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Olympic Legend
8 August 2021

Dear WKC 

What a week! Watch parties, an Olympic medal, TV crews and even a bit of paddling! 

A brilliant bronze means that Wey member, Liam Heath, has now won four Olympic medals in three consecutive Games and cements his place as an Olympic legend. We look forward to being able to celebrate with him very soon.

Slightly closer to home, a small group of Wey members headed off to Wales to compete in the Fishguard Ocean Surfski Race, and mixed junior/senior crews combined their brains and brawn in the Elmbridge 10k K2s. 

The 20/21domestic sprint racing season closes with the Inter Club MacGregor Paddle on 4th-5th September at the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham.  There is still time to register and help the club's bid to retain the title. Find out more below.

All contributions are appreciated and help us share news about the great place that Wey is with our members, help us build partnerships, attract new members, volunteers and coaches. Keep your photos and stories coming to comms@weykayak.co.uk.

Other news:
  • Sign on to TeamApp, for all the latest news, events and races.
  • Look out for the extra Tuesday junior beginner and improvers sessions
  • Ever wondered where your left hand pogie or favourite icon top has gone.....lost property explained.
Enjoy the water!

In this edition...

 

Olympic Family and Friends  
Fishguard Ocean Race report
Elmbridge K2 10k report
WKC welcome ITV GMB
Junior Beginner extra sessions
Join #TeamWey for Macgregor Paddle
New date: Rounders in the Park
Members Talk: Nutrition in Kayaking
Lost your kit?
What's on

Laura Tobin of ITV's Good Morning Britain at Wey Kayak Club

 Olympic Family and Friends  

 

  

The flags were flying and TV cameras rolling, as family and friends who'd gathered at Wey Kayak Club on Thursday morning to watch the race held their collective breath.

Margins are tight in the 200m.  Only 0.16s separated the top three and one second for all the finalists. 

And then, just like that, cheering, tears and clapping. A brilliant bronze means that Wey member, Liam Heath, has now won four Olympic medals in three consecutive Games and cements his place as an Olympic legend.  Liam's full post race interview brought tears to eyes, as he thanked those all around him who have supported him achieve his goals.  

For those keen to re-live it and hear the shout out to Wey Kayak Club then see the BBC video here

In Liam' own words to Paul Dimmock who has gently guided Liam over the last decade or so, shortly after the race .

"Hi Paul, thanks 😊  it's been an incredible journey and experience. Can't really believe I have won four Olympic medals! Really can't wait to get home and celebrate with everyone ...😁"




A huge thanks to Club Chair, Jim Rossiter and Commodore, Dave Kitching, for hosting a wonderful event for those closest to Liam, which was reiterated in the days preceding the sprint racing, British Canoeing Performance Director, Paul Ratcliffe. 
 

"On the first day of the Olympic Games for Canoe Sprint, I’m writing to you and all at Wey Kayak Club on behalf of British Canoeing and the World Class Programme to extend a huge thank you for hosting the Olympic supporter’s event at the Club.
 
Wey Kayak Club has played a huge part in many athlete’s journeys through the years and in particular Liam Heath. I know you will be proud to see him race and hopefully inspire many more youngsters into Canoeing.
 
I know how hard it has been for Emily and Liam’s family, along with the nearest and dearest of all our athletes to not be able to travel to Tokyo and support their loved ones there. Being able to come together and cheer Liam on with everyone at the Club means a lot to Emily and the family.
 
Thank you for all of the support, I hope the evening is a great celebration and here’s to a successful Games for Liam and all our Sprint Tokyo Team."

Surfski adventures at Fishguard



Last weekend a small group of Wey paddlers headed to Wales to take part in the Fishguard ocean race. This race can't be completed in normal racing kayaks as it's much too bumpy out at sea! We use surfski boats which although still skinny are much longer (about 6m) and are sit on top (to allow for an easy remount when you fall in), they also use pedal steering for better manoeuvrability. In these boats we are able to ride waves as well as paddle on flat water.


The race was a mass start with mixed classes and you start standing in the water next to your boat. On go everyone jumps into their boat as quick as they can and head out to sea sitting in washes and catching waves. The race was downwind out of Fishguard harbour past the headland and into Newport beach, 16km in total. Although the wind wasn't strong there were some waves to catch. 

Roy and Chris got the best starts making it to the lead group with Andy and Fay in the group behind. Adi decided to give us a head start after struggling to get into his boat. Once we were out of the harbour and onto the sea the groups split up as people start catching the waves and Adi started reeling us all in. 

The final results were Chris came 2nd overall and in the u23 category, Adi was 6th senior, Roy 7th and Andy 10th. Fay was 2nd female.

Contributor: Fay Lamph
Photo credits: jaderogersphotography.com

All eyes on Toyko, via WKC  




The press interest around Liam Heath brought much attention to our volunteer run club on the banks of the River Wey, At one point, Guildford was the only place in the country.  From calls with BBC 5live, hosting ITV news crews for interviews from the banks of the club and a cheeky action shot by Chris and Jordan.  

