Sunshine, 3 Gates, Big Air & Good Friends – Hurley Classic 2012
When I first started competing the ‘Hurley Rodeo’ was the UK’s biggest event, drawing in paddlers from all across Europe for an aerial frenzy on the Thames.
In recent years the event has been on a much lower scale, largely due to poor levels, but this year Jacko from KayakoJacko went all out to bring the festival feel back and turn it back into the booming event it once was. With the boom that’s going on in freestyle right now it seems perfect timing to relaunch the event in this manner.
Jacko definitely didn’t disappoint! We had perfect levels, good weather and over 120 paddlers attending including all the big names: Peter & Nina Csonka, Mathieu Dumoulin, Quim & Nuria Fontane, UK’s Bren Orton & myself and Katya.
So we had World Champions, World Cup Champions, European Champions, Rider of the Year winners, National Champions & past Champions all gathered to do battle on one of the UK’s most iconic spots. Jacko had a treat lined up for us.
A very international eddy queue
Cheesy came down and put up the Palm & Dagger tent to show off the new kit and the Dagger Jitsu. We had all 3 sizes for people to try. They definitely fly here on Hurley!
First up was the final of the British League event. Your best two out of three 45 second rides gave you your final score. I had some great rides getting KY’s, Loops, AirScrews and Panams and thought I might have the win but as it turned out I ended up in 3rd place behind local favourite Alan Ward in 2nd and World Cup winner Peter Csonka taking the win. In the ladies Emily wall took the British title with Nina Csonkova taking the overall Win.
1st place to Peter Csonka
Saturday afternoon gave us a steep ramp into the Boatercross. Carnage ensued throughout but keeping the speed up and avoiding the crashes David Bain sprinted his way to the win.
Sunday was what the weekend was all about really, going big with our friends without the pressure of timed rides. It was a jam session format of 15 minutes and then a superfinals of ICF rules for the top 5. Unfortunately I was a bit too determined to get my KY and wasted too much time and finished way down the list but those who got the right tactic of going big but making sure to cram all their moves into their session came out on top.
Mathieu Dumoulin from France fighting hard into 2nd in the final
Palm’s Seppi going high – Exactly what the Classic is all about!
Palm’s Bren Orton went huge in the prelims and got everyone raving when he got his place in the senior mens final (he’s still a Junior), UK Champion Sam Anderson made it too then we had Quim, Mathieu, and Peter all there. The finals were a great display of the various styles but eventually Peters consistency edged ahead of Mathieu’s fluidity to take the Win, with Quim in 3rd. In the womens Nina Csonkova took the win again with Flea in 2nd place.
Full Classic Results: https://www.thamescanoes.com/classic/results.xls
We had a great time! A big thanks to Jacko and his team for putting it together!
Pringle
p.s. Thanks to Núria Fontané Masó and Peter Issacs for the additional photos.
Live’N'Deadly
On Saturday morning myself and the GB Youth Rafting Team were guests on BBC2′s & CBBC’s Live’N’Deadly Tv show, a great show promoting Adventure, Nature & Wildlfie. Presented by Steve Backshall & Naomi Wilkinson.
Check out the show on the BBC I Player link below:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b014smh7/
It was actually really fun and so good to be able to get kayaking and rafting out there to one of the most popular kids Tv shows! I actually started kayaking after seeing it on TV so if it inspires some youngsters out there to give it a try i’ll be very very happy! Look put for the Palm Harlequin rocking it with the Crocs 
Photos by:- Gavin Layton
Saturday Youth Freestyle
Straight after I was done with the Live’N'Deadly show I drove as quickly as i could back to Nottingham on Saturday afternoon to go help out at the finals of this years Youth Freestyle event and to compete in the League event on the Sunday.
The drive is meant to be about 3 hours from Lee Valley to HPP however after a very early morning to do two rehearsals before the show aired at 9 I had to stop for a little sleep…
I got their just in time to do a little filming for Bren, who’ll be putting together another event edit from the day and also to help out at the Prize Giving. The place was packed with young talented kayakers, the scene in the UK is growing so well!
The young paddlers were also lucky enough to have EJ there as well as the usual helpers he was their coaching and running an “impress Ej” contest along with dishing out the prizes with myself at the end of the day.
This was the last event of the series and its a real shame its come to an end for 2011. Each event i’ve been to this year has been bigger and better than the last and the real stars are all the young up and comers who keep coming along to each event! Come next year, spread the vids around to everyone and drag your friends too! Its a really fantastic series of coaching/ competitions so get involved!
Sunday Brit Champs/ League Event
The Sunday was the League Series Finale, the comp was divided into Novice, Open & Expert Categories. In the morning myself, Claire O’hara EJ & Palm’s Junior ripper Bren all ran a few little coaching sessions for the Novice classes and then went onto compete ourselves.
The hole used for the main event was ‘Twin Waves’ its such a sick little hole, I’ve spent the last few weeks sessioning the hole everyday till its got dark pretty much paddling with the next generation coming up to the top James Benn’s, Bren Orton, Ryan Liquorish, James Weight & David Wild. Their actually kicking ass! We’ve been getting a ton of new moves, not your little usual linked stuff but full on combo moves, we’ll be putting together a new Nottingham sessions vid later in the year to showcase some of what we’ve been working on 
James Benn’s was even hitting tricky whu’s, mc’nasties and Tricky Loops without his paddle just using his hands today…incredible!
Now back to the event, i can’t remember full results but they’ll be up soon enough on the GB Freestyle Page The standard was super high with scores right up there! I was mostly impressed by all the young one’s rides:- James Benn’s won the Juniors with Palm’s Bren in 2nd & Matt Rodgers 3rd.
In the men I had an absolutely terrible 1st run 
Thankfully I pulled together an alright 2nd & 3rd run to take the win, James Weight got 2nd with some very big mc’nasties and Alan Ward was 3rd.
In my eyes the the star of the show was Ryan Liquorish who has been ripping it this summer working on all our new moves that we’ve been playing with and was the only one in the event to nail one in the comp hitting a entry kickflip linked to “Trick Loop” into ends…Very sick!
Also was really great to see Sam Ward on the water competing, he really inspired me when i used to paddle with him in Uganda and was one of the main reasons I bought my 1st Guigui, he was so sick then but the last couple years he’s had some unlucky injuries and hasn’t been able to paddle too much himself and has devoted a lot of time to coaching and helping the GB team. So its about time and very nice to see him with a big grin hucking himself around in the hole, he had some pretty sweet rides so I can’t wait to see how he’s doing after a few months training in the top class holes in the UK…keep your eye on him!
Overall another good day on the water! with sick paddling, the standard is ridiculous here! as is the Cold wind…
Thanks to Bren for the Pics, if you’ve got any young paddlers in your area tell them all about the Youth Freestyle Series and bring them down next year! Check the videos on my video page for more…
bye for now,
Pringle
The ‘Walruss’ !!!
