RACE REPORT – ADLINGTON –07/10/01

This was the last race of 2001, and MADCC’s last chance to regain their grip on the North West region having let it slip at Chester three weeks ago. All was going well and on the Friday the squad looked quite strong, then it all went from bad to worse! Sometimes as team leader you have frantic moments, such as when one half of a K2 pair suddenly becomes unavailable. The 24 hours leading up to this race were particularly horrendous, and the fact that this report is being thrashed out some five months later – and I remember the time vividly is testament to that. Three people had to pull out of the race, mostly due to illness. I was left with very few alternatives, and not much time to make them! Firstly I must apologise to the Hayes household for wearing their hall carpet out as I paced up and down for about two hours. Secondly, a really big apology to Karen Hayes for the disgustingly large amount of pressure that was exerted upon her to get her to agree to paddle. I still feel guilty! Even worse, was leading Pauline to believe she was paddling the Ardeche, when infact her and Karen were to set out in a K2!

All the problems aside, 16 MADCC members turned out, including three first timers. As I recall it was one of those non descript days weather wise, not sunny but not cloudy, not overly warm but not really cold. To be honest I don’t remember! The team was made up of 10 K1’s and just 3 K’s, so the doubles were under the greater pressure to gain the points we required.

First off was John in Div 5 K1. Due to a mix up of boats and seats he unfortuanately took a swim, yet still fought back into second place, well done John! Next off was Div 6 K1 where Neil, Adrian and Simon made up 75% of the entry. Neil and Adrian played cat and mouse most of the way until Neil finally pulled away for victory, with Adrian just behind. Simon was doing the usual and sweeping up the rear to ensure everyone finished safely! He did manage to scramble into the points though, so that’s an improvement!

Next off were Div 7 K1 with half the field being MADCC. The local lad took the gold with Paul placed second. After another long and grueling fight to the end Mark finally took 4^th with Mike 11 seconds behind in 5^th. Div 8 and 9 K1 was amalgamated so Pat carried a one minute time penalty. Racing in the biggest event of the day, the two new “boys” and Pat were in an entry list of 12! Pat stamped her authority on proceedings and seemingly romped home for victory. However, after the minute was added on she clung on to her gold by just ONE second. Chasing hard on her heels was one of our new recruits Richard Wain, it had to settle for silver. Our other newcomer missed out on the trophies and had to settle for 4^th spot. It was a great performance from both these two and hopefully we will be seeing more of them next year!

The doubles were low in number today, just five in Div7/8 and four in Div 9. In 7/8 MADCC had two crews entered. Claire and Nathan proved that youthfull enthusiam counts for a lot taking second place while racing veteran Kerrian helped new girl Rebecca into fourth place, or was it the other way round? Div 9 K2 saw Pauline and Karen do a stirling job under very difficult circumstances and pull off MADCC’s final medal of the day in bronze position, very well done to them both!

All in all it turned out to be a superb end to the year with MADCC gaining 2 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze in the medals. Overall MADCC ran away with the team prize gaining a points total more than double our nearest rival! It puts us in a strong position for next year when we defend our region title in the Hasler competition. The only sad part of the day was when I had to hand over the “Points and Posteriors” trophy to Chester. If MADCC can carry on like we did today we will win it back!