 

We hope that Liam's success will inspire our own members to achieve their goals, as well as increase interest in canoeing in general.  Why not join our every growing team of coaches to help the athletes of tomorrow.

Elmbridge 10k k2s


A small group of members headed over to Elmbridge to race as mixed senior/junior crews.  Both Lucas and Felix showed good tactical understanding whilst the old farts tried to keep up in the back seats. In group 3, Felix and Mac came first, Alex and Lucas were second and Paul and Chloe were a minute or so behind.  These K2 events are great opportunity to introduce novice paddlers to racing and venturing on to other local rivers.



Contributor and photos: Alex Clifford

Join the MacGregor Paddle Team


Wey Kayak Club are the current holders of The MacGregor Paddle identifying us as the top sprint racing club in the country, and it would be great if we could win it again this year at the 4th-5th September Regatta at Nottingham.



We score points for each competitor we enter, and then our best 9 K1 results, 6 best K2s and 3 best K4 results. We also score point for C1, and C2.

This is a great club event - traditionally we have been the loudest and most visible club, and long may that continue,

If you have not raced at Nottingham before you will need be to registered and this must be completed before Sunday 15th August and then entries need to be in by Friday 20th August.  Please contact Pete Gorman with the following:

Full Name
British Canoeing membership number
Date of Birth
Time for 500m (Monday night time trial time is suitable)
Your email address.

My email address is  sprintteamleader@weykayak.co.uk or my personal email peter.gorman@ntlworld.com


Happy racing! 

Pete Gorman

NEW DATE!
Family Rounders in the Park

Stoke Park, Saturday 14th August 2021 at 1pm

 


Bring a rug, chairs and picnic
Meet opposite the Spectrum, look out for the Wey flag.

Click here to the let us know you can make it!



 

Quick reminder that all "Lost Property" is collected by the cleaners and stored upstairs in a plastic container. 

There are 4 containers and rotated around on a Sunday, the top bin is the current week, next one down the week before etc etc after the fourth week the items are taken to the fabric recycling bank.

Members Talk

Nutrition in Kayaking

Guest Speaker Tim Lodge

 
New Date: Thursday 26 Aug 19:30

Aimed at Juniors and U23 but open to all members of the club would are interested in learning more about nutrition

Zoom link invite in TeamApp Events

Junior Beginner & Improvers
Extra Summer Sessions 


Tuesdays 4pm - 5.30pm

 

 
Open to all junior beginners and improvers including paddlers from Mick's Saturday morning groups, Richard’s Saturday afternoon groups and the Sunday beginner group are welcome to attend. The sessions aim to be fun while helping to improve your paddling skills. They will run until the end of August, there is no need to register.

Update: Over 17 juniors joined last week's session and so we are always looking for extra PPA or coaches, get in contact with Amanda if you can help out.



Kaye Smith and Amanda Childerstone
 

What's On....


We hope that all restrictions will be lifted from the club and country very soon, but in the meantime there is still plenty going on in and around the club.

w/b Monday 9th August
9:00 - 16:00 Summer Paddlesport Camps - restricted access to changing rooms for limited periods 
Tuesday 10th August
16:00 - 17:30 Extra Junior Beginners and Improvers Session 
Saturday 14th August (rescheduled date)
13:00 - 15:00  Family Rounders in the Park, Stoke Park 
Sunday 15th August
U13, Rocket K4 Day, Nottingham - talk to your group leader about possible crews or sign up as an individual
Tonbridge Marathon, Tonbridge (all Div 9-1, K1 and K2, U12 and U14)
Thursday 26th August
19:45 Guest speaker Tim Lodge: Nutrition in Kayaking (zoom link on TeamApp Events)
3rd-4th September
National Sprint Regatta, Nottingham - MaGgregor Paddle Inter-Club Competition (deadline for registration Sunday 15th August - talk to your Group Lead or Pete Gorman
12th September
Pangbourne Hasler, Pangbourne (Southern Region)
25th September
Floating Pennywort Action Day - taking the fight to the river!

 

U13 Rocket K4 Day, Nottingham

Sunday, 15th August



 

Tonbridge Hasler, Tonbridge
15th August
Geoff Sanders Trophy (U12 - U14)
Marathon Div 9-1; k1 and k2
Club entries to Paul Dimmock by c.o.p Sunday 8th August, individual entries open till Wednesday 11th 


 



National Inter-Club MacGregor Paddle Challenge

Join #TeamWey


 

Club Comms


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Simply download Team App from the App Store or Google Play and search for WeyKayakClub. If you are an existing TeamApp user the WeyKayakClub icon will appear on your home screen

There is also a website version which updates dynamically with the app: https://weykayakclub.teamapp.com. 

You will now be able to see information under Chat and News.

We hope you enjoy your TeamApp experience!
 

Share your stories, photos and news


Send in your news and photos to our news team comms@weykayak.co.uk

 
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