Pinkston Div 2/3 30 April 1st May

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JimW
Posts: 570
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 2:17 pm
Location: Pinkston

Pinkston Div 2/3 30 April 1st May

Post by JimW » Wed Mar 30, 2022 3:08 am

I've had a few enquiries and I probably need to add some more information as a result:

Camping on site - We cannot take tents, but still have a few places left in the car park for campervans/caravans. Email me for details and to book - I want to make sure you understand what is actually on offer before you book.

Accommodation in the area - there are lots of hotels in Glasgow, the only one I know actually has security on the car park 24 hours (due to one of you checking) is the Leonardo Inn along the A82 about 15 minutes away late evening/early morning (longer in the daytime). In the past some people recommended staying at Stepps a short trip up the M80 where there are hotels and a campsite (which I think is Red Deer Holiday Village). Because I live in the area I have never stayed at any of these places so these are not personal reccomendations. If you want to see the coutryside a bit more (and note we are on a bank holiday weekend for some) Balloch on Loch Lomond is about 40 minutes to the west although if you head cross country to Drymen or Gartocharn you should be able to find some really nice spots, or head north out of the city towards the Campsies or the Trossachs. If camping in the national park you will have to use a designated campsite at this time of year.

Security. It is best if you take responsibility for your own kit, apart from the hotel listed above I can't comment on security of kit left on cars. Our club container is full to bursting so we can't really offer you space inside it, but there are some people in campers on site and there are lots of sturdy metal fittings so if you bring a chain or cable and padlock you should be able to find ways to secure boats on site. The site is on an island and the gate will be pulled across overnight. The changing rooms are open to all users and not big enough for everyone to leave kit in so please use the lockers provided in the covered walkway and don't leave you kit in the changing rooms even just while you do your run - there may be people on a course or using the wakeboard park needing to use the changing room at the same time.

Practise sessions. There is no extra charge for these. On Friday we will be running the course for practise between 5 and 9pm, the exact switchover will depend on number of entries in each division and I propose to start with 1 pump at 5pm for division 3. For those who cannot make it in time for Friday practise, we will have a small amount of time on Saturday morning, provisionally from 8am, for you to practise, and this will be restricted to only those who couldn't practise on Friday. On Saturday we will aim to have 4 hours of practise from as soon as practial after prize giving, again split between 1 and 2 pumps. We are not planning to control numbers on the course during practise, we will trust you to be sensible and wait on the ramp until it looks reasonably clear before setting off. When on the course, there are only a few sections you can practically repeat and if you just do them and ignore the other bits, it might not go too well in the race, so we reccommend doing full runs or progressions but to keep moving down the course and not keep paddling back to repeat a short bit. Caoches/parents giving feedback - try and choose a spot without gates to do this to avoid your paddlers sitting in the gate line and blocking others practise runs. Also please use normal river sense and look upstream before paddling out of any eddy and give way to boats coming downstream. There is not a lot of space, so please avoid loitering and blocking the course. Because it goes almost in a circle it is a very short walk back to the start for another run.

Veterans - you (we) are always a nightmare! By default the system will enter you in division 2. Most of us will not want to paddle the div 3 course on 1 pump, but if you do want to do that it is possible but you need to email me to let me know (iif you are happy staying in div 2 please also email me so I'm sure). Because the divisions race with different water levels making for different courses, your score will only be calculated against the division you race with. We will have to sort out fee differences where applicable on the day.

C2s - by default the system will enter you in division 2 and score you against division 2. Like the vets you can choose only to do the div 3 course, because it is different to the div 2 course, and if you do want to do the div 3 course you need to email me to let me know so you get on the right start list and get the right score. If the courses were the same, all C2s would have to enter div 2 and get div 2 scores, but because the courses are different we can offer the choice. If you choose div 3 we will sort out fee differences on the day.

Officials/judges - we are hoping for div 1 and prem paddlers to help out, so officials runs will be held on 3 pumps to try and attract you. If you want free practise my plan is to allow you some time on Saturday & Sunday morning before the official practise runs (for which you will be off first, all in one group, judged by other helpers). Please let me know if you intend to use free practise so close to official practise, because if not, we'll do our bit to save energy. We would of course hope that division 2 and 3 paddlers are racing and not going to offer to judge instead but if for some reason you want to judge and have officials runs with one of the divisions instead please email me to discuss possibilities. Likewise if any paddlers not yet ranked but who already do 1 pump training sessions want to help out, email me and I'll see about the possibility of getting you officials runs on 1 pump. It is a bit unusual, but there is no way any of you should go faster than the 3 pump officials so in terms of officials points, it should all work out right. Remember you don't have to do judging to be an official, you could be helping out in other ways, we can always find jobs!

If there are any more issues I haven't covered, just drop me a line.

CeeBee
Posts: 331
Joined: Sun Aug 19, 2007 9:12 pm
Location: Falkirk

Re: Pinkston Div 2/3 30 April 1st May

Post by CeeBee » Fri Apr 01, 2022 8:37 pm

Jim

Good useful information as ever.

