Before it gets too cold, it was time to wrap up (with the exception of the Hurley Classic) the British Freestyle season. With the majority of the Team being in the UK and many others from the community coming along, there was a great atmosphere.
Club Championships has always aimed to encourage and reward the "have a go attitude " which was demonstrated by so many. With Big Trick, Cartwheel, BoaterX and Extreme Slalom, there was plenty to keep you entertained. The day started with the Big Trick & Cartwheel competition in Jaws - two rides to show what you could do. With the definition of "big" slightly ambiguous and not really wanting to hit my boat in the shallow feature, I opted for the interpretation of skillful and towards the higher end of the score sheet, as opposed to sheer height. This resulted in me going all out for a Woo Tricky (a Trophy 3 move). I managed to just about pull it off followed by a couple of ends, which put me 1st in the event. (However, I was more excited to have done the move under some degree of time and pressure - one step closer to getting it in a ICF ride!) The Slalom and BoaterX events were equally entertaining and it was awesome to see so many people, of all different abilities, on the water!
With curiosity having got the better of me a few weeks ago and having tried a medium Jackson Rockstar, I was keen to try it out again. For the majority of Saturday I spent time switching between the small and medium 2016 Rockstar, on Muncher (the British Championships competition feature I had maybe only paddled twice). In kayaking, it is the norm, and kind of an expectation, that as a female you will paddle a small, regardless of the fact that men the same size would opt for a medium. Admittedly, men are typically stronger, but, nonetheless I wanted to try. A larger boat means you are able to throw bigger, go higher, and retain more - but this also comes with the cost that it is harder to set up and do cartwheel orientated moves. The verdict: I felt comparatively weak in it, but at the same time, when it worked, it went really well! During training, I stuck one of biggest McNasty's ever as well as some huge loops and Space Godzillas.
As it came to British Championships on the Sunday, I made the significant decision to paddle the medium Rockstar (which was not at all influenced by the fact my boat was full of glitter - again). It was a risk, but that had kind of my mindset of the weekend. I hadn't trained for this, nor prepared properly - I had come for a fun weekend, to try some new boats and moves, and ultimately to push my competitive paddling with these risks. There is reasoning behind this.
Never have I wanted to limit my paddling due to the category I'm in, my gender or my age - I have always wanted, and still want to, show people that anyone can go big and pull off any trick they put their mind to. I always want to better my paddling and aspire to the top. This is not just confined to my kayaking either - because in all honesty, what have you got to lose for trying? Having tried and failed, with undoubtedly infinitely better than having failed to try. So saying this, and having decided to compete in the larger boat, I then choose to base my ride around a McNasty! Yet another risk.
In some posts I have written that "unfortunately... the risks didn't pay off this time"; however, I now feel it's not so much unfortunate. I'm glad I took those risks. I'm pleased I chose a challenging ride. I'm proud I pushed my paddling.
How else are you ever going to progress.
To summarize, the hole weekend was a great event and actually fun to compete on a different feature, that I have not really paddled much before (at a place I have got to know very well). Personally, it was a big jump up to the medium and with not wanting to rush into anything, I am still undecided on boats. But what I do know is that I am very excited for the Hurley Classic and also becoming a senior in the new year. Previously, I have not been rushing back to HPP due to course configuration, but with renewed inspiration from the likes of Rob Crowe, Nick Beavis and Gav Barker, I am eager to be back.
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