Club Hare & Hounds, June.

I didn't exactly cover myself in glory with my efforts in the Wokingham Hasler. In some ways I'm almost glad that I inadvertently didn't register a time. Unfortunately I hadn't started my stopwatch either thinking that I'd have the official time at the end. I wouldn't have been the slowest around the course but it wasn't far off, and as far as I can ascertain my time would have been about 00:51 minutes, nothing much to be proud of there. Still, it had been a hard work-out and I was pleased with getting around without a swim.

Since taking up the paddle again in March my only other foray into any sort of competition has been in the club's monthly Hare & Hounds time trial when I've felt fit enough to complete the distance without bringing about another injury. Nevertheless, my name still languishes almost at the bottom of the club speed tables. 

The H&H is a handicap event seeing the slowest (ie me) off first on a fixed length course and then everyone else in ranked speed order, so that the fastest goes off last. The idea being that if the handicapper has done his job correctly, everyone will pass the finish line together ( it never happens). For the Hare (ie me) this can be a very tense time. On an out and back course the hare is armed only with the knowledge that the next person is starting 'X' minutes behind and has no idea whether he is  being caught or extending his lead until he gets past the turn point and can count the number of seconds/ minutes until he meets up with his followers. This sort of racing is an effective spur to efforts beyond just trying to improve with solo interval sessions. The competitive element draws out the extra needed to improve. 

The three H&Hs I've entered so far this year have shown a small improvement each time. In March I clocked 58:10 and was lucky to get in inside the hour while in May a small improvement resulted in 55:08. Billed as 4 miles, the distance is actually 4.3 miles which this month I started without very much expectation of improving on that time. Actually the main improvement comes from being able to keep going without breaks in paddling rather than any increase in physical speed. By the halfway turn my lead had been cut to a little over a minute so there was still a possibility that I could get home first. 

Unfortunately I was balked by the oncoming traffic of the paddlers at the other end of the spectrum as we met at a bridge where the space was just about sufficient for the width of a housboat, enough space to squeeze past but risky at opposing directions and at full chat. Consequently I was caught and passed less than a quarter mile from the finish pushing me into second place. But the bonus was that my time was improved by two minutes to 53:08.

Still room for improvement.