Head of the Dart
It’s that time of year again for one of my favourite SUP races
of the Year, The Head Of The Dart. Traditionally a rowing event but opened up
to SUP four years ago and growing each year. The lead up to the race has been
tough for everyone with fairly bad conditions and bitterly cold easterly winds
for almost a month prior to the event. Talking to people before the race it
seemed SUP Surfing had been the majority of training as time on the board,
making the most of the bad conditions. Much of my fitness training had been
swimming and running based and I hoped that would be enough to keep me going.
2013 looked set to be a record turn out, and with some good weather forecast for
south Devon too. With very little SUP training having been achieved I made sure
that all of my other pre-race preparations were in place. A few days before the
event I cut down on fatty foods and started building up on Carbs and protein,
always a good excuse for steak and rice dishes. I also started my habitual
cleaning and polishing of my race board, its hard to say if it makes much of a
difference but mentally It puts me in a better place knowing that iv done all I
can possible to get a good result. Getting an idea of who was turning up to the
event I set myself a few goals to keep me focused, also being on home turf, as
it were, I felt strong and well geared up for the race.
The morning had arrived and it was time to get the final
preparations under way, hydration pack filled, dextrose tablets, energy gels
and bars stocked, pre-race banana ready, there wasn’t much more to be done but
get to Totnes and enjoy the atmosphere and meet friends from all over the
country. After dropping off the board at the rowing club and finally finding
somewhere to park the van to be left all day it was the calm before the storm,
the sun was out but there was still a chill in the air. The turnout was
impressive and possibly one of the biggest UK events ever, 98 competitors. A good
turn up from both Bray Lake and Bay sup, people from Central Sup, Wesup and
also a good up and coming paddler from Ireland who will be a force to be
reckoned with.
The start of the race was always going to be “Interesting”
the race alternates start locations each year, so either Totnes or Dartmouth, and
this year it was at Totnes. It confined a lot of paddlers in a narrow area of the
river, opposite the Rowing club. The Idea was for a rolling start, so we all
started up from the start line and waited for the count down and slowly made
our way towards the line before the final GO. It was great to see so many
paddlers, 5 boards deep and stretching all the way across the river. It was
always going to be a choppy start, for me very reminiscent of the starts in Holland,
I stood back in my K-15 to increase balance but at the loss of speed, although
getting out front early would reduce chop it’s a risky strategy that could end
up taking a dip right at the start. After a few hundred yards everyone started
to funnel into a column to start of the draft train as early as possible.
Ryan James had stormed off and was pulling away from a train
of about 10 people followed closely behind by Nick Watt and myself a short way
behind him, what was happening behind me was anybody’s guess at that point as I
kept my focus forward trying to slot in behind Nick and get a slight breather
ready to try and push up the pack.
About a Mile into the
race and I caught the sweet spot and managed to have a slight rest from the
sprint start as Nick pushed hard to pick up on the tail of the long snaking
train. Every now and then id try and test over taking but it would only spur
Nick to push harder and keep me at bay so I settled back into a rhythm knowing
there was plenty of distance still to go to make my move. The train had lost
the guy on the Fanatic board at the back and It looked possible to dig deep and
maybe catch him up then think about getting on the back of the train, I pulled
out again from Nick and for a fair while we were side by side heading into
shallow water trying to follow the pack. It was hard to see how deep it was as
the train had stirred up a lot of silt but every now and then my paddle would
scrape the bottom so I was a little conscious I might hit one of the logs/trees
that line the bed of the river and fly off my board. We paddled side by side
for about half a mile and then Nick again went ahead so I had another rest and
thought about how I could advance using the currents to my advantage. As we had set
off pretty much at high tide on a neap tide there wasn’t much bonus but I knew
I only needed just enough of a boost to give me the edge to get infront and then try for the next board. I pulled out into the main stream and started to dig deep and pull
away, this time it seemed to work but Nick was still hot on my heels. It took
almost half a mile but I caught up with (Fanatic) and settle into a rhythm as
we headed into the wide section of river by Stoke Gabriel into a fair head
wind. About half way down that stretch of water the train ahead of us was
broken up by some boat wake and a couple of groups of two formed and I saw
another chance to catch the next set of paddlers, plus one of my targets I had
set came into sight Ben Swails a fellow 11 cities companion, he started to slow
and split from Andy Joyce and I saw my chance to overtake him, I pulled behind
to take on some water and an energy gel then pulled along side and tried some
subtle mind games, having a quick chat with him and then pulling off round the
last few corners. My next targets were Sam Ross and James Hardy but by this
point they had picked up the pace and everything I tried couldn’t close the
gap, we turned the last corner into the last straight into Dartmouth and the
head wind made it hard work for tired arms, I was conscious of (Fanatic) still
tailing close behind me and also I think Andy Joyce was behind him, I kept
uping my efforts determined to keep my placing wary that Andy or (Fanatic)
might try a sprint finish, despite everything I couldn’t quite catch Sam and
James and thought the Higher Ferry might prove to slow them as they passed
behind it but it halted itself on the chain and allowed us to pass in front
instead, Im extremely happy with my performance I somehow managed to finish
first in the Unlimited class with Nick Watt coming in 2nd in class.
I waited at the finish line to cheer my brother Dan Ashford across the line, it
turned out he was still fairly ill from the day before and had a bit of a
horrid time of it but still managed a respectable (25th) place.
Congratulation to everyone who took part, its great to see so
many people enjoying the sport and seeing it go from strength to strength. Id
like to thank Dittisham boats and also Tushingham Sails for their help in
organising the event and look forward to the next Head of the Dart Race,
onwards and upwards. Id also like to Thank the Rowing clubs for letting us join
in on their event. A special mention must go to Ryan James for winning the
event, Anna Shekhdar for the 1st in the ladies, Ollie Shilston for the 12'6", and very well done to Peter
Kosinski who finished 3rd overall on his first attempt of the Head
of the Dart.
Thanks for reading,
Crispin Jones
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