Crana Canoe Weekend
An Amazing few days for one of the main events of the Irish kayaking calendar @ the 2013 Crana Canoe Weekend in Buncrana up in Lovely North West Donegal, run by Adrian Harkin and his lightning sharp crew@ justkayak.ie.
There was something for everybody, and there was no shortage of smiles and laughter as everybody brought great inspiration and good vibes to the days. The venue is ideal as it’s guaranteed dam released water for these two days of the year and all happens within close proximity of each other so great for spectators also.
We were there running coaching clinics and to have the craic and join in the events. The mighty “Palm Throw Bag Olympics “ were in full swing where folks have to run through a wild throw bag assault course and winners being awarded the big prizes.
There was the first Irish rafting race with teams being drawn in from all different disciplines to go for gold.
The First Dagger Dash took place. A Le-Mans style running mass start around a course and then a 1km blitz down a whitewater course. Folks trying to gain advantage by not snapping their decks on in the maddness at the put in were awarded a slow sinking to the bottom mid course.
An incredible event for juniors with all classes catered for with slalom, down river, boater X, freestyle and coaching clinics, all held on the easier pieces of water at the venue.
River rescue clinics and intermediate and advanced white water coaching clinics were being run throughout the two days covering everything and anything.
The Main event is the Boater X. It is run on the Sunday. The course is about 800m long, starting out with a flat section sprint in to a few rapids and as the river squeezes it slingshots you into the mighty “ Claw”. A double drop rapid with various lines all with various outcomes. Needles to say, great spectating and some competitors left with permanent side partings and their buoyancy aids on backwards at the finish line.This years winners were Slalom King, Cieran Heurteau, just back from a top 15 result in the Sickline world championship.The ladies crown was taken by Laura Griffin showing the stylish lines in her Dagger Mamba.
A full list of results for all the events can be found @www.cranakayakevents.com
A really fun event,with great people, good laughs and some great racing. It was really magic to see so many juniors out there charging. Big thanks to everybody getting involved and bringing all the positive energy to the clinics and races, to Adrian and crew@justkayak.ie for running such a smooth event and looking after everybody so well and thanks to Shane @progressive distribution for taking care of the troops and having all the toys at hand! It was great to be there with the Palm/ Dagger crew, looking forward to next year already. All info on http://www.cranakayakevents.com Put it in your calendar for next year.
See you on the water,
Dave Carroll
