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Tryweryn Prem Race #2 After a grey start the clouds soon cleared over North Wales, and a sun filled day followed at Canolfan Tryweryn National Whitewater Centre. It was an exciting day of racing, with GB junior selection kicking off, and plenty of wildcards for GB Senior selection up for grabs, along with National ranking points for Premier division.
The C1's were first off, and with the 2010 senior team C1's, including Peak UK paddler Greg Pitt, choosing not to race this weekend, it was 2010 National Champion Adam Marshall who took first position. Daniel Goddard put in the fastest C1 run of the day, but incurred a 2 second penalty, which pushed him out of the lead, and junior paddler Ryan Westley finished in 3rd, earning himself top points in junior selection, and a wildcard for senior selection. Adam Burgess and young Welsh junior Thomas Abbott also claimed wild cards for senior selection.
In the women's kayak event, Peak UK paddler Fiona Pennie opted not to compete, but Lizzie Neave was racing, and put in a good first run performance, to take the lead ahead of junior paddler Mallory Franklin. Two costly mistakes and a penalty on Lizzie's second run meant she failed to improve on her first run total. Louise Donington put in a much better performance on her second run, to match Lizzie's first run time, but 4 seconds of penalties added to her run meant that Lizzie held on to the lead ahead of Natalie Wilson in 2nd and Louise in 3rd. Junior paddlers Beth Latham, Mallory Franklin and Jazz Royal finished in 4th, 5th and 6th respectively, gaining themselves a place in senior selection, and collecting top points for junior selection.
The 2010 senior C2 team were again absent, with Peak UK racers Tim and Etienne unable to race due to injury. It was the young, newly formed crew of George Tatchell and Tom Quinn who took the lead, earning themselves their senior selection wildcard. Peak UK crew Paul Ramsdale and Gaz Wilson incurred a 50 second penalty on first runs, which left them lying at the bottom of the field, but they turned this around on second runs, and put in a clean run to take 2nd place. No other wildcards were claimed in the C2's, but junior C2 crews Evans/Holiday and Allwood/Shaw took the top junior selection points.
In the K1 men's event, junior Paddler David Bain got off to a flying start, setting the pace with a 92.7 clean. On second runs Campbell Walsh set out to put the junior in his place, posting a 90.1, and looked to have won the race with a clear margin, but then a penalty added to his time, for hitting the last gate, saw David Bain hold on to a close second place. This also gave David top points for the day in junior selection, and earned him a wild card for senior selection later in the month. Young welsh paddler Gareth Farrow finished in 3rd, also booking himself a place on the start line for senior selection, along with Anton Lippek, Joe Morley, Ciaran Lee-Edwards and Robin Vasey. Ciaran Lee-Edwards and Mikey Wilson took 2nd and 3rd points respectively for junior selection. Peak UK paddler Joe Clarke, who already has his wildcard place for selection, put in 2 fast runs, but unfortunately incurred a penalty on both runs, and ended up in 8th position.
Joe Clarke below Ms Davies Bridge. Photo by Phil Gooding.
The final class of the day was the C1 women, and Mallory Franklin continued to dominate taking the lead ahead of junior paddler Jazz Royle in second and Alice Spencer in third. This finished a successful day for both Mallory and Jazz, who gained valuable junior selection points in C1W and K1W, as well as both girls securing a place on the start line for both classes at senior selection.
The next round of junior selection will take place in Nottingham this weekend, alongside U23 selection, where Peak UK paddlers Greg Pitt and Joe Clarke will be racing for their places in the U23 team. Junior selection will then conclude on Grandtully in 2 weeks time, a race in which there are more senior selection wild cards up for grabs, and some of the senior Peak UK paddles will be in action racing for National ranking points. With Senior Selection taking place at Lee Valley whitewater course at the end of the month, there will be plenty of exciting canoe slalom action in the next few weeks.
Words by Lizzie Neave.
Full Results from Race #2 as a PDF.
Tom Wakeling sporting the new Speedskin 2 Topdeck. Photos by Paul Ramsdale's iPhone.
 (Posted on the 7th Apr 2011 by timb) |
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