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Upstream handicap race

On sunday the 11th (Mothers Day)((Sorry Mum!!!)), the Down River Kayak Club held an upstream race on the Waimak down by the motorway bridge. The course was a loop with paddlers going roughly 3km upstream before turning around and paddling back down to the finish. Despite a small field, the handicap nature of the race still ensured that everyone made an honest effort to either try and prevent getting caught or prevent slower paddlers from beating them to the line.

I started in the 3rd wave, 6 minutes down on the first group of paddlers with only the always flying Ian Huntsman behind me. Despite my best effort it is always a huge ask to hold off Ian, especially when he is using his K1 just for a bit of fun. In the end I managed to paddle down everyone who started in front of me to finish in 2nd overall which I was pretty pleased with. It still showed however that I have a lot of work to do in the boat to achieve the kind of results I want to be.

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