If it’s not the wristband, the battered legs or the wet kit in my bathroom, it’s all been worth it for a fantastic weekend away at NSR 2016.

Ah yes, it’s NSR! The National Student Rodeo is the country’s, if not the world’s biggest student kayaking festival. Taking place in the first weekend of March at the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham. It’s a competition event but has an electric festival atmosphere so the best of both worlds! After taking a break out last year, this was our return to the event since 2014 and for many the first time coming.

NSR begins the Friday night! It was a rush from finishing days end at University to grab the kit from our shed and do the short trip over to Nottingham, set up the camp and swing past the supermarket to fill up on those ‘essentials’. The campsite like most festivals is a sea of tents, all from various universities including our neighbours for the weekend; Warrick and St. Andrews! NSR features a huge party tent with a fully fitted bar and a set up to rival the Engine shed. So it was no surprise we found ourselves in there for the rest of the evening, and also to escape the cold.

However it was not an late lie in for Team Lincoln, as our paddlers were on the first round of qualifications for both mens & womens at a nice an early time of 8am. This round was on the first set of 3 features of the white water course at HPP. At each feature (e.g a wave or eddy) judges scored each paddler based on skill & spirit (how much fun they were having). From this the men & women are separated into 3 different skill categories, Novice, Intermediate, and Expert.

With so many universities  and paddlers at NSR our first round of competition was over in the morning and was a chance to visit the various trade shows on the waterside, with demo boats and kit from all the big names in the sport. Meanwhile the festival spirit was boosted with the very own NSR radio, co-hosted by Alumni member and L.U.C.K founder Shifty. And of course nothing says NSR like a bunch of wet kayakers dancing to YMCA on a hill side.

As the afternoon approached results for which heat our team members qualified for:

Women’s: 

NOVICE: B. Park, K. Middleton, M. Biniam,  B. Marshall

Men’s:

NOVICE: J. Ost, A. Dearnley, O. James, J. Davies, J. Ridley, M. Edwards

INTERMEDIATE: W. Johnston, E. Woodrow, E. Morrison, D. Scarfe, T. Gravestock, J. Dixson.

The men’s intermediate heats (to qualify for the final) was later that afternoon, and after a mix up on the waterside both E. Morrison and W. Johnson competed in twice as much time as they needed to be, resulting in grueling half and hour of kayaking.

After them T. Gravestock took part in his heat followed by D. Scarfe, both pulled of good performances and soon the days paddling came to an end.

After ditching the kayaking gear and grabbing some hot food the team went to the party tent for the NSR Film Festival. This event is a chance for the various film-makers from across the teams to showcase there work. And another first from team Lincoln as we entered our film ‘LUCK over Judgement’ featuring footage from across the years paddling edited by our own Kit Sec and Media Production student Ted Gravestock. After the film festival another night of partying was in store!

The next morning was an Early start as the men’s novice heats took up the full morning bloc. J. Ost began paddling and was one of the first 2 in the heats! After scoring the most points in his heat it meant he held the top spot for a short but bliss amount of time! M. Edwards, A. Dearnley, O. James all then  paddled there heats throughout the morning.

During which results from yesterday’s Intermediate heats were published and W. Johnson had made it into the final and was up to paddle in the final in the afternoon! And speaking of getting into finals, the men’s Novice final results were in and M. Edwards, A. Dearnley and O. James all got into the final in the afternoon. Both finals had stella performances from the paddlers involved and even a trio surf from the team in the Novice final.

After the competitions finished and the final kit testing was done. The team assembled with the rest of NSR for the results of the weekend. And we are pleased we took 2 awards home! W. Johnson came third place overall in the Men’s Intermediate category and M. Edwards took first place in the Men’s Novice, meaning 2 wins for team Lincoln.

The short drive home and the weekend had come to close! A huge well done to Will and Michael who won prizes and thanks for the rest of the team for making the weekend!

 

Happy Paddling