The annual Abingdon Blastathon went off with a bang on Saturday night. This is one of my favourite events of the year- always a really good laugh and a solid turnout.
The key to the fun is the scoring system which gives everyone the opportunity to compete and score, regardless of ability or paddling craft. This includes points for fancy dress, entertaining (or bribing) the judges, artistic merit and a good mix or old school moves such a paddle spins combined with the more convential.
All the competitors got 2 runs of 45 seconds which combined the sublime with the frankly ridiculous. Dave Surman combined bun throwing and superman, whilst another went for the scuba fins and mask option. Brilliant!
The ROx guys put on a great performance with Louis Frost eventually finishing 1st and Connor Cox taking 3rd in the under 18's, despite arriving late and taking his customary swim! Dave Gibson won the king of the wave and Jen Clough managed to win the open canoe event, mostly due to the fact that she lost her paddle mid way through her second run :0)
The Mens was the biggest field its been in a long while and the competition was close, with the top few paddlers putting down very respectable runs. James Metcalfe managed a creditable 3rd, with Richard Morley just pinching 2nd and I managed to eventually come out on top, taking away the Chris Wheeler memorial trophy.
The BBQ afterwards was great fun and not even the rain could ruin the atmosphere- roll on next year!
Big thanks to Dave Surman and Kingfisher Canoe club for putting on a great event once again and to Simon Know for letting me use his photos- you can check out more of his handiwork on his website, which is well worth a gander.
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