Saturday 14th April saw many club members being swung around the dance floor under instruction from John "the caller " from the Ceilidh band "Wooden Leg". Can honestly say not all of his instructions were followed to the letter but still a great night was enjoyed by all who attended the dance held at Urswick church hall. ​

Friday 30th March saw DCC sessions return to the evenings now the clocks have changed and the nights are getting lighter. This session was well attended by several families with many taking to the water for a paddle up to the bulls nose to play several games or just have a look around. The SUP's were also out which gave some of the younger members a chance to practise their skills on them.The weather was kind to us for once. Long may it continue.

Sunday 25th March saw DCC race team attend The Burrs WWR. These are pictures about a day that was successful for DCC with Brandon coming 1st overall closely followed by Scott. Jannik came 1st in the under 16's and Keiran 2nd. Ryan and Connor won their age catergories as well as Owen and Kirsty. Well done to all who raced and supported the team especially those that made their debut at white water racing.
 

On Wednesday evening at the RDT AGM, club secretary Carol collected an award on behalf of DCC Head Coach John Sherwen.  He was awarded the regional winner of the category  “Community Coach of 2017” The award was made by BC Cumbria Regional Development Team who recognised  John for his dedication and commitment to the sport of canoeing in the community.
For those of you that haven’t met John yet, he is a dedicated member and volunteer of DCC for over 30 years, working his way up to Head Coach.
Congratulations John from all at DCC and thanks for all you do for the club.

pictures by Ryan Bentley.
Cumbria polo tournament 27th Jan at kendal Duddon had a definite 8 players up for this so we decided to put in one team into the open league as there was no novice league this time, but we had two last minute players deciding to come along making it up to ten.... 
When the team arrived we were asked if we had any spare numbers to help make up the numbers of two Penrith teams..so Joel and Yanik (German exchange student ) volunteered to put them self's forward. Joel played for Penrith C, who came 7th over all. He did a lot of great defending for the team and even scored one goal... Yanik played for Penrith A who came 3rd over all Yanik has only ever done two sessions in the pool then gone on to play in an open tournament that needs a medal alone. Yanik did a brilliant job keeping up with a fast team mainly defending and getting the odd shot in and missing by a margin... Yanik did capsize a few times but held his own and got up and carried on playing well done lads .... 
That left Duddons team with 8 players taking turns.. first up was Scott, Harvey, Trevor, Keiron and Kirsty... losing to a strong Lakeland 4/0, this could of been a higher score if it won't for Kirsty saving a few and Keiron putting top effort in on defence, taking on Penrith A next was shell, lee, Scott, Harvey and Trevor losing 6/1 with the long shots missing the team had to change tactic and eventually harvey scored. The 3rd match was Conner,Lee,Harvey,Shell,Scott,  a lot of quick passing and team effort still going getting the ball to conner for him to put some shots in but missing.. Harvey scores 1 but that's no excuse for the teams only green card in the tournament. 
4th game Lee took goals and Conner and Keiron took on defence with the 3 at the back hardly letting the attack through they manage to only let the ball through once and let in one goal. This left Harvey and Scott to fight at the front with Scott scoring 1 and Harvey scoring 2 they won 3/1.
 Conner, Keiron, Kirsty,Harvey, Trevor taking the next match  harvey getting tired took goals Trevor in defence leaving Kirsty mid way having shots on target but getting saved left the two juniors up front the lads did a top job looking for space Keiron managing to get the ball to conner setting him up for two goals... losing out on a close 4/2 the final game was left to the oldies Trevor in goals Lee Scott in defence supporting shell and Kirsty up front.. a lot of long shots going astray the score being 3/0 the team makes a quick change and goes for quick short passes, Scott manages to get the ball through to shell under the net to take a shot after the whole team shouting shoooooooot she scores, you would of thought we won the tournament the way we cheered (she doesn't normally shot) but we lost 3/1... this left our team coming 6th place out of 7...all team players did a brilliant job and our team spirit can't be faulted wether we  played for Duddon or Penrith well done all.
 
Scorers top Harvey=3 Connor=2 Scott=1 Shell=1...... Joel=1 
Pictures and video taken by Ryan Bentley.. 
(The video is of Yanik, thanks has to go out to the players who took their time to help him rather than carrying on) 
Michelle and Trevor 
DCC polo coaches

​On November 25th DCC polo team played up at Penrith.
“With having a few players missing... the novice players teamed up with penrith and the remaining Trevor, Chris, Harvey, Lee and Michelle decided just to go and have fun and see how they do in the open league....the first game was against cygnets an penrith team... with a lot of great defending from Chris, goal saving from Michelle and breaks from Lee, Trevor getting the ball up front to harvey he managed to score 2 goals and 1 penalty.. helping the team win 3/0.... Second game Keiron decided to give it a go against a strong Lakeland team with Harvey only scoring 1 and the team trying hard in defence lost out 4/1, but could of been more if keiron didn't step in for Michelle when she got pushed out of goals.
The 3rd game was yet another challenge against the Eagles a penrith team, Conner this time stepped up for Lee,, with the other teams keeping an eye on Harvey and his shooting he decided to fake a shot pass the ball to Conner for him to score.. twice this way... getting a very well deserved 2/2.. 4th games result came in at Harvey scoring 1 leaving the result at a loss 3/1 against a strong tigers a Penrith team with the team battling to the end. The last game Connor stepped up for Michelle, against a very strong unbeaten Pyranhas
Losing out on a 4/0.
All players did really well never giving up and ended coming a respectable joint 3rd over all..
Well done all... “
Michelle
 
“It went well . Kieron and and Conner did very well .We came joint 3rd in the end but I think we won by a mile in the team spirit department. “
Trevor
 

A fantastic time was had by DCC members, of all ages and abilities, who went with Andy and Scott on a stretch of the River Leven to practice their skills on white water. As you can see by the pictures not all kept dry that day but it didnt stop them from getting in and trying again. The fun of the day was captured by Sue. Thanks also to Scott and Andy for arranging the day.

Despite the wind and cold many DCC members turned up for the Family paddle at the docks on Saturday tea time.  Afterwards everyone enjoyed a great buffet supplied by all members attending followed by some fantastic fireworks. As usual a great time was had by all giving us a chance to catch up with friends old and new. Thanks go to Scott for his great selection of fireworks and Andy for keeping the bonfire going.
Please feel free to send in any that you may have taken so I can add them to the club album. Thanks.
 

When I first started coming down the club Kirsty would hardly step a foot in a boat due to her fears of water... not even being able to put her head under... but with a lot of begging I encourage her to do the marathons in a k2 with myself. Kirsty then started to get the bug for racing doing the marathon on her own as well as trying out wild water. Kirsty started to become a regular getting on the water on a club night, getting coaching from Andy & Carol and even a winter session with John S. on marathon kayaks.
 
With more encouragement from Duddon coaches Trevor, Lee, Scott and myself we managed to get her in a polo boat. With help from Fran Kirsty started a new whole level for herself with simply putting her head under the water at the baths...
 
With coaching from Trevor, Scott, Lee, Chris and myself Kirsty with a few months of trying on Thurs 2nd November managed to hand roll in a kayak... well done Kirsty. 
 
If I do say so myself it has been great to see a person over come their fears and get great fun from it at the same time.. just goes to show what us coaches can do with a little patience.
Well done team Duddon 
 
from Michelle Sanderson