The Cheshire
Ring Race 2016
Starting and finishing in the depths of rural Cheshire, the
Cheshire Ring canal race may not have quite the cachet of
the Devizes-Westminster race, but since 1977 this friendly
but competitive annual event has attracted competitors
from the UK and internationally.
A major attraction of the Ring race is that the 96-mile, 92lock, five-tunnel challenge can be undertaken as an all-theway attempt in K1, K2 or Canadian, or as a team relay in any
type of kayak or canoe, which opens the event up to paddlers
of a wide range of ages and experience. It is also the only UK
endurance race that gives solo K1 or C1 paddlers the chance
to test themselves non-stop over nearly 100 miles.
The 2016 edition of the Ring took place over the 18th-19th
June, with competitors in various combinations of solo and
K2 all-the-way paddlers and relay teams in the K1 and K2
classes. This year was especially notable for the Christie
family K2 team made up of grandfather, two sons, and
two granddaughters who supplied the eldest (over 70) and
youngest (under 12) competitors in the race.
There was also an ‘international’ return visit by a K1 relay
team and a K1 all-the-way paddler from the Isle of Man, and
more return visits from the husband and wife Passmore allthe-way K2, and the Shackleton/Wilson C1 relay team – some
people are clearly addicted to the thrills of the Ring! Neil and
Angela Jennison also deserve a special mention for providing
bank support to the Hel-Jen-Bar K2 relay team; thanks to
the power of Facebook this K2 team were able to recruit the
Jennisons, who made a special weekend trip from Hull to
Cheshire to support three perfect strangers!
Name
Watch the racing
calendar and make
a date for your
diary for next year’s
Cheshire Ring.
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Despite a last-minute scare with a leaky canal, that was
luckily refilled just in time to prevent paddlers having a
1.5mile portage after 90 miles of paddling, road disruptions
for the support crews due to the Marple carnival and
towpath obstructions from revellers at the Middlewich Boat
& Folk Festival, the Ring proceeded successfully. Fantastic
GPS tracking supplied by Open Tracking transformed the
ability of paddlers, support crews, organisers, and friends at
home to follow the race and is clearly the way forward for
this type of event.
The fastest overall time was set by the North-West’s Best
3-pair K2 relay time in an impressive time of 14h 53m 25s –
but who were still some time off the all-time K2 relay record
of 14h 26m 00s set in 1988 – admittedly set by a five-pair
team. The Christie three-generation team came home in 18h
37m 00s, a brilliant performance especially as two of the
team hadn’t sat in a K2 for approximately a decade!
The ladies K1 all-the-way record was broken by Sarah Millest
from Nottingham Kayak Club in a new time of 19h 13m 00s
setting the target to aim for in 2017.
The all-time men’s K1 record set by Stuart West (15h 27m
27s) and the all-time K2 record set by West/Pedlar (15h 10m
12s) remained unbroken this year. Perhaps the Ring in
mid-summer 2017 will see them challenged and smashed?
Category
Time
Sarah Millest (NKC)
K1 all-the-way
19:13:00
Graham Cooke (MADCC)
K1 all-the-way
23:01:40
Robert Pearson (Ind)
K1 all-the-way
24:45:00
Martin Spencer (Ind)
K1 all-the-way
30:07:35
Manx Paddlesports
K1 x5 paddler relay
20:28:30
Shackleton & Wilson (Ind)
C1 x2 paddler relay
19:11:00
Rob & Julie Passmore (Tonbridge)
K2 all-the-way
19:28:10
Fortun & Sheppard (Falcon)
K2 all-the-way
26:59:00
The North West's Best (Runcorn & MADCC)
K2 x6 paddler relay
14:53:25
The Christies (Soar Valley)
K2 x5 paddler relay
18:37:00
Hel-Jen-Bar (Falcon & Wey)
K2 x3 paddler relay
22:26:00
Canoe Focus Autumn 2016
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