THE Olympic spirit and great British sense of humour was evident amongst members of a Leighton Buzzard club at the weekend.
As part of the London 2012 Local Leaders events on Super Saturday, Leighton Buzzard Canoe club held a Family Funday.
Members new and old turned out for a fun afternoon of sporting events based on and off the water. Mums, dads, brothers, sisters, friends and team mates made up eight teams to race, the Addlington Armadillos, the Browny Bunch, Honestly we Deserve Gold, LB Massive, the Pom Pom Girls, Wiggo’s Warriors, Wiggins Olympic Wonders (WOW) and Three Division Fours and a fat ex-sprinter.
The event started with a parade and valuable competition points up for grabs for the best dressed team with an Olympic theme. After much consideration, judge and time keeper Sharon White rated the Pom Pom Girls – Molly Sillitoe, Derek Campbell, Chris Elliott and Mark Smith – as the winners in their Lycra, net, wigs and pom poms!
Meanwhile Mark Pickering picked up the consolation prize for the most entertaining costume – braving the weather in what can only be described as a risky ‘Borat’ outfit.
The first race of the day was the 500m Multicraft Challenge where every team member completed a leg of the relay using a different racing craft, but everyone using the same single blade paddle passed from paddler to paddler.
First off were the touring Canadian canoes, which are normally paddled by two people, and the challenge was truly on for an inexperienced single person to keep it in the right direction let alone a straight line, as Luke Harding found out.
The second leg was a ‘Lightning’ boat normally used by juniors, and most teams fielded their youngest competitors to stop their knees from ending up around their chins.
The third leg was then the plastic playboats. Derek Campbell, dressed as a cheerleader – complete with wig and net skirt – gave up with the paddle and opted to use his hands which saw him pirouette down the course following WOW captain Andy Wiggins Murphy.
The final leg was a dash for the line in a tradition kayak, however the single blade only slowed the progress as Dan Fowley discovered. But his experience gained in a C1 shone through against the competition.
The next event was the Hody K2 1000m, which if you are juniors, would be straightforward, however for an adult and junior combination, the sinking of the titanic comes to mind.
Victors Charlotte Ellis and Andy Guy, clearly advantaged by their youthful and competitive spirit, flew down the course leaving their elders and juniors in their wake.
Slalom was next, an unfamiliar event for most of the club, where the boats had to be manoeuvred in and out of dangling poles, forwards and backwards.
Setting off in pairs the teams fought it out at the first gate and continued the rivalry around the course. Dan Osbourne ended up in the water after a questionable jostle round the end gates with Steve Tingay, which made for great entertainment.
Master of the poles proved to be Sam Plummer who outclassed his opponent Chris Elliott, distracted by his loosening pony tails and missing pom poms.
The final individual event was Water Basketball where the paddlers had to collect a ball, basket it, collect it up and return it, three times over.
Helen Pickering was able to draw on her netball skills to outclass the competition, patiently manoeuvring in and out of the erratic paddlers.
Nick Harding was bursting with confidence after a successful basket but soon came a cropper, ending up taking a swim. And he was not the only one to take a dip in this event as Robert Creamer decided to check the temperature of the water too.
With the games on the water over, the last event was an all team track relay event with a difference, balancing bean bags, skipping, egg and spoon and dribbling a football.
The judges witnessed some very questionable tactics. Dan Fitzpatrick completed the fastest ever egg and spoon in history which he assured everyone was totally unaided by his thumb!
The day ended with a barbecue, quiz and suitable refreshments and an impromptu rounders match. Three Division Fours and a fat ex-sprinter were the overall winners followed by the Pom Pom girls and the Addlington Armadillos on a memorable day for the club.