I think the discussion surrounding the course is interesting and cannot agree more that the course design was excellent. I think alot of the comments being around the number of penalties people were given etc is not a cue to make the course easier as the div 1 course on the sunday was not to hard for prem and if we dont practise on those kinds of courses then we will not be ready for prem.
There are venues which allow for easier courses in terms of stoppers etc due to their lack of them ie llandysll, tully, abbey etc so there are venues to suit all paddlers however how do these people then be prepared for prem if the cant for example cross a stopper.
I myself am in div 1 and through injury have rarely trained this year and did not recieve a 50 on either run on the sunday and came middtable the people that took fast routes and risks with tight moves ended above me with some gaining a 50 on one run only. Those that got 50's both runs etc fell below me, if we ammened courses because too many people obtain 50's then we arent creating the challenge and preparing people for prem. I say this as i know of people who having seen saturdays course wouldnt have attempted it yet they have been in prem and then demoted to 1 the following season for this very reason as prem dosent offer the same options to avoid stopper courses etc. Therefore HPP is the ideal place to provide a challenging course in relative safety aswell due to the ease of rescue/danger of entrapment etc.
My thoughts slightly off topic for a few years have been, that in order to avoid newly promoted into 1 paddlers struggling would be to say they need to have completed at lease one div 2 at a div 1/2 event or done a div 1 judges run. This cannot be used to generalise however with one paddler who was at her 1st div 1 nd finished in the top half of the field.
McConkey Slalom 2012
Re: McConkey Slalom 2012
Great to see a div1 race that wasn't just a sprint. Div 1paddlers need to tackle more technical courses like this one. Well done to the course designers.