There was a great turnout from the Tigers, as well as those from Hexham and Cleveland clubs, for the  inter-regional slalom championships on 13th May at Nottingham.  Best results for the North East in the main categories were Darren Cresser in the K1, finishing 14th, with Wendy Morris finishing 8th in the women’s K1 and Zac Allin 8th in the juniors. All paddlers put up a good show on a course which had a few key moves where valuable time (or 50s!) could be lost.

Special mention should be made of the gutsy paddlers who stepped up to the mark to ensure we had a C2 boat in the race and a full senior and women’s team.  First of all it was fantastic to see the youngest Tiger Jake Brown show his teeth and overcome his fear as he went back around and through the gate in the looping pool … and I don’t think his Dad was the only one with tears in his eyes!  I hope the new C2 pairing of Bethan Kelly and Brandon Watson were also smiling as they stayed upright all the way – which is more than Zak Franklin and his partner did!  Maeve Woodhouse from Hexham was also facing her first time at HPP and with support and encouragement from all, also managed to get down (first run anyway!) and do really well to get us a time in what wasn’t an easy course for a Div 2 paddler!

Final results for the region are being put togther by John Sturgess and will be put up as soon as we have them….it was the taking part that counts…..(though I hope we beat the southerners!) .

Linda Allin

Here is a list of dates for your 2012 diaries!  The slalom competition dates are still provisional until the calendar is confirmed at the BCU slalom committee ACM in late November.

11th, 12th & 13th February 2012  - Grand Tully slalom training weekend (sign up on the forum)
25th February 2012 – Div 4 pool slalom @ the Dolphin Centre, Darlington - for those new to slalom or wanting to try out a new class   
Monday 9th April 2012 – Sim’s Memorial Race/BBQ and Div 4 slalom short course
19th & 20th May – Prem/Div 1 slalom race @ the Barrage
2nd & 3rd June 2012 – Div 2/3 slalom race and Div 4 short course @ Abbey Rapids
28th & 29th July 2012 – Tiger Fours (National polo competition @ the Basin)        
13th & 14th October 2012 - Div 1/2 slalom race @ Abbey Rapids (it is hoped that this event will be moved to 1st & 2nd September)

Another uneventful event for the Tigers, we wish!

The race proved to be a great success for many of our own team members, with a number of promotions over the weekend.  Well done to you all and particularly to all the Div 4s for giving it a go (from the look on some of the Div4 C2 faces you wouldn’t think they were actually enjoying this!). Read more

Don’t forget it’s the Big Abbey Rapids Race on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st July at Eggleston Abbey, Barnard Castle.  For more information go to www.canoeslalom.co.uk

For those of you just starting out in paddling there will be a Div 4 (beginners) race which we will take entries on the day for (entries close at 9am). Or just come down to watch what’s going on, especially as it’s a beautiful site at Abbey!

Tees Tigers

Darren Cresser gaines his “WILD CARD” invitation to the Great British Senior Team Selection down in London.  Read on to find out more…

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The 9th and 10th April saw quite a busy weekend for the Tigers with both the A and B teams competing in Roundhay Park in Leeds and quite a number competing and supporting up at the division 2/3 slalom event at Fairnilee.  Read on to find out how the weekend went…

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Just a quick reminder that we have now switched to our summer training timetable.  Check it out at the ‘About Us’ tab in the right hand corner of the website. 

And use the Calendar to find out which slalom and polo events the club are attending over the summer.  If you need some advice about events or what to share lifts then check out the forum.

A bit late, but here is a summary of the events from the training day back in January by Calum Cresser:

On the 29th January the Tees Tigers had a training day at Holme Pierrepont.  The day was a day for the beginners to get used to the rough stuff! And the more ‘advanced’ paddlers to get some hardcore training! This day in my opinion served its purpose as the beginners looked happy, and Brandon was trying so hard he went through Matt to get the full benefit of Nottingham!

When I arrived on the scene (late as usual!) it looked very constructive. Darren was belting out orders; I mean courses, from the side. Furthermore everyone on the water looked like they sort of understood what he was telling them to do. So everyone comes down, does the first course all good, then finally Ben comes down and does the unthinkable he rolls! I was shocked and stunned, so shocked I missed Brandon smashing through the side of poor Matt’s boat.

So when I did get on the group was full of enthusiasm and by enthusiasm I mean everyone was, as Emma Taylor would say, ‘buzzing’! So as we trekked down the course bit by bit the group was starting to look like they were starting to enjoy themselves and become more and more confident. Everyone looked as though Nottingham had turned from a nasty cold scary place to a place that you looked forward to going to.

Finally for each person who went I think that they all got a benefit out of each session, Brian’s was that he needs to work on his roll! But if it was just a little benefit I think everyone would think it’s worth it.

(Editor’s note: Brian did go on to practice his rolling technique at the pool sessions and hopefully will be more prepared next time he goes to Nottingham!)

The Tigers kicked the new slalom season off with a (warm!) splash.  The division 4 slalom race was held at the Dolphin Centre in Darlington town centre for the beginners to slalom canoeing.  We had 43 entries, including 14 C2 crews.  The entries were boosted thanks to support from ROCK (Richmond) and a couple of the other North East based clubs.  But most of the entries were new Tees Tiger members from St. John’s Catholic School in Bishop Auckland where Head Coach Nicky teaches and runs an after school kayak club.  Hopefully we’ll see them all at the next Div 4 race and some at the Div 3 races this year as the evening resulted in 7 promotions plus 8 C2 promotions!

You can find the full results on the Slalom UK website at http://www.canoeslalom.co.uk/info/results.shtml

To add a bit of fun for those more experienced paddlers supporting the event, an open competition was held once the main competition was completed.  Time trials were completed to allocate rankings then it was down to a head to head knock out, with the first one over the finish line through to the next round.  Some of the head to heads were pretty close, some not so!  Matt managed to get disqualified when he missed a gate and Tonksie almost managed to keep up with the Olympian!  But in the end Nicky championed, beating Andrew Martin to second place.

Read on to see some photos from the night. Read more

So the long awaited Tully training weekend finally arrived…
Friday night – we were all happily on our way up to Scotland when ‘I am Ledger’ calls us to ask for a lift because his car has broken….it was too late for that so we expect to see him the next day. The snow starts to fall but no fear for Tees Tigers because we had fancy lodges; they had showers and everything.
Saturday – Up early for a “technique” session… very technical it was indeed. Next it was a halves session – good effort all round in very, very cold temperatures!!  Still no sign of “I am Ledger.” Anyway it was back to the lodges to thaw out for the evening and watch some TV where we learned that chicken salad is in fact the UK’s favourite sandwich – who would have known….?
Just before bed “I am Ledger” himself casually strolls in apparently unfazed at the idea of driving 4hrs for 2 sessions….good work!
Sunday – canoeing, tea with toffs (with special guest appearance from Lenny) and then some more canoeing.  Slightly warmer I seem to remember.
All in all a fantastic weekend – massive thanks to all who organised it and looked after the less organised individuals such as myself…

Andrew Rendall

Read on for some photos from the weekend (by Bev Wilkinson)

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