UPCOMING EVENTS 

  Sunday 20th Dec - Turkey Race - Templemills to Salmon Leap Canoe Club - 12 noon start - Classes: Open Canadian and Fun race - Prizes for places 1 - 3, best fancy dress and best fundraiser! - Entry Fee €10 Senior, €5 Junior - All proceeds go to the St. Vincent De Paul - Prize-giving in McNamee's Abbey Lodge - All competitors must be experienced kayakers/canoeists Race will only go ahead if the water levels are safe

NEWS

  November 9th - Tadgh does the club proud in Tasmania

Well done to the Irish team who took part in the Wildwater World Cup in Tasmania over the last week. Excellent performances all round! Liz Shouldice took a bronze medal in the Womens K1 event. Our own Tadgh MacIntyre and Keith McGuirk finished in the top 10 world rankings in the C1 class after this event - well done guys!

  October 22 - Celbridge Paddlers is awarded €5,000 by Texaco in the 2009 Texaco Sportstars Bursaries!

A record 582 sports clubs from all of the 32 counties submitted applications for this year's Texaco Sportstars Bursaries. Some 40 sporting disciplines are represented amongst the applicants. Soccer clubs made up the highest number (223) followed by GAA (82), basketball (37), swimming (30), rugby (29), athletics (26), hockey (16), cycling (15) and special needs (14). Minority sports represented include American football, karting, tug-of-war, kick boxing, ice hockey, diving and canoeing.
25 clubs were chosen to receive a bursary including Celbridge Paddlers Canoe Club. We will now be in a position to replace some of our ageing plastic kayaks and purchase other equipment including helmets and spraydecks.
Credit goes to Catherine Clabon for bringing the Texaco Sportstars Bursaries to the attention of the committee last year and this year and also to Tim Hartnett for submitting our application - well done to both of you!
The awards were presented at a reception in the Conrad Hotel today (Thur 22nd Oct) where the club was represented by Neil Fleming, Tim Hartnett, Bríd Verdon, Hazel Verdon and Vincent O'Sullivan - we should have some photos of this soon. John Treacy, former Olympic silver medalist and CEO of the Irish Sports Council presented the awards along with Chevron Ireland Chairman Enda Riney.
We are extremely grateful to Texaco (Chevron) Ireland for choosing Celbridge Paddlers to receive an award this year and for being one of the very few companies who support Irish sport in such a practical way.
2009 is the 52nd anniversary of the Texaco Sportstars Awards.

For more information on the Texaco Sportstar Bursaries visit www.texaco.ie

  September 5th - 2009 International Liffey Descent

The 50th Liffey Descent was a most enjoyable and successful event for everyone involved - even the weather took a turn for the better! There were over 1000 competitors from all parts of the globe - over 100 competitors from South Africa alone which illustrates the international importance of this event. This year we even had a hellicopter with a TV crew on board (for the first time in a number of years). Great credit is due to the ICU and the various clubs and organisations involved in the running of the event. Celbridge Paddlers were in charge of the Start at the K Club in Straffan - well done to Eamon Devoy (starter extraordinaire!), Eugene Ryan, Eamon Fleming, Tim Hartnett and Vincent O'Sullivan. Celbridge Paddlers were also in charge of rescue at Vanessa - they were well battered and bruised by the time the last paddler went through - full marks to Tino Marchetti, Tim Clabon, Johnny FitzSimons and Jude Fleming for bravery! (I hope I'm no leaving anyone out! - email me).
Our competitors also flew the flag for the club with some great results and brave performances - top of the list - Aisa Cooper came third in the Mens Senior K1 class (he's a previous winner of this class) - well done Aisa! Fintan Mitchell (Jnr) came 4th in Junior Men's GP in time of 2.40 - an excellent result - and Mark Hartnett wasn't far behind in 9th with a time of 2.52 (brilliant! considering it's Mark's first Liffey Descent at 15 years old). Paul McKay came 6th in the Senior Men's GP in a time of 2.26 and John Keane (son of Gerry) wasn't far behind - well done guys! 
Paraic Keane (the other son of Gerry!) and the irrepressible Brendan Buggy came 4th in the T2 class in a time of 2.17 (and to think that one of them is a fossil!). Father and son crew Tom and James Smyth had a terrific run (apart from a wobbly at Straffan when James decided to exit the boat leaving Tom with no option but to follow suit - no emails please) - they came in 10th in a time of 2.28 in the T2 class. Lisette Krol and Elizabeth Pringle also had a great run in their T2 coming down in 2.58
Graham Buggy and Sean O'Neil (his annual outing!) had a good race in their K2 coming in 15th in a time of 2.11 followed closely by Martin Hearns and Caoimhe Ni Chuinn in a time of 2.19 - well done!
Kevin Durkin and Damien Byrne did lots of swimming but still managed 14th (out of 106 entries) in their Touring Canadian - it looked like the problem was all the er.. weight in the back of the boat...
In the Masters (fossils) GP there were good workmanlike performances from hardy annuals Gerry Keane (3.06), Paul McEvoy (3.12), Dave Finnegan (3.18) and Fintan Mitchell Snr (3.35) - you all have a great future behind you!
We must also sympathise with those who didn't make it to the finish - Ciara and Orla O'Toole had rudder problems in their K2 and their race ended at Straffan Weir - as did the race of Ciaran Fleming and Sean Marchetti who damaged their K2 at Straffan but managed to limp as far as Celbridge before abandoning. Daire Mitchell also came a cropper - disappointing but there's always next year!

