Cross Kayak, GB Championships, Lea Valley White Water Centre.
October 26th, Stevenage
The GB championships for White Water, canoeing and kayaking were held at the Lee Valley Whitewater Centre on Sunday and Saturday 27th and 28th of October. I had visited last year on the practice days of the World Championships and found some very interesting subjects to photograph. This year I attended on the Sunday, which featured a new competition called Cross Kayak. This was only held for the first time in the recent Paris Olympics. Essentially four kayaks drop into the water simultaneously and then race down the course going around and underneath barriers first to the finish line progresses to the next next round.
I positioned myself down the course so I had a view, looking up the length of the course and could capture the kayaks as they came over the drops. However, I had not realized how short the race was compared to other kayak and canoe events, and the races were finishing near the top of the course. This meant that I had to move further up the course where the angles from which to photograph were not very good. However, I got some interesting shots. I met a couple of keen sports photographers from the Cambridge photographic club and the Beyond group.
An event well worth attending, however probably not as good as the individual timed races in terms of the photography given where they run on the course. Definitely worth attending again.
