There is a beautiful chaos to a mass start. The tension slowly builds as everyone jostles for space and the line is slowly called forward. Then, in an instant, the air explodes with water and the whirl of paddle blades.

The Tyne Tour is one of the highlights of the racing calendar. The mass start is one the primary reasons, but fireworks, fish n chips and of course the infamous Tyne tour cèilidh make this one of the more unique events.

No plans survive the start line, and I rapidly found my dreams of a clean start dashed upon the rocks. In the first few frantic seconds I managed to tuck behind onto Huw’s wash. I thought it’d be a fairly safe position but within moments the swell from the washes uncovered a large rock and I found myself catapulted up into the air. I managed to shuffle off the rock but now I was in the mailstrum furiously fighting to find places for my paddles in the shallows.

You’d be forgiven for thinking the race was lost here, but ahead of me I could spy the front group scrapping so hard they all ended up on the wrong line. I took my chance. Digging deep I cut across the pool at the bottom of the first rapid and snuck around the little island with Kerry in tow. When the channels converged again, we were leading the race.

Of course with 12 odd kilometres still to go things wouldn’t stay like that forever. Soon enough we’d been caught by a group clinging onto Jamie’s & John’s K2.

There’s a small misconception that you have to paddle a Wildwater boat in a Wildwater race, but the truth is you paddle pretty much anything you like. SUPs, Canadian Canoes, Plastic Boats and (if you think you can get it down the course) even K2s!

(Go check races in your area!)

We had a valiant effort to stay on the K2 wash but eventually they got away from us in the shallow shingley rapids leaving myself and Leon ahead of the rest of the racers.  We continued as a pair until shortly before wardens gorge, when I beached myself on a small rock and Leon got away. I was reeling him in towards the finish but eventually I ran out of river and Leon took a well deserved win in the MK1. Huw and Jacob crossed the line to take 3rd and 4th while Kerry bagged the win in the WK1.

We celebrated that evening with the Tyne tour tradition of fish n chips, fireworks and the cèilidh (where we even got Jamie Christie up for a few dances!).

Sunday of the Tyne tour saw a more conventional Classic time trial, but it also played host to the “unofficial mixed C2 British Championships”.  The brainchild of Nicky Cresser, the aim was simple: get as many C2s racing as possible. After the success in Spain, how could I not oblige?

I buddied up for the race with Elsie who’d picked up a Silver and a Bronze at the Junior Europeans this year with her partner Ceira. WIth three medals between us in the boat it had the promise of a star studded combination. However, while success may breed success, past performance is not indicative of future results, and no amount of medals can substitute time in the boat together of which we had none. So we were extremely grateful for the long paddling down to the start line. 

Despite this our race went remarkably well. Sure I speared a few rocks so hard I nearly threw myself out the boat a couple of times, but we got the boat running smoothly with a fair chunk of speed. That was until warden’s gorge.

In the gorge we got a little out of shape being pushed from one side to the other, then down the final drop we caught a rock, power flipping us into the river. The swim was short and brief, only complicated by my dead legs, having been kneeling in a C2 for 40 minutes. Tragically I lost a bootie, but we picked ourselves up and finished the race. We didn’t even come last, although we were (unsurprisingly) some way off of the top spots.

1st place went to Kerry and Leon, 2nd to Emma and Nicky and 3rd to Ceira and Crowhurst. It was all smiles at the finish though as we swapped stories of rocks and shoes with the other crews, before we rushed back up to the top to do it all again in K1s.