Now that the evenings are getting lighter and we are seeing a welcome increase in activity on club nights, I thought it was a good time to give club members an update.
Club night
Wednesday evening at Lee Valley continues to be an important focus for the club. It’s great to see the variety of activities on the water, and big thanks to club members who volunteer on the reception desk, as coaches and to cover bank safety. It’s your support that allows ALL members to enjoy paddling on club nights. We want to keep sharing the load with bank safety, so please volunteer at least once every two months. Remember that you get a free paddle in return! And a general request – Club Members vary widely in ability and confidence on the water, so please be courteous to those who are less experienced.
As it gets busier, please book and pay online to avoid missing out on a paddling spot. We have upper limits for safety reasons and can’t exceed them.
We anticipate maintaining two hours of Legacy and Olympic water till the end of May, and add a third hour of Olympic water in June. Whitewater course hire fees have just increased, so we must be ever mindful of how we can balance the books. That’s one of the reasons that coaching costs have increased, but we’re also offering more value by aligning coaching to recognised Paddlesport UK awards.
Recreational trips
Away from Lee Valley, there have been regular recreational trips on local rivers.
Thank you to Peter and Helen Nash and Jon Halden for organising these. I’ve been on several of these trips now and can highly recommend them. They are great opportunities to meet and paddle with club members in relaxed surroundings and I’m particularly taken by the idea of stopping for lunch at a pub. Our club members come from all over the south-east, so if you have a favourite local paddle that you’d like to share with others, please get in touch with Peter Nash so we might arrange a LVPC visit.
You can join the Recreational trip Spond group using this link:
https://group.spond.com/UHTOR.
Slalom
Our young and old slalom paddlers continue to train and compete regularly. The club hosted the first event of the season last month, an Open / Division 1 event on the Olympic course. Huge thanks to Roz Kettle and her team! Congratulations also to club members and slalom coaches who gained selection to the Kayakcross team:
Jake Brown, Ben Haylett, Lois Leaver, Ellis Miller, Anita Kontchakov.
There are regular slalom coaching sessions for club members who want to develop their general paddling skills, see Webcollect.
Rammey Island
We are working with Martin Davies to establish safe and low cost access to the River Lee at Rammey Island lock. We hope that this will soon allow club members to take part in Saturday morning sessions, ideal for general fitness, a social paddle, or even get ready to compete in flatwater racing. More details soon.
Can you help?
Are you a budding influencer? Or simply a whizz on socials? We’d love someone to help us turbo charge the club’s online presence. Please get in touch if you can help.
See you on the water soon!
Jonathan Males
LVPC Chair
7 April 2024