Feed from Josh's Blog

Cardiff and the Wavesport ProjectX

Off to paddle at Cardiff White Water Centre at the weekend. Aim of the trip is to demo the new Wavesport Project X! I have been looking forward to tring the new boat ever since we started getting whispers of a new freestyle machine! Will update you on what it is like to paddle!

Canoe Kayak Store, based at CIWW have a large range of boats to demo... if your wanting to try one, its the perfect location!

See you on the water

Josh
www.pgl.co.uk
www.canoekayakstore.co.uk

Posted by Josh Wedgwood

GBR Squad 2011

For the second year running I have gained a place on the GBR freestyle kayak squad year running! I will be attending team training dates throught the year in lead up to the Worlds at Plattling.

See you on the water!

Josh Wedgwood
www.pgl.co.uk
www.canoekayakstore.co.uk

Posted by Josh Wedgwood

Sponsorship 2011

Great news! For 2011 I will, once again, be representing PGL travel as a sponsored athlete. PGL lead the way in offering fun adventure holidays for kids and families across the UK and Europe. Check out their website at www.pgl.co.uk

Posted by Josh Wedgwood

Hurley Classic 2010

There are few events in the UK with the prestige of the Hurley Classic. The event has been running for over 20 years and attracts
competitors from all over the country and abroad to compete! Junior event winner, Joshua Wedgwood reports from the 2010 competition.

This years competition took place on a chilly november weekend and consisted of two events. Saturday showcased the best of bristish
tallent with the final British Championship Leauge event. This was followed on the sunday by the Hurley Classic Jam sessions. With water levels looking
low a week before the event there was doubt about the running event. As ususal the great british weather came to the rescue and topped the up the
Thames just enough to allow the compeition to run on 1 1/2 gates.

With water levels dropping organisers were keen to get the saturday competiton started. After a short practice time the junior ladies mixed with the canoe classes kicked
things off. Despite the flushy levels the girls were enthusiastic and got stuck in. The OC1 paddlers were sporting warm dry suits to ward off the cold water which
was filling their boats and making moves harder. Despite this a few spins and shove-its were pulled to the delight of the watching crowd! Dave Bainbridge gave his
usual display of impressive one bladed moves to wow the spectators! Next on the water was the Junior Men. With two of three GBR team places filled all of the
juniors were trying their very hardest to impress the judges. 135 seconds to conclude months of training! The heat moved quickly and it was soon my go on the feature!
A few deep breaths and it was into the moves. My carefully constructed run plan was put into place but the time was soon up! The stadard was exptionaly high
as there were some huge moves being pulled including a air screw from Hurley local Brandon Hepburn! The fastest improving catigory is deffently the female class with
many of the top athletes performing on par or beeting the men. This event was no different and it was a facinating specticle to see how their runs evolved each time
to up game. Many of the UK's top international athletes had travelled to compete so the male catigory was one to watch. With all the big names fighting it out to
become British Champion. Jon Best, Sam Anderson, and Pringle led the way, setting a target for the others! All to soon the fun was over and the results were anounced.
Sam Anderson was crowned 2010 British Champion!

A night of rain kept water levels up and allowed the sunday event to take place. The Hurley Classic is all about fun... and fun it certainly was.
The relaxed style of the 30minute heats allowed competitors to go BIG!
Sam Anderson was stomping Helixs, Ben Aldred scored Pistol Flips and Pringle... where do I start! One of the great things about the classic
is the heats were completely random, this allows the top guns to share their experience with the less confident paddlers. Many of the younger
competitors threw their first blunts or spins and finished with huge smiles on their faces. I was placed in heat 4 with, to name a few,
Doug Copper, Alen Ward and Jacko. The atmosphere was great, with each move the watching crowd cheered but it was paddle spins and the occational swimmer who
got the biggest! Tatics for the Classic are often debated, many people agree that it is best to get some points on the board with smaller
moves before going for the big ones. I started my heats with spins, roundhouses and blunts before quickly steping up my game. The eddy moved quickly
as a maximum of 40 seconds on the feature was allowed. After a few rides I felt I was doing well but I knew I had to increase the difficulty if I were
to produce a podium finish. I left it late but on my last ride I managed to throw down blunts, arial back stabs, and a helix. I hoped that this would be enough
to secure a victory!

As the heats progressed there were great performances of arial experites. Jacko and Arron showed that the masters still had a few tricks up their slieves.
Pringle demonstrted how it should be done in the last heat by scoring most moves on the scribe sheet! With big prizes on offer everyone was doing their best to
impress the judges.

Once the jam sessions had finished a short wait for the results followed. Each paddlers' best four moves counted towards their final score.
Everyone did brilliantly with some very high scoring runs. Gabby Bates lead the way for the Junior Girls linking spins and blunts to finish first. As ususal the
Junior Men was one of the tightest fought battles with less than 50 points separating the top 3 places. Dave Wild just beet James Weight to second place but all my
training at Hurley had paid off as I secured my first win! Jamie Burbeck won the C1 and Louise Wigmore beet off the other competitors in the Ladies catigory to win again
to no one's supprise Pringle combination of Pan Ams, Loops and Mc Nasteys bought him home in first place in the Mens catigory. The top unsponsored paddler in each
catigory also recieved top prizes including paddles and dry cags! For a full set of results visit; www.gbfreestylekayak.co.uk or www.tvfreestylers.co.uk


A thank you must go to the event sponsors; KJO, SAS and TV Freestylers. A big thank you must also go to Jacko and the KJO team for another great event!

See you next year!

Josh Wedgwood
www.pgl.co.uk
www.canoeandkayakstore.co.uk

Posted by Josh Wedgwood