Parking needs to be on the adjacent street on Borron Road, directly up the hill from the entrance to Pinkston Watersports. This should be enough parking but if it isn't you can park in 100 Borron Street car park for free opposite Diageo. Boats can be dropped off on site and then cars parked. There is parking on the main road outside the centre but it is now metered.

The lockers need a padlock. You can buy one from the office or bring your own would be easier. The lockers are a decent size - approx 50cm x 50cm x 60cm.

Are you running a cafe?

JimW
Posts: 570
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 2:17 pm
Location: Pinkston

Re: Pinkston Div 2/3 30 April 1st May

Post by JimW » Mon Apr 04, 2022 8:44 pm

Thanks for the extra info CeeBee - I hadn't noticed the parking meters!

I actually haven't decided if we will be permitting drop off on site - the bridge is single carriageway so we will need to find volunteers to marshall drop off and make sure things keep flowing smoothly and we don't just gridlock a drop off area. Also depending on interest in caravan/motorhome spaces I may spread them (with suitable separation) into where the drop off area would be, the same as your club did for the last race you ran - I don't have that many bookings yet but have thought about it ahead of time.

Yes we will be running a slalom cafe.

JimW
Posts: 570
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 2:17 pm
Location: Pinkston

Re: Pinkston Div 2/3 30 April 1st May

Post by JimW » Tue Apr 19, 2022 1:36 am

Thank you everyone who has entered or enquired about the race(s).

If anyone enters in the next couple of days and finds they have been put on a waiting list, please don't panic.
I have temporarily reserved part of the limit so I can re-check the logistics if the entry exceeds the numbers we have previously run the event with and alter timings to suit. We are trying to cram plenty of free practice time in especially since so many of you haven't been before, and although we haven't yet hit the total numbers I planned around, we have more div 2 entries than I expected with still nearly 2 weeks to go. There was so much unknown when I did the planning back in the autumn, things have turned out very differently than I expected!

So if you get on the waiting list, don't worry, I won't have time to do much before Thursday but should have things sorted out by the weekend. Unless the waiting list exceeds the original race limit (very unlikley, it is quite high) you will get an entry.

JimW
Posts: 570
Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 2:17 pm
Location: Pinkston

Re: Pinkston Div 2/3 30 April 1st May

Post by JimW » Tue Apr 26, 2022 11:35 am

Free Practice

Free practice sessions (in all senses, free cost and no stipulation on how you may practice) will be available as follows:

Fri 29 Apr (with Saturday course set)
  • Div 3 / 1 pump 5pm until 6:55pm
  • Div 2 / 2 pumps 7:05pm until 9pm
Sat 30 April (with Sunday course set)
  • Div 3 / 1 pump After prizegiving for 2 hours
  • Div 2 / 2 pumps after 1 pump for 2 hours
To accommodate paddlers arriving too late to make a session on Friday there will be a short amount of free practise on Saturday morning ONLY for people who didn't practise on Friday. If you know in advance you won't make it please email ahead to aid planning. If you are stuck in traffic and miss it by accident, just let me know when you get here. This will start at 8:30am.

Division 3 and newly promoted Division 2 Paddlers
We know that some division 3 paddlers are nervous about going on the artificial WW course because each year we introduce new beginners to it. If you think you might like to race, but aren't sure enough to risk entering, and then arriving and being too nervous, please come along on Friday (and/or Saturday) evening and join in the free practise session to see if you are actually going to be happy about racing or not. If you decide to enter, you can do it at control after practice or early the following morning, or on line through the night. If you decide not to enter, no problem, hopefully we will see you next year when you have had more time to get used to it. This offer extends to recently promoted division 2 paddlers who haven't done much/any time on 2 pumps yet. We do ask that you try to fit in and not impede other paddlers practising. If your own club coaches are not present, ask around because there is bound to be someone who won't mind helping you out.

Practise Format
It is 'free' practise, there is no format, BUT the nature of the course means that there is one section that is easy to repeat on the WW part, and most of the rest of the WW is not very easy to repeat although the gates on the outflow are easy to repeat. We would therefore suggest that in order to give all parts of the course equal practise, it makes most sense to do full runs or progressions rather than stopping and repeating a section over and over again. The eddies are not very big, so paddlers and parents/coaches please be aware not to sit in gate lines or where a paddler attempting a full run would crash into you whilst giving/receiving feedback. And if repeating or re-starting a progression, always give way to any paddler coming downstream who may be on a full run, or finishing a progression at a different gate.
We are not limiting numbers by individual time slots because a) we trust you to be sensible, b) it is supposed to be a fun event not a prison camp.
If it gets crowded, we might put someone at the start to make sure it is reasonably clear before you set off, and/or someone to remind paddlers to keep moving in the WW section and not cause blockages.

Practice for Officials/Judges
We can't start the pumps as early as I had intended on Saturday so any free practise depends on how many div 2 and 3 paddlers need Saturday morning practise. We should be able to fit some free practise on Sunday if deisred. You will get official practise runs both days.

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