Nobody looked back. All that could be herd was the scraping of salvage, the vague clinking of medallions, and the silent sizzle of snow falling upon the ashes of Whitby .

It is with much joy that after 3 weeks of playing with elastic bands I am back in a boat. Fortunately I managed to pull a speedy recovery just in time for the BUCS Slalom, one of 3 competitions which more or less decide our funding from the university for next year. Now normally slalom is my least favourite out of all of the BUCS event, all of which are generally characterised by being cold, wet, miserable and remarkably little time in a boat. However this year with it considering with my re-entry to a kayak, on Friday evening I found myself bubbling with excitement outside the boat stores, despite being unable to shake the hangover from an impromptu and ill-advised excursion the night before.

All the familiar faces were there in varying states of enthusiasm; Caleb, Cole, Sam, Tom. While all of us were no strangers to the world of moving water for most this would be their first experience of pointy boats and poles, a strange and archaic discipline far from the stumpy plastic tubs most are familiar and comfortable with.

Meanwhile silhouetted to the side was a different breed. A breed of paddler that we had only heard of in rumours, tales and tweets from the SU. These were the prem slalom paddlers. Solitary creatures, university slalom paddlers often prefer to train alone and rarely participate in club activities. Sometimes you may spot clues of such a paddler; a boat left on a car, university branded stash at the local course, but it is entirely possible to sit next to slalom paddler in lectures for an entire year without realising until someone persuades them to come to the BUCS event.

All this is not to say that they are not bad people. In fact, if this weekend was anything to go by, they can be a lot of fun. Even if they might occasionally try to throw you into an open grave. This is a story that I would love to recall in its entirety. The events leading to this and escalating from it are guaranteed to be engrained into club legend alongside the incineration of the first aid kit, and the grand Jelly wrestling championships. Tragically this tale of priests, pirates, pensioners and lobster pots is probably a little too RAW to tell here so instead I will ramble about the actual paddling.

Fortunes in canoe slalom are as changeable as Yorkshire’s weather and races are won and lost on the smallest of errors. As such I am pleased to announce an excellent performance by the University of Nottingham at this years at the BUCS canoe slalom event held on the Tees Barrage International White Water Centre.

Saturday saw the men’s K1 Event which was won by Jonathan Atkinson, shortly followed by Sam Moss (6^th), Pete McColl (7^th), Ibbotson (11^th) and Patrick Marriot (12^th).  Strong efforts were also given by the non-slalom paddlers from the university with beginners such as Cole O’Brien successfully navigating the testing* course. I myself am particularly happy with snatching 24^th place despite that pesky shoulder dislocation just 3 weeks prior.

This was shortly followed by the mixed team event, where 3 paddlers must weave through the gates simultaneously starting and finishing within 15 seconds of each other. This however was of little problem to our team of Sam Ibbotson (C1), Amy Hollick (K1) and Patrick Marriot (C1) who raced down the course to finish in solid 3^rd place and cap off an excellent days slalom.

Sunday was an even bigger days racing, featuring the WK1, WC1, MC1, MC2 and Men’s team even. Sore from the day before the team awoke to find the weather was not on their side alternating between rain, sleet, hail and snow with the brief taunting moments of blue sky. With so many events keeping warm was between runs becoming as hard as the slalom itself.

 

Setbacks occurred early on as Jonathon Atkinson and Peter McColl swam out of their C2, for what is quickly becoming Pete’s annual bath. Numerous paddlers from all Universities struggled in the C boat categories before Sam Ibbotson and Patrick Marriot showed everyone how it was done, placing 1^st and 6^th respectively.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Meanwhile Amy was off snatching positions in the WK1 & WC1 finishing 3^rd and 4^th. Adele Read also put in and excellent performance for her first slalom making full use of the practice time to finish in a respectable 36^th place.

The final event was the weekend was the men’s team runs. Due to Tom Clare suffering a shoulder injury a last minute substitution was made and once again Sam Ibbotson, Marriot and Amy Hollick set off now with Sam and Patrick in K1s and Amy in a C1 to claim 4^th place. The second team featuring Jonathan Atkinson, Sam Moss and Pete McColl set off shortly after looking to reclaim some pride and dignity after the fiasco in the C-boats. Whether they truly found this is unknown however it is suspected that their 1^st place and gold medals did sooth their swims.

Overall an excellent time was had by all, the University of Nottingham finished in 2^nd, above Trent (3^rd), but behind Loughborough who took 1^st. Despite this the University of Nottingham claimed the most medals out of any university almost achieving one in every category. Hopefully similar results can be achieved at the upcoming National Student Rodeo, BUCS Wild Water Race and BUCS Canoe Polo in the upcoming months.

Ant Mitchell in C-boats. Occasionally featuring me in the the front.