RACE REPORT: - CHESTER TROOPER: - 02\05\2004

The sixth race of the season is held on the River Dee at Chester, hosted by Chester Sailing and Canoeing Club. Yet again this event was held on the same day as an assessment race for the British team. Although we don’t actually have to compete with these highly trained and super fit athletes, other members of their clubs tend to come along to support them, so the level of competition at this race is always much better than other events in the North West. A slightly smaller team than normal with just fifteen MADCC members making the trip across Cheshire to race in the sunshine. With just nine singles and three doubles everyone knew it was going to be hard work if MADCC were to retain the top team of the day prize!

To make things different the twelve-mile events raced after dinner, while the four and eight-mile events went before dinner! That meant Robin didn’t start his combined Div. 2 & 3 K1 race until 13:00. This obviously suited him as he took 2^nd place, even beating the higher ranked paddler! Well-done Robin. Neil was our only eight-mile entrant in Div. 5 K1. Another strong performance from him saw him claim 4^th place, but he was the 1^st veteran!

The first four-mile event was the combined Div. 5\6, 7\8 & 9 K2 race. Nine boats lined up at the start, three from MADCC. John and Adrian worked hard all the way to secure 2^nd place, while behind them a battle raged for the next three places! Sarah and Simon came back from sixth place to fight their way into 3^rd spot, winning the finishing sprint by just one second! Catherine and Andrew also paddled very well and finally took 5^th place, well done you two. Another hotly contested race was Div. 7 K1. Mark led for most of the way, only to be out sprinted to the line, and was pushed into 2^nd place by a second. Mike chased him home in 3^rd place with Paul just behind in 4^th spot. The pace in Div. 8 K1 was extremely quick and pat took 6^th place while Margaret and her new boat were in 7^th place. Hopefully Margaret can cure the cramp problems for next time! Div. 9 K1 saw yet another sprint finish, with Mark being pushed into 2^nd place by that now magic one second! Karen kept her cool and balance in some rough water to take 3^rd place, well done Karen.

Overall it turned out to be a very successful day for MADCC, with four silver medals and three bronzes. Our club represented itself very nicely indeed and secured some very respectable results given the strength of the opposition. MADCC claimed the top team of the day award, taking top points yet again in both tables for the North West. This is no easy feat at Chester, especially on an assessment day, so a huge thank you and a really well done to all those members who put in so much effort to make the day a success.