Irish Wild Water Racing Committee Meeting Minute

13^th January 2007

Held at Curragower, Limerick.

Present: Martin McCarthy, Caoimhe Ni Chuinn, William Irwin, Liam McCarthy.

Apologies: Bruno Halter

1. Matters arising from minutes of meeting held on 9^th December 2006

à Requests for selection were received from 6 paddlers.

à Equipment will be collected after the race on the 13^th January and kept together. Number bibs are to be kept in batches of 10. The whereabouts of the ‘wavehoppers’, owned by the organisation is to be established. Liam McCarthy will take charge of the equipment.

à It was decided that the format of the race notices for Castleconnell and Aghade are satisfactory as they don’t use much computer memory and are easily printed. It was decided to put a course description of each race on the website. It was suggested that race organisers have a backup course in mind in case of excessive flood or lack of water and that race organisers make contact with local newspapers with a view to publicising the event.

à A list of phone numbers is to be given to Caoimhe so that paddlers can be notified of race dates and squad session.

à It was decided to purchase a domain name and a hosting for the website. Irishwildwaterracing.com is the favoured option. The site will be similar to the existing one. Prior to the launch of the new domain name, the website will tested by the committee so that any problems might be ironed out.

à The Castleconnell situation has been resolved. The committee thanked William Irwin for his efforts in this matter.

2. Junior squad training

à A training session for juniors is arranged for the 20^th January in Aghade. It is hoped that from this and other sessions a junior squad will emerge.

à Another session is planned for 17^th February either at SLCC or at Celbridge Paddlers.

à It is hoped to run a session on the Barrow the week before the race on 11^th March.

à On Saturday 24^th March, training is planned for the Boyne. It may be possible to book the Newgrange hostel that night for the Junior squad. The Boyne race is the following day.

à Notice of the above squad sessions is to be put on the WWR news.

à It is hoped to have a trip away sometime after the wild water racing season (Nottingham, Bala and Ironbridge are all possibilities). Martin will investigate the costs involved in such a trip.

3. Senior squad training.

à Squad sessions are to be as inclusive as possible

à Time Trials should be an important part of training sessions.

à The first squad session will be organised by the committee. This will take place on the Avonmore the day before the race on 11^th February.

à It is hoped that other sessions will be organised by experienced squad members, in consultation with the committee.

4. Update on Breizh race in France.

à Martin will send an updated entry list to the organisers.

à Caoimhe will check if national team selection is required for the race at Noguera Pallaresa in Spain.

5. Update on accounts

à The treasurer reported that the accounts are in a reasonably healthy state.

à The balance on the Fastwave boat is yet to be paid.

à It was confirmed that the sports council grant is for international competition only. Races bring in a small amount of money and therefore other sources of finance are needed to fund junior squad development. Members of the committee will approach parents of junior squad members with a view to setting up a fund raising organisation. Any funds raised are to be used for the junior squad only.

6. Selection for National Team

à Monday 15^th January was the date by which paddlers should notify the secretary of their desire to be considered for selection. As of 13^th only 6 paddlers had done so. It was decided to put a reminder in the wwr news and to extend the deadline until Friday 19^th January.

à The secretary will find out what international events for masters are planned for 2007. It is expected that masters who want to compete abroad will do so at their own expense.

à All paddlers should send a list of international competitions, in which they intend to compete, together with a signed code of conduct, to the secretary within the 3 weeks after the selection event. Paddlers will not be deemed selected until they have signed the code of conduct.

à It is considered good practice to take part in the Pre world championships this year if paddlers intend to compete at the same venue in 2008.

à The committee would like as many paddlers as possible to take part in world cup events in order to gain experience. However in order to be considered for selection to the European Championship team, paddlers must achieve a result in the selection event that is within 7% of the class winner’s best time.

7. The Selection Event(s).

à The committee decided that the number of events should be restricted to one or two weekends, as at least 2 squad members will have to travel from England.

à It was decided that the event(s) would be held in Ireland.

à It was decided that squad members would be consulted before the committee makes the final choice of event. It is hoped to make this choice after the race in Aghade.

à It was decided that the Avonmore water levels are unpredictable and so this event should not be included.

à As 2 of our best C1 paddlers will be away on the weekend of the Moy race, this event is considered to be unsuitable.

à The committee favours one of the following options:

a) A Classic type race on Saturday 10^th of March for the selection candidates only, in the Graiguenamanagh area. On the following day Clashganny sprint (as per calendar) would also be a selection event.

b) The Boyne Classic on 25^th March with a sprint for the selection candidates the previous day on the Boyne.

c) The Clashganny sprint on 11^th March and the Boyne Classic on the 25^th March.