NSR 2011

From ICCC

People

• Joe 'im definitely not sleeping on the bus keys' Bibby
• Helen 'Vomit hand' Cinnamond
• Will 'Infamous mess' Eldred
• Peter 'Barbra Streisand' Flanagan
• Colm 'Travelling Gentleman' Hartigan
• Tom Haywood
• Holli 'Starving Ethiopian' Pritchard
• Alex 'Hawaiian babe' Robinson
• Alby 'Fight club' Roseveare
• Natalie 'Chunder' Staffurth
• Bjorn 'Wanderer' Waldheim
• Stefan 'Shark' Zeeman

Friday

With absolute minimum faff, mainly due to the reduced number of boats needed and NSR paddlers dropping like flies, we set off at a ridiculously early 6 o'clock with a few less people. We ventured through north London in ridiculous traffic and spotted 'classy chicks' THE place for respectable yet fashionable attire somewhere in north London. After noting this epic fashion establishment for future use we headed onwards and northwards towards Nottingham.

Much hilarity ensured as the minibus was packed full of cheery paddlers hungry for some inflatable fancy dress action and we made good way to arrive at Holme Pierrepoint water sports centre in Nottingham around 9ish.

We headed over to the marquee to receive goody bags and wrist bands where we chatted to fellow revellers about our Presidents "infamous" reputation for having too much of a "good time" on paddling weekends.

Tents were put up hastily in the dark and soon we ventured towards the party marquee, where we participated in a mass imbibing session and mingled with students from across the UK. The beverages provided were of a decidedly suspicious quality leading to a tequila shot making a reappearance that was luckily caught by Helens own hand.

Pete was awed beyond words when it was revealed that his hero singing legend Barbra Streisand would be making an appearance throughout the weekend's activities at the NSR.

Eventually large consumption of low quality beverage lead to a desire to retire to bed. Unfortunately upon returning to the campsite we discovered that someone had moved the tents and they were no where to be seen. After 10 minutes of shock, panic and discussion of who the culprits could be the tents were actually located right where they had been all along and Pete realised the "loss" of tents was a result of the extensive dirty beverage consumption that had occurred earlier in the evening. With the panic over and tents re-discovered we retired to snooze.

Saturday

A bright and early rise forced us to head toward the white water course in search of the dirty burger van for bacon baps and cups of tea. The girls decided that standing around in warm dry clothing and watching was a much more sensible option due to cold, wet weather and unsettled stomachs. The boys manned up and all participated in their individual heats with special mention going to Stefan and his inflatable marine friend.

Pete and Joe teamed up for the duo race and put in an admirable effort managing to stay upright for the race duration, until the loop at the very end introduced them to the wonderful experience of trent aqua. Pete soldiered on determined and attempted a roll not realising the joe had swam within seconds of feeling moist and was actually half way down the rest of the course. Realising that a solo rolo was a no go Pete resigned him self to be mounted from all angles by eager saftey rescuers.

After an enjoyable day of kayak carnage we headed back to the marquee for a feast fit for a king and a bit of light entertainment watching MOP2.Major faff centrerd around Holli's late arrival and the epic mission of locating the necessary authorities and wrist band providing people.

Solving of faff sounded the arrival of mass consumption of beverage as we donned our beach party themed costumes.

3 beach cocktails, 3 Hawaiian babes, 2 surfer dudes, the Irish Hoff, a lobster sewed on to a shirt (worse costume ever!!), Bjorn and Captain birdseye headed off to the marqueer for a darn tootin good time.

Several lessons were learned on this fine evening: The first rule of fight club is never steal a straw hat off a man, doing the conga is NEVER cool, Captain birdseye has rage against the machine related anger issues, Men love women with beards, coconuts provide unavoidable nipple chafing.

After a delightful evening all returned to the tents, where Natalie proceeded to insist she was feeling fine despite being almost laid face down feeling somewhat unwell.

Sunday

Upon arising sunday morning it soon emerged that no one knew what had happened to the keys to the minibus, althought the minibus was magically open and contained a sleeping Joe, adamant that he did not know location of said keys. A wild goose chase ensued as the marquee beverage had left substantial damage to short term memory function. Helpfully everyone remembered that "someone" had had the keys at "some point" during the previous evening. Minibus, tents, persons and internal cavity searches provided fruitless with Joe requesting to be left in peace as he definately didnt have the minibus keys. A brain wave from Will forcing Joe to actually look for the keys around his person revealed that he had infact been sleeping on the bus keys the whole time.

With the minibus key mystery sucessfully solved we headed on to the white water course to watch the womans heats and various final events. The womens novice event provided substantial entertainment with some impressive and inspired competitors. Buzz light year made an appearance as he went to infinity and beyond before getting well and truly beaten by the wave.As the carnage piled up on the inlet gate competitors began to shun the use of an actual boat infavour of inflatables.

Several imperial paddlers took a trip to morrisons for a perk up breakfast and a few tactical chunders where Holli's dishevelled demeanor was described a kin to a "Starving Ethiopean" as she proceeded to remove her shoes in the cafe.

Back at Holme Pierrepoint the mens expert event saw some top notch skills being worked out on the Muncher with the world freestyle champion taking the top postiton as expected.

The old school event saw some comedic looking boats and rather dashing attire sported by Dave Burne. Some impressive popouts and some nifty moves saw the old school event develop into one of the highlights of the NSR.

The duo final also proved to be a competition for the most entertaining event of the weekend as much carnage ensued with some dapper looking gentlemen in suits making a valiant effort for the title.

A burst of afternoon sunshine and some spectactular boating nicely rounded off a fantastic weekend at the National Student Rodeo for 2011 and we returned to pack up camp and set off back to London on a high.

After a slight detour somewhere around North London (Unfortunately missing out on catching some last minute bargains from Classy Chicks) we arrived back at stores around 9ish to begin the hosing down and scrubbing of one very mud coated minibus with a mop and bucket from the union bar . Suggestions for other cleaning methods were swiftly rejected.

see you next year NSR!!!!

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