Kilcock Canoe Polo Club

Several Junior Paddlers from Kilcock Canoe Polo Club participated on white water river trips throughout 2008 to broaden their kayaking proficiency and experience the challenges and techniques of White Water, Marathon and Sprint racing....

Beginning in December 2007, multiple river trips on the Liffey and the Boyne prepared Shane, Christopher, Garth Cheasty and Gareth Kenna for the May 2008 Junior Liffey Descent in the General Purpose (GP) class. The marathon event taking approximately 90 minutes was run from Leixlip Lake to the ICU Centre on a day of brilliant sunshine. The race was an enjoyable, memorable achievement for the four "Wild Boys"

One good! aspect to our wet summer was the high water levels on local rivers. White water paddling in the warm weather was perfect. Additional river trips throughout the summer and a wild water racing course in August and September at WWKC was good preparation for the 49th annual Liffey Descent. Throughout this period, John, George, Marc, Ian, Sean, Colin, Bryan and Thomas Creighton took the wild water plunge. The 13th September arrived and with perfect conditions, Christopher, Sean and Shane set off at 12.30pm on the 28km Liffey Descent. It's a tremendous challenge of skill and stamina for a Junior Paddler and the sense of personal achievement after the 3.5 hour marathon was written across their faces. All three competed in the Men's Junior GP class, Sean won the class with a time of 2hr: 32min, Shane was 11th with a time of 3hr: 28min and Christopher was 13th with a time of 3hr: 32min.

Following recovery from all the aches and pains the "Wild Boys" set off again on the junior wild water racing series of races in October - November. These were a series of 4 short course wild water time trial races or sprints over a 2-3km course and take no longer than 20 minutes. Each competitor competes individually against the clock. The competitor with the fastest time is declared the winner; places are awarded in accordance with the finishing time of each Paddler thereafter. Kayak design is an important factor in this kayaking discipline and although the competition is divided into several kayak classes there can be a significant time differences within each class due specifically to the kayak. George, John, and Sean competed in the Wild Water Racing class while Christopher competed in the General Purpose class.

The first two races in October were run on the Liffey from Templemills Weir to SLCC. The "Wild Boys" recorded very fast times in this very close competition but competing against the ultra fast K1 and WW Racing kayaks was always going to be difficult. Next was the Castletown Sprint on the Liffey, a two minute sprint through Castletown rapids. After several practice runs and two time trials Christopher won the Boys GP class.

The fourth and final race for 2008 on the Inny in Co.Longford on Sunday November 9th was a big day for Dara Morash when he joined the "Wild Boys" for a crack at the Inny's "Double Drop" and "Green Wave" rapids on this 2km stretch of river. Shot, without any difficulty, we all had good fun on the practice run. Christopher, George and Sean set off in the race, but it's a little unknown what some were up too! Again the competition was very close, with just seconds separating Paddlers from one another. And when the results were compiled, Christopher won the Boys GP class again. It was a really nice way to close on the 2008 events.

We would like to congratulate all the "Wild Boys" for crossing over to the wild side for a while and to thank Pat Hendrick for assisting & coaching the boys in this experience!

Finally we would like to say Thank You to Martin McCarthy, Jim Healy, Lukas and Killian of WWKC for the wild water instruction and providing the Wavehopper kayaks for the races.

"The Wild Boys"
Gareth Cheasty
Thomas Creighton
Mark Denmead
Sean Hendrick
Bryan Hennelly
Gareth Kenna
George Kosinski
John McSweeney
Ian Kennedy
Chris Morash
Dara Morash.
Colin Reilly
Shane Walsh