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Friday evening timetrials
Every friday
evening during the summer, starting when the clocks change in
March, Dyffryn Conwy Paddlers run a canoeing time trial through
the harbour at Conwy.
The course
is approximately 3km per lap, and goes from Benarth slipway
where the club is based, under the 3 bridges and down through
the harbour to the marina entrance and back again. The state,
strength and direction of the tide can make a slight difference
to the times, so experience of reading water and knowing where
to hug the bank to avoid the flow can be a help.
The timetrial
is raced on a handicap system with a paddlers handicap being
based on their best time for the year so far. A newcomer to
racing is usually given a handicap of 0, and that means that
they are expected to complete the 2 lap course in 50 minutes.
Other paddlers then start a set time behind based on their handicap.
This means that all paddlers finish together (in theory) and
also builds in a safety factor, as less experienced paddlers
will have the faster paddlers coming up behind them. As a rough
guide, a Great Britain international standard paddler will take
just under 30 minutes, with most club paddlers taking between
32 and 45 minutes.
Being raced as 2 laps, paddlers that do not want to race for
50 minutes can always choose to race over one lap until they
feel confident to race the full course.
Click here to see the DCP timetrail record times
timetrial
records
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