Ennistymon Falls Race

Last weekend saw the second edition of the Jackson Kayak Irish Whitewater Race League take place on Ennistymon Falls in Co Clare. A short section right in the middle of town jam packed with drops slides and plenty of different lines makes it the perfect race venue. One again the rain obliged topping up the river level on Friday to give the perfect level come race day.  The first edition of the race saw a great turn out with paddlers from all over the country making the trip out west for a sunny day of racing.

The day started off with the time trial race with thirty paddlers going off at one minute intervals trying to find the fastest line through the falls and down the rapids. With a short course times were tight with only seconds separating most of the field. Colin Wong fresh from his second place finish in the Nile River Festival made a winning return taking first place by one second to Eoin Keyes in second place. Len Kelleher  had solid run to take third while I managed to take fourth spot just ahead of a tight pack of five paddlers tied for fifth place.

Susan Doyle took the win in the women's time trial  with Dervla McAuley a close second with the same result coming out of a closely fought boater x.

Next up was the Men's boater X with heats of six racing down the falls. Four heats sprinted down the falls with the top two from each heat going through to the grand final. Colin Wong , Eoin keyes , Dave Holden, David Horkin, Brian Cahill, Mark Scanlon, Sean Cahill and I made up the final and after a false start all raced to the lip of the falls.  I had a clean start and broke away in second behind David Horkin with Colin Wong close behind. David was to quick on the rest of the course so I had to settle for second place with Colin holding on to third.

The day was rounded off with mass paddle down falls making an awesome spectacle for the locals out for a walk. Hopefully this race will become an annual installment on the race calender as it was one of the best race days to date.

Results

Up next is Galway Fest in two weeks time and all is still to play for with the top prize of a Jackson Karma for the top unsponsored paddler along with sick line entries for the top three places in the League. Its great to see new faces turning up at every event and hopefully we might see a few new races popping up to.

Here's some gopro footage of the boater x final and more photos from the race below.

National Championships & Team Trials, Tuam

Last weekend saw the second round of the National Championships take place in Tuam hole County Galway. The event was also used as team trials to decide the Irish Team who will travel to Bratislava in September to compete in the European Freestyle Championships. Despite a truly awful day many braved the wind and rain to compete to earn a spot on the Irish Team. Levels were perfect following a top up of rain on Friday morning leaving the hole nice and deep but still retentive enough to stick all the moves.

David McClure mid loop

Men, women and junior men all contested their respective classes with semi finals and finals. The semi finals was the deciding round for senior men to make the team with fierce competition for places and a few shocks along the way. Galway local Aran Kilory left his mark making the team at his first attempt throwing down huge moves in his rockstar to take third spot in the semis. Aran turned some heads on the day and is sure to feature at the top end of competitions for some time. The biggest shock of the day saw Conor Macken go out of the competition at the semi final stage. Conor took a joint first in last years team trials at HPP Nottingham but just missed out on finals and a place on the team this year finishing in sixth place.

Aran going big

The senior women's class saw a field of six whittled down to three to make up the women's team. Muireann Lynch , Aisling Griffin & Niamh Cleary were joined by new comers Aisling Brennan , Aisling Ffrench and Roisin Millard. On the day the experience of Muireann , Aisling and Niamh proved key for each of them securing spots for the European Championships but its looks like they will have competition for the future. 

Niamh plugging for a loop

Junior Men saw Ross Graham take a convincing win with a score that would have earned him a spot on the senior team. Joining Ross are Calvin O Brien from Laois Kayak & Canoe Club and Sean Cahill from Cork. 

Ross mid space godzilla

  Men's finals was a more relaxed affair with everyone already assured of their spots on the team with five spots for senior men. The final was made up of Shane Little , Andrew Regan , Aran Kilroy , David McClure and I who had made it through semi finals. With the pressure off big moves where being thrown down by all and a few party surfs thrown in for good measure. 

Full results are here for Tuam and the overall National Championships rankings.

A big thanks to all who helped out on the day with judging scribing and timings as well as I-Canoe for bringing down some demo boats. It wasn't an easy day with hail rain & wind but everyone kept in high spirits all day despite the elements. 

Here's a one of my rides from the day in my 2014 Rockstar with more photos below. 

 

Winter Paddling

The last few weeks of rain has made for some great levels right across the country, here's a quick video of the last week at Tuam Hole

National Championships & The Flesk

Last week saw the first round of the National Championships take place, kicking the season off in style at Curragower wave. With juniors of old now making the step up to seniors there was a noticeable jump in competition for the top spots. The competition saw big moves being thrown down and with the light fading the street lights lit up to create the perfect setting.

During the heats there was no doubt that this was the most competitive competition in a long while and with a full season to go it can only get better. The format was four rides best two count giving everyone a chance to go for it safe in the knowledge that if you messed up you had three more rides to go.  I managed to piece together two good rides to take top spot by only a few points with the new 2014 rock star proving its worth on a wave as well as in a hole. Big thanks to Eoin Keyes and all his helpers for putting on a great show.

The following day the rain kept falling so a spin down to Kerry was in order to put my new Karma through its paces. With the Flesk race just over a month away there was no better place to go.





All photos thanks to Oisin McHugh, check out his facebook page here