BUCS slalom

Table wrestling fun

So the thought of BUCS slalom brought to mind visions of greatness, of winning the event, being spotted by Olympic selectors, RBS offering to buy boats and fund training trips to warmer destinations, but enough about the aspirations of other Universities.  We had a greater quest and so, as reality kicked in, we contented ourselves with in the noble cause of chasing the Craic, not forgetting swimmers, paddles, boats and of course table wrestling!

Ben pushing hard

Happy Fiona

So the creepy village hall turned out not to be as creepy as it first appeared, until of course Matlida made her first appearance!  Friday night’s shenanigans left some bruised, some battered, some confused and all slightly pissed.  The course consisted of grade three with some sticky holes, tricky gates and questionable (yet smiling) rescue teams.  We set up camp at carnage corner passing the time watching the event unfold.  Those in the K1 would have two runs.  Most went smoothly and then Ian got on.  After swimming his plan changed from a vague ‘give it a shot’ to a fully fledged half assed approach and proceeded to attempt to get the worst possible score! He failed to achieve this! Adi made a valiant run down the course after throwing up; followed by a safety boater who had forewarned him he would not be taking part in any rescues.  

Gareth not getting the boat

One thing that amazed the whole crowd and brought a sense of awe to us all was the team GB C1 run.  Precision kayaking at its finest and a beauty to be hold.  Sunday provided at least some practice runs ahead of the women K1 and team events.  A back looped Fiona showed us all how it’s done, smiling all the way.  Chris and Gareth took on rescue detail at carnage corner, quickly adopting the cluster fuck approach.  The girls made valiant runs down the course and where well motivated by a cheering crowd the whole way.  Team events brought an edge of psychological warfare, which failed, that’s my fees well spent!  Tolly, Gareth and Ben finished ahead but Dom, Graham and spud certainly provided the most entertainment turning their run into a slalom/boater cross run.  As for Stu’s team, well the mystery of who hit the third gate will probably pass into kayaking folklore.

Carnage Corner!

All in all it was a great weekend, thoroughly enjoyed by all despite the swims, the racism, the old man jokes and river sickness.  I like to think the complete lack of flaff was down to my mature approach.  We may not have won BUCS but I think loser is a cat provided the only real sport for us, at least in it, everyone loses.  I shall sign off by asking, did anyone else see a tumbleweed roll through the village hall on Saturday night?  It was right after Manchester had to be reminded of their swim count!! Peace to the Madchester crew, always good to meet new boaters.