Sunday, 1st October 2000
Burrs Weekend 2000 Written By Jo Evans-Hughes 20 people attended the Burrs weekend this year, including a few first timers, Cheryl, Jan, James, Brian, Mark and myself.
We all arrived at various times throughout Friday evening, after several slow encounters on the Motorways etc, we all made it there before the pub shut.
Saturday morning we work up to a nice cool sunny day, groups split up to do their own thing, some on the Burrs to run the waves, and others, more novice paddlers like me, the river Irwell. I was to run the course with Pete Harrison a Level 3 coach and a good friend but was coming close to not being a friend over the weekend! We paddled the Kiwi and surfed a few waves, it was great fun but we had to empty the boat once because we had turned into a bathtub! A few of the more experienced paddlers and coaches went over to the Gorge (the Ram run).
After a good evening in the pub and a good wind up on Mark, all taken in good nature, we had a go on the Play Station Game, Buzz Music Quiz, Adam hammered us older ones but we did try to defend ourselves all in good fun.
Sunday was again another great day for paddling, the river had dropped a bit which made doing the weir well worth a try.
After being persuaded not to do the weir in the Kiwi, but in the Duo Topo instead, I had to don a spray-deck, which I wasn’t very comfortable with, but what a Level 3 coach says goes. I had watched Owen run the weir on the Saturday and he made it look so easy! What could go wrong. Upon my turn there was loads of people watching, plus Owen and his dreaded video camera! Shooting the weir was awesome, apart from getting very wet while my accomplice stayed dry, I wondered why everyone said make sure you go in the front - now I know why! This is where I almost fell out with Pete; it did not last long though. He encouraged me all weekend and so did Shirley his partner in crime. Who is a Level 2 coach on the Burrs. Brian and I then went on to surf a few waves. Brian to his credit did brilliant in the kayak on Sunday, he is very eager to go back but I think he will be sticking to his open boat next time.
All in all, it was a brilliant weekend and was enjoyed by everyone - I am looking forward to next year.
My thanks go to Andy and Sean for all their hard work and also to the rest of the coaches including Pete Harrison, Glyn Evans-Hughes, Gary Longland, Ben Hawthorne, Andy Parker and Paul Taylor.
Taking up paddling this year for me was to fulfill a promise I made to Adam Brewster early on in the year, all I can say is why didn’t I do it sooner, thank you Adam.
