NSRRRRRRRR 2008

By Nicola Beeby

Recalling the thrill of adventure in the NSRRRRRRRR 2008 race, a test of endurance and grit.

This weekend saw the National Student Rodeo 2008 at Nottingham. The biggest freestyle event in the world, with student paddlers from all over the country.

The weekend started with registration on Friday night, then it was off to the party, a warm up for saturday night! Saturday morning and we had to do our extreme slalom runs, this included new and old skool moves. I managed to do a shudder rudder for the first time ever (I didn’t paddle in the good old days!) Happy with our runs we had to wait for the freestyle heats, Bill was in the expert heats doing well on the Muncher to secure himself a place in Sundays final. I had to wait until Sunday morning for my heats, at 9am (far too early).
Saturday Night (Party Night!) we all dressed up as pirates and the sillyness began. It was an awesome party as always, ran by River Legacy, after several ambulance calls and lots of fun, everyone made their way, somehow back to the tents!

Sunday morning I had to get up for my heat, I had and excellent couple of runs on the Muncher, securing my space in the expert final. For the finals I was up 1st, after a last minute location change we got under way in the Looping Pool, after a 10 minute jam session I was in 2nd place so made it to the final 5, 3 runs in the final and I slipped to 4th place, I was a bit dissapointed but pleased all the same. Bill was up next back in the Muncher, he put up a good fight but just missed out on a place in the final 5.

Congratulations goes to Emily Wall who one the Ladies, and to David Bainbridge who won the Mens. The winning university was Nottingham Trent, the locals! Also a new award was presented this year called the spirit of PGL, this went to Teesside, my university, we didn’t expect it but are chuffed with the new boat!

Thanks to Leeds for organising a smooth running event again!

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