Photos Tim Hartnett

  August 16th - Lower Liffey

The weather held up nicely for the race and there was a big turnout. Paddlers come out of the woodwork for this one as a practice run for the Liffey Descent. There was a good turnout from the club and some encouraging results (plus a few wipe-outs!!) - Aisa Cooper came in 2nd in K1 Div 2, Graham and Fintan were 3rd in the long-course K2. Unfortunately Dara Mitchell injured his shoulder at Lucan weir and had to pull out - Vincent also pulled out at Lucan after losing the nose of his boat (again!). Aidan Devoy (it's that time of year!) came in 6th in the K1 Div 4 class - also in this class was Fintan Mitchel Sr, Gerry Keane, Mark Hartnett and Mark Verdon - all got down without too much drama! Brendan Buggy and Padraig Keane are proving to be a force to be reckoned with - 4th in the short-course K2 - they should peak just around Descent time! Ciara and Orla damaged their K2 on Wren's and arrived in WWKC where they sunk. Jude Fleming and Dave Finnegan did themselves proud in the Mens GP - the same can't be said for Vincent (Lucan),  John Keane or Paul McGovern (Leixlip Bridge) - pity there isn't a medal for the club with the most DNFs!! Garreth Doolan had a great race - the first CPCC GP over the line - well done Garreth! Oisin Finnegan also got to the finish without breaking a sweat! Elisa Levigio had a great run in the women's GP coming in 12th (not bad for her first time over those weirs). And what a performance from Kevin Durkin and Damian Byrne in the Open Canadian - 3rd in a time of 1.43:55 - I hope you guys haven't peaked before the Descent! And lastly but not leastly Tadgh McIntyre put in his usual stirling performance with Paul Byrne coming in 2nd in the Racing Canadians.
All in all - a good day's work for the club (and an enjoyable one!)

(Photos by Martin McGovern)

  July 12th - Ranking Race Graiguenamanagh to St Mullins - 180 Kayak Club

Well done to everyone who went to Graigue for the race on Sunday 12th - some encouraging results - Clodagh MacGiollaRua (1st Girl's GP - well done Clodagh!), Tom Daly (8th Div 4), Ronan MacGiolla Rua (11th Div 4), Kevin Durkin (4th Men's GP - looks like we're still relying on the fossils for the points!)
(Brendan Buggy and Fintan Mitchell did their best - God love them).

  27th June - Carrick-on-Shannon Ranking Race

Turn-out from the club was low at this one (the fact that this is traditionally a Saturday race may have something to do with it) - four paddlers from CPCC - all did very well - Michael FitzSimons came first in K1 Div 3, Lisette Krol came 5th in the K2 short course with Ian Pringle, Kevin Durkin (competitive as always) was 3rd in the Men's GP with Johnny FitzSimons in 7th.
Tom Smyth was watching from the comfort of his campervan (but unfortunately this doesn't get us any points!)

  30th May - Junior Series - Newbridge - organised by NCC

The day was glorious and the river was tanking! We only had three junior competitors - Mark Hartnett, Mark Verdon and Garreth Doolan - and three fossils in pursuit! (Noel Doolan, Paul McGovern and Vincent O'Sullivan) - all did well - well done to Newbridge College Canoe Club for organising a great race - the BBQ was very welcome at the end!

  11th April - Swim (or paddle!) a mile with a smile!

Hazel Verdon gathered the troops at the club on Saturday morning to take part in a sponsored paddle as part of a national fundraising effort in aid of Children's Cancer and inspired by the tragic death of a junior member of our club - Ian Daly - in 2003. Proceeds will go to Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin and the Barretstown Hole In The Wall camp. For more info check out www.swimamile.ie 
Well done Hazel and well done to everyone who took part...

What a bunch! - Garreth, Hazel, Martin, Mark, Tom and Vincent - Paddle a Mile with a Smile!
Tom Smyth and Gerry Keane also took part but were too shy to go in the photo!

  4th and 5th April - Nottingham - BCU Sprint Regatta at the National  Water Sports Centre

Some great results from Nottingham - Neil Fleming came 3rd in the Men's A 500m Final against stiff opposition from the UKs elite - this sets him up nicely for the Worlds - Neil then came 2nd in the Mens A 1000m final - brilliant result! Darragh Fleming and Sean Marchetti came 1st in the Men's B 500m AND 1000m K2 finals and Sean went on to win the Men's B K1 500m final (Sean has now been promoted to Men's A for future competitions). Darragh Fleming came an excellent 5th in the Men's B K1 500m final. 
Fintan Mitchell did well to reach the final of the Boys A K1 500m where he came 5th - he also came 5th in the final of the Boy's A 1000m. Well done also to Michael Fitzsimons (5th Boy's B K1 500m final).
Michael Fitzsimons and Darragh Mitchell came 3rd in the final of the Boy's B K2 500m - a great result!

  Sun 29th March 2009 - first ranking race of the season on the Boyne organised by Trim Canoe Club

Well done to everyone who made their way to Bective Abbey for the short start (unfortunately we didn't have any paddlers in the long start from Trim Castle). It was an early start (last entries 11.30am - start 12am) but happily the weather was great which makes all the difference (especially for the support crews!). There was very little water on the river so there weren't any hazards. We had a good entry in K1 Div4 - Brendan Buggy (7th), Mark Hartnett (15th), Padraig Keane (19th), Tom Daly (20th) and Gerry Keane (26th - after rescuing a K1 paddlers from another club!).

In Mens GP we had Dave Finnigan (6th - despite a swim at the weir!) and Vincent O'Sullivan (10th - despite his great age and infirmity!).

In Boy's GP we had Mark Verdon (3rd - our only podium - well done Mark!), Garreth Doohan (4th - despite trying to take Mark out of it at the bridge!), Oisin Finnegan (6th - well done Oisin) and Jake Harris (7th - fair play!).

I think Tim might have some photos - I'll put them up if get them...

Last Update : 15/01/2010

Contact us at cpaddlers@hotmail.com