A Perfect Winters Day: Stanage Bouldering

 Frost, Ice and Perfect Blue Skies – the ideal combination for high friction Peak Grit climbing. 

The ever impressive Stanage Edge (path to the plantation boulders)

Left: Plantation Boulders. Right: Matt Smith

Wildcatz Div 3 Polo – Tournament 2 (Stockport)

This tournament was incredible – we only had four games again but some of them were going to be the hardest games of the season (both Manchester and Selkirk were demoted Div 2 teams and we’d seen Matlock playing well in the last tournament at York).

 A pleaseant warm up against FOA helped our goal difference with a 7-0 win.  In high spirits we played our hardest game against Manchester: first half was perhaps evenly played but they piled on the pressure in the 2nd with more than one chaotic fight under our nets.  I guess this is why it was so good to sneak a beautiful goal and beat them 1-0!

Selkirk turned out to be easier than expected with a comfortable 5-2 win and then a pretty scrappy game left us  3-1 clear against Matlock (with an amusing penalty given to little Pete after he had his head slammed onto the offending players boat… :-/).

Beer and Curry were much needed – Rusholme called and we answered.  Quality, quality evening.

 

[From left to right: Chris, Pete, Steve, Davis, Matt - this is from Irleand 2005 (I need a more recent team picture with Matt Wray on it!!)]

 

BUSA WWR 2007

The annual British Universities Sports Association White Water Racing was held for the 4th time on the Washburn near Harrogate.  Lots and lots of students and racing – I think Manchester University took 10 people but we must’ve competed in about 40 races (guess!).  Fun and frolicks in sinking C1’s, smashed C2’s and simply unstable White Water Racers!  I guess it was always going to be an exciting weekend; I think Mr Fairweather and I learnt humility in paddle choice (Dave more than me ), and anyone who went with half a paddle usually relearns the fear of grade 3!

The Results were:

Manchester overall: 6th Position

Wildcatz Div 3 Polo – Tournament 1 (York)

Apart from issues on the M62 and cocking up our first game (beaten 2-1 by White Rose) we had a pretty good first Tournament.  

 We beat Bury 2-0 (though a 3rd was disallowed through my sheer ineptitude!):

[Wildcatz vs Bury - my disallowed goal ]

Tees was a very tough game, we spent most of it under our own nets but got a beautiful 3 pass break for Matt to score from a distance and win 1-0. 

[Wildcatz vs Tees - high speed collisions to win the sprint!]

Our final match we beat Kingston 2-0; it was a harder game than we expected but we finshed it in style when they tried to go 5.  A rocket pass from Mr Wray for an easy open net.

[Wildcatz vs Bury - Chris and Pete (Scally #1 and #2) working it up the pitch]

Really good tournament.  Good results.  Bring on tournament two….

 

 

Salford Quays Nightlife…

Nothing like a bit of polo training to loosen the muscles and free the mind (or freezen the fingers and deaden the senses…?).   We (Wildcatz Polo Team) are attempting to prepare for our first Tournament of the season but the team consists of people from far flung places of the North (Preston, Liverpool, Sheffield and Manchester) and so training becomes sporadic.  However the hardcore few can usually be found at Burrs Country Park or Salford Quays at least once a week! – Its not even icy yet.

[Looking mighty fine in lucky No. 5 (for Petes sake (no pun intended) - "Sarcasm") - Photo: Dave Goadby]

Mainly Driving to Canada with a little bit of Ottawa Playboating

Big Jim had paddled the River Hudoson, NY, 763 times.  He had a beard and all the raft guides knew him.  So when he told us that the R. Ottawa in Canada was only a 2-3 hr drive from our campsite we believed him, who wouldn’t?  A lesson was learnt that day and we reaslised that if he’d paddled the Hudson 763 times then it was unlikely that he had ever been to Canada.

Chris on Baby Face, Ottawa

We left our campsite in Lowesville, New York around 9am and drove through a typically gorgeous day.  We arrived at around 3pm, the same time as the clouds and the dismal weather.  Also the garberator and push button were crammed as it was the eve of the Canadian Freestyle Champs.  This left us a short afternoon of play on Mckoys rapids and mainly Baby Face

[From Left to Right : Nick Broad, Joanne Mackin, Chris Smith and Pete Hollis]

It was a long day out but the Ottawa was a new experience for most of us so I think it was worth the slog – definitely an adventure and an extra stamp in the passport (!?).  Plus we got to eat huge deep pan pizza (mainly bread actually) on the long journey home.  Happy Days….

Waterborne American Atrosoties

While we traveled the breadth of the Eastern States of the USA we were surprised to find a wide range of creatures – some of which we were fortunate enough to capture through the combined skills of the group and Pete’s expensive camera.

The rarest and scariest of our finds was the snapping turtle – we captured a particularly malodorous specimen and made it angry enough to snap a small twig clean in two:

Chris and Alex – Turtle Hunting [Photo: Peter Hollis]

The Potomac

Joanne and Chris – Great Falls [Photo: Pete Hollis]

This was Alex’s first river of the trip – we walked in the stiffling summer heat of Maryland to the base of the famous Great Falls on the River Potomac - along the way we paddled a snapping turtle infested canal, climbed over rocks (which would’ve been mountains in the UK) and crossed streams (again UK rivers!) to reach horseshoe rapid:

Joanne – Horseshoe Falls [Photo: Chris Smith] 

The falls were impressive but I’m sure they lost most of their ‘greatness’ with the summer levels, while some lines were tempting we were happy to play at the bottom and enjoy the sunshine.  The potomac turned into a gentle float; time for Alex to practice some rolls, and the young ‘uns to launch themselves off rocks:

You can take the scally out of Salford but you can’t take Salford out of the Scally : Pete Hollis 

I thought that Great Falls National Park was a beautiful part of North America, especially considering its proximity to Washington DC.  While the river didn’t hold much spectacularity, I am assured that this was only due to the unusually low levels.  We had an enjoyable couple of days in this region. 

Old School Pyranha I3 Action [Photo: Joanne Mackin]

The ALEX Project: Accelerated Learning and Exaltation Xperimentation [Part 1]

I have a feeling this will be a long term project.  Time however, in its ever-annoying constraining fashion, has other ideas: by its decree we have one week. 

I think despair really set in when he asked from a semi-submerged and completely capsized position: “Pete, what’s happening?” – this was not the comment we were looking for.

I get ahead of myself

The ALEX Project originated from the murky depths of alcohol driven conversations between Kayakers and Windsurfers; tales of dare, skill and cunning; discussions on transferable skills and mixed terminology; a rare mix of crossed over energies to enjoy the others passion.  And so it came to pass that the subject bought flights to NY; accepted the challenge of those raging, Eastern State torrents; and suddenly realised he needed to roll.

Step 1 – Fundamental Concepts:

  

Getting to grips with the new kit…

Step 2 – Rolling Basics:

Pete showing ALEX the motions – all looking good on land

Step 3 – Rolling Reality:

With this Salford Quays skyline one could almost believe we had already landed in New York City, but that dream is still 6 days away

Step 4 – :

To Be Continued….

Grasmere Canoe

Well Miss Mackin is 25% of the way to a regal letter and we thought we’d celebrate by having a weekend away in the lakes.  We pottered around Grasmere in a canoe as if we were both a lot closer than a mere 25% and hid under the trees on the sole island when it started raining, drinking tea and eating cold pizza.  Ahhh, the good old outdoors

The river linking Grasmere to Rydal water was a bit low on water so we abandoned that plan and went to spend some voucher pennies at Windermere Canoe and Kayak.