It was one of the most hotly anticipated events in the SUCC calendar: purple pyrotechnics purchased; slogans stencilled on shirts and teams trained tirelessly…National Student Rodeo- Go Big or Go Home!
But could the previous 4th position be bettered?
The weekend started well with everyone arriving at the campsite in good time and spirits. The attire for the first evening was T-shirts with the slogan “If at first you don’t SUCCeed…bring more people and a louder megaphone”. Both of which had been done. The club was second only in size to Leeds (who organise the event) and started the weekend in possession of three megaphones. The evening’s entertainment took place in a large tent, which was remarkably similar to the one seen at the Teifi tour, with many beer funnels being undertaken. Midnight saw us enter a new era, Ripper turned into a real man (21)! A small collection of change was gathered and a pint purchased, I seem to recall it was 90% vodka, 10% coke and it was seen off in one go. Man up!
Saturday morning started too prematurely for most with Beth waking up to Tim vomiting 90% vodka and 10% coke and Sheffield waking up to Jo vomiting in the middle of their camp. Heats took place from 7 in the morning and continued well into darkness. Notable mentions go to Morley who ripped up the looping pool in club kit and an inazone, Laurent for nose-diving his way into the intermediates, and Vian for swimming. Results from the heats gave us representation in every final with Belcher in the women’s novice, Beth in the women’s expert, Simon Bottoms and Nick Thomas in the men’s intermediate and (most humorously) Chris Vian in the men’s novice. Southampton were taking over NSR!
The evenings theme was Rodeo with people sporting inflatable horses and leather boots. However, as we are mavericks we made our own theme: Cards. Again everyone was issued with a T-shirt that had been lovingly hand painted as a playing card. Paddling porn was watched avidly by much of the club while others chose to skip. Unfortunately Chav Mike took it upon himself to completely de-robe and skip in the nude. Thom and Nick went on an evening training run, which resulted in nothing but Mr Harvey falling over and rolling around in a puddle of his own urine from earlier in the night!
Sunday ushered in the manic duo heats. Stave and I ruined our competition before failing to roll at the end of the course. Cat and Mikey got into the next round but somehow managed to loose the Duo to the gnarly grade 1 of the Trent…luckily it was retrieved by 2 green men/ cacti from Sheffield. But the duo was the time Nick and Thom had been waiting for- would all those tireless hours of training and team bonding on the golf course pay off??? No.
Hurfo competed in the open and did well gaining a 3rd place, even though his girlfriend was judging! In the student finals Nick (who apparently is a keen Morris dancer, part of a Bon-Jovi tribute band and collects dwarf porn) and Simon pulled some awesome moves with some great pop-outs and placed 4th and 9th respectively. “You may think he looks no good now but give that man a Polo Ball and he’s pretty average.” Beth showed her loop-love for the top wave and came 8th. However the novice finals proved to be our speciality… Vian surfed the twin wave like a pro with some great shudder rudders, cross deck grabs and pop-outs without a swim in sight. His skills earned him a 2nd place position with one of his prizes being a free coaching session! Not bad for a young man who has only been paddling 7 months! Belcher started well with some practiced paddling moves and amazing pop outs, but the competition was stiff… something else was required. Mr Harvey had been waiting for this moment for some time. Two flares were duct taped to the back of Belcher’s boat and during surfing smoked out the entire area. The competition tried their hardest to beat this but the addition of a flare to Anna’s helmet sealed it for the judges. Anna won the event and a collection of some awesome prizes.
Overall the Club came … 3rd! Get in! Well done to everyone and thanks to all who paddled, cheered, painted, drove, pitched or organised. Hope you enjoyed the free socks!
Tim