Last week I did a come and try session on the river near Hadspen for summer paddle racing hosted by the Tamar Canoe Club. Setup to be a handicap event, this weeks time trial set a bench mark time over the 6.5km course from the weir to the island and back for each paddler. Next week the racing starts with everybody handicapped to theoretically have everybody finish around the same time so everybody has a chance to win the series slow or fast.

A few sand bagging I think this week to get a slower time but it will quickly even out as the times are reviewed every week. I managed a 38:27 for a 10.2km/h average which is up there for me. The type of boat you are paddling has a large influence on your time. The fast current on the way up made for a slow out and a quite fast back with the current. You try to keep out of the current as much as possible on the way up the river and use it to your advantage on the way back.

Start gun has just gone off

The route is quite scenic going under the bridges on the old and new highway and up to a natural island structure to turn around. You can find all the information on the series here and the results for this week here. The series runs till the end of March (daylight savings). It’s a good fast hit out to improve technique, strength and speed in the boat.