Our local community is rallying with support for each other, as businesss and non-profit groups prepare to return to the “new normal”. LKR are very grateful to Linlithgow Distillery for their donation of hand sanitiser, which will be an important element in enabling our members to return to club paddling in a safe and compliant manner, when the time comes. Although LKR as a club are not quite there yet, we’re actively planning for how to resume club activities, and very much look forward to updating all our members with details, as soon as it is confirmed that it is safe for club paddling to resume.
What does this mean for our LKR paddlers? You know what we did in Phase 1? Well, Phase 2 is just the same, except paddlers can now meet in groups of up to 3 households (adding up to no more than 8 people), still 2 meters apart and washing hands frequently. Most likely we will have to wait till Phase 3 to share kit or travel more than “broadly 5 miles” to paddle. We’ll keep you updated as we learn more. Happy paddling to those of you who are now able!
We need your help – today. LKR can only be the club you want, with your help. So far, we’ve only heard from 20 people – we really need and want to hear from a lot more people. This is your last chance to complete the questionnaire. If you prefer to send a short email with some brief comments about what you want for the future, please send them to Gilbert today. We want to hear from all of you – so please help us to help you.Thank you!!
PLEASE TAKE TIME BEFORE JUNE 14TH to tell the LKR Committee what you want your club to do to help you enjoy your sport for the future. The effect of your feedback won’t happen next week, but we will listen and it could mean a huge difference to you in a year or two. There are only 10 days left so please complete the short online questionnaire. We really appreciate your help to make sure LKR captures what you, or current and future members think. Thank you!
From May 29th, paddling is now permitted as part of your daily exercise
Only paddle with people from your own household and/or one other household
Maintain 2m physical distancing at all times – there can be no wash hanging
There can be no crew boat paddling
Stay local to your home – travel is limited to “broadly 5 miles”
Follow public health guidelines for hygiene. Algae on te Union Canal is profuse at present, so wash everything carefully
Paddle within your personal capabilities – you must be capable of rescuing yourself without assistance, and with the present green algae, if you do fall in, keep your mouth closed
There will be no organised club activities or canoe lessons
If you don’t have your own equipment, and you want to borrow club equipment for the duration of Phase 1 (see details below), you can only do so if you have renewed your 2020 membership.
What LKR will do:
Encourage members to use their own equipment to paddle individually
The club boat locker will remain locked
From Friday 29th May, club members who do not have their own equipment may request to collect club kit from the locker on a one-off basis to allow them to restart paddling (including boat, paddle, buoyancy aid). Boats may only be borrowed if you have means to transport them safely (i.e. v bars on a car, within broadly 5 miles of Linlithgow, or walk a short distance to the water carrying your boat)
Where club kit is borrowed, you will be required to store it safely at your own premises for the duration of Phase 1
Following advice from the SCA, we have some good ideas for how we’ll manage our club paddling in the next phases (2-4), but we need more information from SCA/Government before the detail can be finalised. We’ll let you know here, as soon as more information is available to share.
Although the club is still closed in Phase 1, your paddling will be highly visible within our communities. We thank you for continuing to represent LKR responsibly and we wish you a successful, careful and enjoyable return to the water.
The people who work to manage ‘Linlithgow Kayak Racing’ (LKR) would really like to get some feedback from you, our current and future members. With this in mind, we have designed a short online questionnaire which should take around 15-20 minutes to complete. We would really appreciate your help to make sure LKR captures what you think. It’s live now, and the survey closes on Sunday 14th June 2020.
We want to receive the views and opinions from non-members in addition to current LKR members. Anyone interested in our club can complete the questionnaire. For example, parents of a young member can fill in the questionnaire as well as the young member themselves, in addition to anyone else who is interested in learning to canoe in the future.
The current plan is to analyse the results in the second fortnight in June and we hope to present the results by mid July 2020. The results will then be used to guide the way forward for Linlithgow Kayak Racing.
Many thanks for your interest and for taking time to complete this.
12th April – Scottish Paddlers were strongly recommended to cease all paddlesport activity on Scottish waters.
10th May – we learned that it appears that from 13th May, people who live in England may be able to resume paddlesport activity in England.
11th May – SCA published guidanceconfirms that the situation remains unchanged for paddlesport in Scotland. We are to continue to “refrain from going paddling at this present time.”
Why? We are asked to support the efforts of the many who are dealing with the COVID-19 situation. Our instruction remains “Stay at Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives”. We know of Scottish paddlers who have been stopped by the Police and given warning of a fine if they are seen again while the restrictions are in place.
Even when the instruction does eventually change, travel restrictions appear likely to remain in place for longer, which means that not everyone will be able to travel to reach suitable water. So, realistically, most of us will still be unable to paddle for quite a while yet.
Meantime stay safe by maintaining social distancing and good hygiene. Keep on top of your general fitness. While we wait, our Committee thanks you all for your patience and for respecting the guidance.
How would a club chairperson summarise this last month? With a positive message, of course! That’s more difficult when the social distancing rules and stay at home messages which aim to stop the spread of Coronavirus have changed the way so many people are living their lives.
Over the winter we had forced ourselves into weather we really didn’t want to be in. This was going to be the year! We paddled on occasions we really didn’t want to because we could support other paddlers. We broke through the winter to ……….. uncertainty all around; to an eerie silence, and no competitions. We’re getting used to what for now, is the new ‘normal’. Yet, that disappointment is nothing to the difficulties of those who are grieving. We try to stay fit yet at the same time friends and relatives risk contracting the virus working in essential occupations.
Without doubt we now have a different perspective on life. Read more here…..
In light of the government’s Stay at Home measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 and more recent requests from several organisations to do everything we can to reduce the burden on the emergency services, the SCA strongly recommends that all paddlesport activity on Scottish waters cease until further notice. Read full notice here
LKR have carefully considered all the available advice, and have made the decision that all of our May 2020 racing events must be cancelled. We feel it’s important to keep everyone regularly updated throughout this COVID-19 situation, and we sincerely hope that as circumstances improve, that perhaps we can consider some rescheduling later in the year. Thank you all for your understanding. Our thoughts are with all our members, friends and their families!
