Banbury Hasler, October 2017

Quite a rush of activity as Ellie and her new k2 paddling partner prepared for Sunday's Hasler at Banbury. This was the first Hasler that Ellie competed in last year so she knew more or less what to expect. Banbury is within our area although it's the furthest flung of all at something like 70 miles away, so it's quite a trek to get to. Although it's mostly motorway, it includes a chunk of M25 which is always a problem to get through and can add a half hour to the journey quite easily. This time it took about an hour, forty-five minutes in all but we had allowed time to spare. On top of that it was clocks back day so we made it with time to spare.

The Banbury takes place on the river Cherwell and starts at a large shopping complex in the centre of town which the river runs through. The organising club having taken over one of the council car parks provided most of the parking but we still had to use one of the centre's parks which turned out to be quite easy to use, even with a K2 on top, and surprisingly cheap at £1.50 for the whole afternoon. Although this event had been on my to-do list I'd finally decided that my level of fitness still wasn't up to scratch and to spectate only.

Unfortunately the Cherwell at this point is rather narrow and is about the same width as the our own local canals, which makes for rather a lot of milling around at the start and one or two upsets that resulted in swims. This wasn't helped any by a couple of houseboats who seemed determined to press through the throng during the start but finally gave way to the throng.

Both Ellie with her partner in the k2, and her dad, going solo in a k1, lined up and were away on time but not without incident. Dad got forced onto the outside of the first right-hand bend and had to plough his way through the overhanging undergrowth from the bank. He was lucky not to get unseated but came out paddling strongly having dropped about three quarters of the way down the field. Ellie and co got away to a brilliant start but cut across the field at the same bend giving them the lead from the go.

Mrs D, the dog and I followed on for most of the first mile watching the other competing club members passing by and encouraging them onwards. Now Banbury is slightly unusual in the Hasler scheme of things insofar as it has a portage in the four mile race for the 7-8-9 groups. The majority of the other Hasler events don't put one in for the lower order race. This would be Ellie's first racing portage and we were slightly concerned how she would fare in the melee that is a racing portage. Last year, the organisers had allowed assistance at the portage for junior crews and dad he'd seen them through okay. This year they were on their own.

We needn't have worried. They coped quite well and maintained their first position. Once back in the boat they progressed a further mile to the turn around and back to portage again still maintaining first place. Dad however also coped and had worked his way back up to sixth place in his group 7. Both maintained their places to the finish with Ellie & co getting maximum points for the club and dad scoring heavily. Dad evidentially felt the need to finish with a flourish and took an unscheduled swim just after passing the finish line.