Big waves and pool parties!!

Well it's been a cold and dry winter, but i can finally see the light of summer. The competitions have started to roll in thick and fast, the NEC show and the Student Rodeo have both come and gone.

The Outdoor Show Event had a different feel to it this year without the wavebox feature. Pressure was on Pete and the rest of the Peak boys to come up with a challenge to both test the competitors and entertain the crowd. The format was pretty similar but with a few added twists! These included a slalom run, a head to head freestyle duel and a bungy down 'pool' race, which proved to be the highlight with the crowd getting behind all of the competitors as they stretched themselves all the way down to the finals! The overall results were added together to show who then went to through to another 'extreme' slalom which would determine the overall winner. I managed to get myself into the playoffs ending up in second place, only losing out to Enttienne Stott, a slalom millionaire!!



The Student Rodeo Weekend is always a ball, with hundreds of competitors turning up to do battle for their University. I was judging the mens heats which contained a constant stream of 140 paddlers 'throwing down' in the muncher. Most of them, however, turn up for the 70's stylee party and event shenanigans, which happened to clash with the Ra's birthday, double celebration!! The open event which was on the Sunday is as the name suggests, open to all and sundry. This year there was a field of around 20 paddlers including some team paddlers and many up and coming juniors. The conditions were shocking, with driving wind and rain combined with a bad level in the looping pool but there was a good, relaxed atmosphere. We fought our way through the heats into the finals where I managed to edge it in front of James Bebbington and Chris Chapman. I think what pleased me the most is that James only came down to beat me for a re-match of last years competition which I managed to steal by 0.25 points.

My non-kayaking life has also been hectic, i have just completed my grueling 18 week training course to become a fully fledged firefighter in London, being stationed in Ealing, West London. With the training out of the way i'll now be working 4 days on 4 days off pattern to give my plenty of time off to get in the water as much as possible.

Here are a few snaps from my recent trip to Lyon with young jingle bells, read the full review and see the video on the news pages

pommie productions

Lyon pictures include myself, jingle bells and John Breen all taken by 'the stag do monkies'.
Myself and 'the cat' popping entry moves at the NEC taken by mendipmammoth.