Article written by Frankie Twizell
This year’s Paddlympics had a pre-show! Several members of the club, including the highly prestigious Twizzlers, rocked up at Coniston Hall Campsite. The plan for the day was to set up camp in twizzler time (aka very slow) then have a bimble around the lake on the club’s new Stand Up Paddle-boards. Unbelievably, camp set up quickly and it was a good job because we had 6 SUPs to pump up in what felt like 100 degrees. By the time we had finished blowing up the SUPs it certainly felt more like 1000 degrees. Needless to say, we did not wait around in getting down to the lake.
We lost a Twizzler early on because she was busy escorting a Twizzlet to meet her 1-star assessor. In total there was 3 members making the 1-star assessment look a piece of cake. The assessment was done in a way to make it feel like a big game to help ease nerves. After the assessment, there was lots of splashing around, seal launching and general paddling antics.
Meanwhile, the SUPers were motoring along to Monk Beach for a spot of lunch before deciding to slowly head back. On the way back, we were attacked by pirates and Frankie almost become a figurehead for Grumpy’s handcrafted wooden sea kayak.
After getting over the trauma the pirates caused us we found a bay to have a little bit of fun ourselves. Everyone other than Frankie managed to do something super cool! The Twizzler pulled off an arabesque then another Twizzler did a headstand! The other two members quickly joined in doing arabesques and roly-polies! Frankie in the end showed his style by falling off though managed to teach the group how to rescue a person who could not get themselves back onto a board.
Finally, we all slowly headed back to Coniston Hall’s beach where we caught the pirates up! The pirates quickly decided that SUPing looked like a good laugh, so they commandeered them.
Eventually, we made it back to camp and got the barbecue lit where we all sat around sharing memories and having a jolly good laugh. We were joined by a few more members throughout the evening who helped to finish off all the food. Twizzlers always cook too much!
Early Sunday morning, our chairman and a few handy volunteers arrived at Brownhowe to find Peel island on fire and a fire engine taking up the car park.
Thankfully, the fire was quickly dealt with and the fire engine left before the Ribble rabble descended upon the Brownhowe. Whilst everyone was arriving our fantastic volunteers were busy setting out the paddlympic course. Twizzlers and co from Coniston Hall arrived and made bacon baps whilst everyone slaved away before helping with the task we never wanted to do again…pumping the SUPs up.
As soon as everything was ready the first event kicked off! The general-purpose kayaking sprint race was hotly contested mainly by those using the carbon fiber boats. Sorry plastics you never had a chance! The fastest male was Alex who set a blistering time. The fastest female was Nicky who quickly become very comfortable in her slalom boat again.
The next race saw the canoes take to the water. Our chairman Graham cruised to victory making it look easy. Dan pulled out the tricks to try to catch Graham’s time but even the bow-jam wasn’t going to topple Graham.
After a quick spot of lunch, it was time for the main event! The Peel Island Grand-Prix with a le Mans Style Start! The contestants waited anxiously for the whistle then ran to their boats but before launching had to make sure they had their spray-decks and BA’s fitted before setting off. This year there was only ever going to be one winner especially as he bought his sea kayak. The winner was of course Alex! Alex managed to set an unbelievable time of 13 minutes and 15 seconds.
After the Peel Island Grand-Prix, we decided to change things up a little and have a new course for the sea kayak and SUP sprint races.
The Sea Kayak sprint race kicked off with Brian and his Greenland stick setting what seemed an unmatchable time of 1 minute and 1 second. Despite the best efforts from the other sea kayakers they were unable to topple Brian’s time. It was down to Dave and his touring kayak to spoil Brian’s party. Dave only had enough in the tank left to match Brian’s time.
The SUP sprint race was the highlight of the day. Everyone didn’t hesitate to take part for the sheer fun of it! Though Nicky and Paul weren’t there for fun…it was war! Paul was victorious and set a truly ridiculous time. Nicky tried her hardest to beat Paul by using her super-fast board and full carbon paddle.
That was not the end of the SUP Sprint racing. The next event was a mini SUP Polo competition. The competition gave the audience on the shore the biggest laughs of the day by providing some spectacular falls and mishaps.
A truly fantastic day of paddling came to an end with the rolling competition. All eyes were on Alex to see if he could claim another victory sadly his roll failed him, and he had to bail. This left Nicky, Brian and Adam left to fight it out. Adam tried is hardest but couldn’t keep up with rolling veterans. Nicky set her sights on beating Will’s score from last year and she did by successfully rolling 10 times. Brian matched Nicky, so the event ended up in a draw.
Throughout each race and competition each paddler picked up points to increase their ranking within their category. The overall categories up for grabs were King Queen and Princess of Coniston. The King of Coniston category was won by Brian. The Queen was Coniston was Nicky. This year we decided to crown both our juniors as Princesses of Coniston.
Finally, everyone could break out the barbecues!
On behalf of all the committee, I would like to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone that came along to take part in the Paddlympics and all those that volunteered their time to make the day a massive success. On behalf of the whole club I would like to say an even bigger thank you to our Chairman for making all this happen in the first place!