The BoatShed Cafe runs a regular paddle from HoraHora to their cafe just out of Cambridge. Most people, including me lined up for the 9km paddle although there was a 18km paddle option.When I arrived I talked to Richard (the owner) about a paddle, and he lent me a full carbon 210cm C22 (Catch 22) which was a new paddle from Andrew Martin but branded as Legend Paddles. This proved to be a massive success as my previous blade was a 218cm Plastic blade that had previously ripped my arms off in Coromandel. This affirmed that I should be looking towards a much shorter paddle, and after some discussions I decided to buy a Hydra paddle so ordered one there and waited 10days for delivery.
As for the 9km race, we dropped in at a pleasant park behind Horahora bridge and about 20 of us started at about 9:30. Two people took off but I stayed with most of the pack for about 30minutes, before slowly losing touch. This paddle was in a different world to the Coromandel incident, and I really enjoyed being out on the river in perfect conditions on a lovely morning which was getting quite hot by the time I finished. I managed to hold on my speed for the whole race and finished up with an unofficial time of 1h6min, just a few minutes behind the 2nd pack.
The cafe has some great food, and I waited for the prize giving, but didnt do spectacularly well enough (or poor enough) to win anything. Still a great day and I'm glad I have settled on a paddle.
No comments:
Post a Comment