 10 mins.

Bob Martin swapped his wheelchair for a padded out Skerray and joined other Coquet CC members as sweeper ups giving encouragement to the slower paddlers. And the oldest competitor this year was Anne Colledge (73), and I’ve lost count how many times she has done the race!

The Junior race was won by Connor Turner (Tees Tigers, again), followed by his clubmate Ben Teasdale. Coquet’s Andrew Robley was third, and took, for the 3^rd year, the Rab Beal Trophy. 10 year old Hal Burke did well to finish, but 9 year old Olivia Mawdesley struggled with the headwind on the return leg and had a lift back in the safety boat.

Thanks to the RNLI and CG for Safety support; Coquet Shorebase for additional safety boat cover, and all the club members for the organisation. (And whoever is responsible for the weather – much better this year; keep it up!)

Next year’s race is on Sunday July 1^st, start time is 11.30am. See you there.