British Championships

Apart from Spain and Thun every other competition I have been to this year seems to have been plagued by the rain and the recent British Champs were no different. The horrendous weather was probably a factor in dissuading paddlers from entering, along with other events happening that weekend, and the competition field was small - it was however no less difficult as plenty of the top guys and girls were all there. 

I was defending my title at the same feature as last year's Champs: my favourite HPP spot - the Muncher. I'm usually confident in the Muncher, however having not paddled there since early June, which was a very different level, I wasn't feeling too sure of my ability there! I treated my heats rides as practice runs for the following day. 

Jenny Chrimes took the top spot in the heats with Claire O'Hara not far behind and myself in 3rd.

Jenny Chrimes 

Due to the few competitors we all went through to finals which were unfortunately knockouts as we were using the ECA rules instead of the provisional ICF ones. 

I started with a high-scoring ride consisting of cartwheels, clean cartwheels and a super-clean spin. 

Cleaning. Photo: Peter Meares 

At this point I was wishing we were running a 'best of 3' final, especially as my following rides

 gradually got worse. Fortunately I managed to hold on the lead and although it was close on the final ride - and certainly wasn't the most inspiring ride from either Jen or myself (damn those knockout finals)  - I just scored more than Jen to take the win for a second year in a row. 

I won a GB Champion bib and a cute little smurf trophy! 

Unfortunately I didn't watch much of the rest of the event as Morrison's cafe and the Sunday paper were more inviting than the cold, wet bank of HPP.  Full results can be found here.

I understand Dave Bainbridge was a long way ahead of the rest of the C1 field and took the title for a second year running. The junior men's event was the biggest of the competition with lots of faces from the Youth Freestyle series. The top spots were hard to take with Joe Bradley and Stu Parry fighting for the top 2 places on each round of the final. Joe Bradley eventually came away with the title. 

The sun had come out by the time the men were on, so I hung around to watch :) The top positions were changing after each ride and Jon Best, who had won the heats, took a surprise exit in the first round.                             

Ed Smith (pictured) just hung on in the 2nd round being only 10 points ahead of Ben Brayfield who took 4th. He then started throwing down some big loops and McNasties to give him the British Championship title ahead of Alan Ward and Sam Anderson.

Jon Best took 5th. 

Sam Anderson looped and McNastied his way to 3rd. 

Ed and me: British Champions 2009