The 8th Annual Wittering Charity Paddle Race organised by West Wittering Windsurf Club and Shoresurf Club held on Sunday 29th August has more than doubled the amount raised over 2011 for The Snowdrop Trust. This year we raised the entry fee a little this year to £15, and all of this amount was given to the Snowdrop Trust, which also helped raise the overall amount. We also encouraged people to raise a minimum of £15 in sponsoship money, and Simon Bassett pledged to ride with an inflatible crocodile on his back, which more than doubled the amount he raised. Next year we are looking to including a ‘teams’ category and a ‘fancy dress’ category.
Due to strong onshore force 6 winds the event was shortened and an upwind course was laid at West Wittering beach. The 32 competitors battled through the chop, paddling into the wind around a marker buoy then headed directly down wind back to the beach and ran over the finish line.
There were riders on surfboards, standup paddle boards, prone surfboards and kayaks – the ages of competitors ranged from 7rs old (Ollie Holland, Prinstead) up to 75yrs old (Roger Wilson, East Wittering) who brought a 1930s kayak made by his father.
On the beach we had a BBQ organised by Dicky Dale and Oliver Chipperfield and supported by the lovely ladies Sandy, Kate and Charlotte . To add to the atmosphere we had some great live music from the youngsters at the Chichester Music Academy who played all afternoon.
This year the overall results were combined with the total amount raised for the charity so the winners were:
Kayak class
1st Pete Dalaway
2nd John Watts
3rd Roger Wilson
Standup Paddleboard Class
1st Simon Bassett
2nd Paul Burgess
3rd Jamie Hawkins
Ladies Surf Class
1st Mary Rotterman
Prone Surf Class
1st Adriano Roldan
2nd Graham Taplin
3rd Brian James
Juniors Kayak Class
1st Theo Burley
Juniors Prone Surf
1st Miles Piper
Juniors Surf class
1st Lucy Howell
Junior Standup Paddleboard Class
1st Holly Bassett
2nd Poppy Holland
3rd Ollie Holland
Simon Bassett event director “We had hoped for no wind all week, Sunday morning we were ready to cancel the event, but we decided to shorten the course and run the event. Our objective this year was to increase the amount of money we raised for the charity we have doubled what we raised last year to £2270.00. I had to ride an inflatable stand up Padddleboard with an inflatable toy crocadile on my back to get some more donations”
We also like to extend a huge thank you to all the helpers, volunteers, and sponsors (total prizes donated £450)
Shore Surf Club (Adriano, Will, Graham, Adrian and Sarah)
WWWC donated jetski/fuel/2 staff members
X-Train (Chris, Luke, Angus and Jack) – staff for the event
2XS (Jane and Daisy) – donated all the event t-shirts, and event photography and posters/flyers/forms
Puma safety (Martin and Neal) – donated boat/2 crew/fuel
West Wittering Estate (David, Marcus and the lifeguards) – donated boat/fuel/lifeguards
Richard Dale & Oliver Chipperfield – donated all the food (with the help of Wallace Butchers & Splits Bakery) – donated
Indoboard (Adriano, Mary) – donated medals/prizes
Wittering Surf Shop – donated prizes
Ion – donated prizes
O’Neill – donated prizes
Prosport Suncreen – donated prizes
Supglobal – donated prizes
The Beach House – donated prizes
Lazy Days (Tiggs) – donated the inflatible crocodile!
And below are listed the finish times of each competitor:
SUP Mens Race
1 – Charley Grey – 07:14
2 – Jamie Hawkins – 07:38
3 – Matt Argyle – 08:03
4 – Paul Burgess – 08:26
5 – Jay Manning – 08:31
6 – Kevin Nind – 16:19
SUP Mens Open
1 – Bart Gay – 09:25
2 – Giles Barley – 09:41
3 – Russel Taplin – 09:46
4 – Simon Basset – 11:18
5 – Ken Harmer – 11:21
SUP Ladies
1 – Julia Toms – 11:02
2 – Lauren Osbourne – 17:05
Surfboard Ladies
1 – Mary Roterman – 10:41
Prone mens
1 – Adriano Roldan – 08:27
2 – Brian James – 09:42
3 – Graham Taplin – 09:43
Kayak
1 – P turnball/J.Achelleyl – 06:18
2 – John Watts – 06:39
3 – Roger Wilson – 07:18
4 – Mark Turnball – 08:48
5 – Peter Dallaway – 16:52
Juniors SUP
1 – Holly Basset
2 – Poppy Holland
3 – Ollie Holland
4 – Bertie Burley
Junior Surf
1 – Lucy Howell
Junior Prone
1 – Moles Piper
Junior Kayak
1 – Theo Burley
