All for One and One for All
Thousands of years ago, man sat astride a log and paddled it down a river. Whether that was initially to travel or to transport, to fish or to fight, or simply for fun it doesn't matter, he started canoeing. And today, just like thousands of others do around the world every day of every week, I go canoeing and my friends go canoeing.
In fact, for forty-five years, the people of Reading and the surrounding area have gone canoeing at Reading Canoe Club, from the banks of the Thames at Caversham. In almost half a century, the club house has taken a variety of different forms, from a boat known as the 'Old Toot' to a variety of wooden sheds in various states of disrepair. But you can throw away your dingy shack, your log dug-out, your stretched-canvas war canoe and enter the world of Reading Canoe Club with its beautiful clubhouse and light, carbon-kevlar and glass-fibre racing boats.
Thanks to a Lottery grant from Sport England two years ago, Reading C.C. has built a superb canoeing facility for all sections of the community to use and enjoy. In particular, we have been able to continue our long and distinguished history of providing the British team with some of its finest paddlers.
This year, four members of our racing group have been selected to race for GB at international sprint and marathon competition, World Cups, in this country and overseas. This month, I have the honour of being the latest in a long line of Reading paddlers to compete in the World Championships, in Nova-Scotia, Canada. Club racing captain, David Coulson, has also been selected to race in South Africa.
There are few clubs who can claim to have produced quality athletes with quite the regularity as we have at Reading. While we do not produce perhaps the quantity of world class paddlers as some of the London clubs, we can boast to have an excellent retention rate of club members who have started canoeing for a variety of different reasons, and who have continued because it is fun.
Any one can paddle, at any level and as many times a week, or a year, as they like. For many of our members, canoeing, in particular racing, is a way of life. This year, Reading C.C. hosted the National Marathon Championships at Caversham. The two day event was highly successful, attracting over seven hundred canoeists from around the country. The weekend provided levels of competition across the board. It required a feat of voluntary organisation and the club was praised for its achievement.
The racing group has recently qualified to compete in the national interclub championships, the Hasler Finals to be held in Nottingham at the end of September. Reading members will be there in force, from thirteen year old Tom Daniels who this year has won nearly every national Under 14 title going, to seventy year old Jean Boatman who races regularly at local events and who has just been promoted a division in marathon racing! At last year's Hasler Final, Reading finished third overall. This year, we will be hoping to go at least one better, if not win.
Run entirely by a group of volunteers, all of whom paddle and compete themselves, Reading C.C. aims to provide a safe, active, friendly environment for anyone and everyone of all abilities. We are especially keen to accommodate persons, as far as possible, with special requirements who would like to come canoeing: males and females, juniors, seniors and veterans from the novice to the experienced. In particular, several members have overcome physical disabilities to excel in canoeing where they have not been able to in other sports.
Our facilities are fully integrated for the disabled and include showering and changing rooms, a weights room, social area and extensive boat storage, we also have a lift for those who require it. With such a wonderful facility, you may be forgiven for wondering why we actually bother going canoeing at all!
The river provides a tranquil spot and canoeing offers a sport from which escape from the hustle and bustle of daily life is possible. Almost every day, morning and evening, Reading canoeists can be seen out paddling for recreation and for serious training. Those who want to be the best train hard under the watchful eye of club coach Bernard Perrett. In thirty years, he has seen generations pass through the canoe club, including his three daughters; two of whom, Suzie and Lucy, who went to the Olympic Games. And probably, in that time, little has really changed, fundamentally. Like a mini armada, single boats charge up and down stream, the quick, rhythmical clip-whoosh of the blade snatches the water from one side to the next.
And at dusk, as summer turns to fall, the river is at its best. A willow tree silhouettes a yellow sky. Cool water dances as it quicksteps with the evening sun. Swans parade their elegance. Ducks laugh, fancy-free. And canoeists paddle off into the sunset: clip-whoosh, clip-whoosh, clip-whoosh. And there is laughter ere they go.
Article by Abigail Cattle. Aug 2000