I’m just back from a BoaterX race on the river Annamoe, County Wicklow. The race consisted of a few nice technical rapids with rocks etc. and down jacksons falls. The event was approriately named Wacko on the Jacko. Early Saturday we had the individual races on the short course, 4 in each heat with 2 heats for the Junior Men, I had a head to head battle with my paddling partner and close friend, Shane Little, I came through to win the heat, but the first 2 in each heat got into the final, which means Shane got in too. A bit later we had the Final, again myself and Shane got really good starts and left the other guy behind, we were neck and neck when Shane got the advantage above the falls and flew in to take the victory, I was a little disappointed but happy for him and happy I still got 2nd. Later, we had the Team event on the short course with a twist….one member of a team had to throw a paddle threw a hoop, another member had to do a roll on a certain section of the river and the final member had to slap a sign above the falls, my Team, Myself, Shane Little and Conor Macken, took the victory in that. Then, Finally this morning we had the Team event on the Long Course, a course of 2 km. We kept the same team. After a huge team effort we came through in a very respectable time of 12min 37sec, beating some of the Expert Men’s teams and winning Junior Mens by a full minute. Needless to say it was a great weekend. For more information on the Wacko on the Jacko see wacko.ie
My Team
Junior Mens Final, Shane in front, Me following
On the falls
Robbie O’Shea
