The Paddler

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Liffey
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Liffey
Liffey Descent
Last year the Liffey Descent
was held on Saturday the 8th
October 2011, a little under
a month after the initial date
was set due to the lack of
rain. Myself, George Barnicoat,
my K2 partner, and our
coach Ian White set out from
Witney on Thursday night,
looking forward to a 5 hour
car drive followed by 2 hours
on a ferry and nothing to
entertain us but the sound of
our own voices and Ian’s collection
of CDs which included
T-Rex and the greatest hits
of Queen... Despite these
many obstacles we arrived at
Holyhead port with boat and
our brains still intact, despite
the high force winds that
were even rocking the lorries
around.
A relatively uneventful
trip on the ferry saw us
arriving at Dublin in the wee
hours of Friday morning. Now
we just had to find our hotel,
at 1 o’clock in the morning,
in a strange country, with the
local Oktoberfest reaching the
climax of its stay... Thankfully
we managed to find our
hotel and crashed out on our
beds gratefully. Friday came
upon us far too swiftly along
with Jim King who had kindly
offered to guide us around
the course for the race on
Saturday, we then met up with
the Southampton crew who
were also racing the Liffey and
we looked through the course,
feeling very confident as the
flow had not been released
and so the water was very
low. By the evening Jim’s
partner, Richard Hendron, had
arrived and we turned in for
a, relatively, early night before
the race.
Saturday. Race day.
Eeep!! The morning passed
without incident, except
several race veterans attempting
to terrify us *cough* Tom
Daniels *cough*!! We also
managed our first look at
Straffen weir when in full flow.
The change was.... dramatic.
What had been a relatively
small trickle the day before
was now a full flowing torrent
of water, gushing over the
weir and crashing into the
bridge that lay less than a 100
metres down. I don’t think
I’ve ever been so terrified
in my entire life. Despite my
stomach feeling like it was trying
to force myself out of my
throat, myself and George got
into our boat and got onto the
water. The river was flowing
well and it seemed like a lot of
work and effort to paddle up
to the start line, 500 metres
from Straffen weir. Needless
to say I was feeling nervous,
especially when we were told
that the line we were supposed
to take on one of the
weirs was blocked by a rather
large tree branch.
The start line, as everyone
had promised, was
more than a little hectic.
Boats coming up to the start
line had to manoeuvre past
boats that were already there,
hanging onto the side of the
bank and then turn around in
a very small space. Calamity
commenced. Finally everyone
started moving forward, and
despite warnings of a video
camera watching everyone to
see who was pushing the line,
I don’t think a single boat at
the front was behind the start
line. And we were off. There
were plenty of boats ahead
of us and in a tight space the
wash coming off these boats
was astonishing and not a lot
of fun to try and steer against
when you have an over stern
rudder. Despite this we made
it to the weir and... we made
it, yes there were points when
we were engulfed in water but
once you’d come through the
adrenaline rush was huge and
I couldn’t help but shout with
happiness and we passed
through and under the bridge.
Easily one of the best moments
of my entire life.
Unfortunately Jim and
Richard had misplaced their
boat on the weir so they
ended up crashing into the
side of the bridge and they
mistook my shout of joy at
making it, for one of triumph
as we overtook them. Even
if it had been one of triumph
however it was short lived, as
they powered through from
behind and swiftly over took
us in the jungle and they came
an impressive 9th despite
their mishap at the start and
Richard’s paddles snapping
on the last weir before the
finish. Initially we thought everyone
had over exaggerated
how bad the jungle was, there
was plenty of room either
side, though lots of twists
and turns that gave George
plenty of practice at steering.
This was to be an assumption
we didn’t make for very
long as we were soon having
to crouch over our cockpits
to avoid branches and trees
overhanging the river and at
one point it seemed as though
there was no way through
till we saw a hole barely big
enough for us to fit in.
Despite these obstacles
we made it and reached the
next weir, again no problem
and it was clear that Jim’s
advice the day before had
been of great assistance. Our
next serious challenge was
the portage. George had damaged
his foot the Tuesday before
by trying to find a quicker
way to school by instead of
cycling all the way, he’d cycle
and then launch himself off
and fly through the air. For
his first test run however he
decided to attempt his flight
through the air right in front of
a lamp post. Result; a damaged
and swelling foot that
was purple by Friday morning.
Despite this, in my opinion,
we did the best portage we’ve
ever done, despite spending
the past two years training for
DW every winter. I suggested
that I should break his foot
Liffey Descent
Louis Allen
more often as a test experiment;
sadly he declined but
the offer is always there.
We were more than halfway
through the race and feeling
confident. We had found
a K1 who was a local and so
we allowed him to guide down
each weir (if you’re reading
this many thanks!!) and we
went down nearly all the weirs
without a scrape, save Anna
Liffey where I lost the skin off
my thumb. I wasn’t feeling
very happy about that, particularly
when George cheerily
informed me that the last mile
or so was raw sewage... We
reached Palmerston, the 2nd
last weir from the finish and
as we were feeling confident
we became complacent and
didn’t approach this at speed,
we got caught in the stopper
at the bottom and our boat
flipped. Well our coach had
told us repeatedly we’d fall
in (as much to make himself
feel better than anything else
as he and Ollie Harding fell
in twice when they first did
it!) and so, in many ways,
we were expecting it. Rather
than from detracting from
the race, made it more fun,
as if we hadn’t fallen in then
we wouldn’t have had the full
Liffey experience.
Despite this little mishap
we got back in the boat
and carried on down; finishing
the race with no other
swims in a time of 2 hours,
8 minutes and 21 seconds,
winning our junior kayak
doubles competition by a
comfortable distance. Next
came the free meal and drink
with entry and then prize giving,
with a very smug Ian re-
peatedly telling us how when
he was a junior he received a
huge metal plate as a trophy
rather than our gold medals.
Despite this it didn’t take
away from the achievement,
having never done any sort of
white-water paddling except
paddling down a few times at
Symonds Yat, nothing at all
like the Liffey I might add, we
felt like we had conquered the
world.
The best trip I’d ever
been on and one that I will
certainly be making again as
long as I’m able.
Liffey lifey
George Barnicoat and
Louis Allen, two UK
juniors punched above
their weight on their first
descent race
SEAFORD AND DANIELS