National Student Rodeo

National Student Rodeo is a freestyle kayaking event in the UK hosted by Leeds University Canoe Club. The National Student Rodeo is now the biggest freestyle kayaking competition in the world, with 670 entrants and over 1000 party goers from 36 universities in 2008. It is held annually at Holme Pierrepont (HPP) National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham.

Organisation

Despite the highly demanding nature of organising events such as this, the National Student Rodeo has always (and always will) be organised and run by a group of willing and enthusiastic volunteers. The 'Rodeo Bosses' are responsible for not only booking the venue and getting universities to turn up, but also arranging camping, finding sponsors, promoting the event and organising the other myriad of jobs necessary. Event safety, first aid, judging, commentary, bar staffing and general 'gophering' are all dealt with by happy, enthusiastic members of LUUCC, River Legacy and other fantastic volunteers.

The focus of the competition has always been on the "fun" aspect of the sport, in order to encourage participation from novice paddlers. This is mirrored in the prize-giving ceremonies, where the best prizes are saved for the novice and intermediate categories. However this is not to say that competition in the expert finals is not fierce. Many of the UK's best freestyle paddlers have competed at the event, notably "Sketchy Pete" and Alistair "the liar" Bradley from NUCC. One of the most legendary events to have ever taken place was the unbelievable showdown between Steve Fisher and Conor "sherrif bad boy" Poland in which Sherriff Bad Boy beat Steve Fisher.

The name harks back to the 'olden days' of kayaking, when freestyle was referred to as 'rodeo' - although a renaming was briefly considered in 2004, 'The Rodeo' has stayed true to its roots.

Format

The core events for the competition are as follows:

• Extreme Slalom - All competitors for K1 and C1 (Men's and Women's) enter this event to be seeded for the heats.
• Men's Novice K1
• Men's Intermediate K1
• Men's Expert K1
• Women's Novice K1
• Women's Expert K1
• C1
• Squirt
• Topo Duo
• Open event

A "King of the Wave" invitational event was held in 2006 but this has not been continued. NSR MMX (2010) saw the introduction of 2 new events. Old Skool replaced the traditional Open event and saw competitors hotdog it out in boats and kit pre-2000 with Dave Burne of York coming out on top. There was also in the introduction of the "Kukri Sofa Cross" which saw 80 competitors race down the course at Holme Pierrepont on inflatable sofas.

Due to the greater number of male competitors, the men are split into three streams for the heats while the women are only split into two.

While the competition takes up the daytime schedule of the Rodeo, most students attend for the parties that take place on the Friday and Saturday night in the rugby club and marquee. While Friday night sees most of the universities arriving on site around 8PM, there is still plenty of fun to be had, and the bars stay open until 2AM. However, Saturday is the big party organised by the River Legacy, and sees all of the participants in their fancy dress finery attending. The festival atmosphere and legendary parties earn the Rodeo its place as the best student kayaking event of the year.

Other highlights of the weekend include 'Up-time':the time of day when all competitors are woken up from their slumbers (normally with the aid of a megaphone) to make sure that they attend their heats and fit into the hectic schedule that results from the fact that the organisers must fit in time for nearly 700 competitors to have at least two runs down the course.

Sponsorship

Long-term sponsors of the NSR include PGL, Desperate Measures canoe and kayak shop, Palm Equipment / Dagger Europe and Pyranha. Many of the sponsors donate hugely both in money and prizes for the events.

Media

Due to its growing size and reputation, the media presence surrounding the event has also evolved. For example, in 2007 the event was trailed online with several humorous videos which can be found here. The 2008 event was filmed by Liquid Satisfaction and was sold as a DVD. This has since been released as a free podcast and both can be found at maxbilbow.com. In 2009 the NSR received coverage in Canoe & Kayak UK magazine.

Local news broadcasters have covered the event in recent years - one such report can be seen here.

History

Year	Event organiser(s)	Overall winners	Colour	Party Theme	King Of The Wave winner	Official T-shirt slogan(s)
2010	Andy Jaunzems and Peter Haynes	Leeds	Purple	Ancient Worlds	Event Not Held	?
2009	Luke Farrington and Paul Wilkinson	Leeds	Blue	Space	Event Not Held	?
2008	Tim Trew and Nick Horwood	Nottingham Trent	Green	Pirates	Event Not Held	Yarrrrrrr
2007	Adam Dumolo and Sara James	Leeds	Red	Wild West	Event Not Held	The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (three separate designs)
2006	Sara James and Sam Ward	Sheffield	Ginger	'70's	Jon Fuller	?
2005	Tim Stevenson	Loughborough	Blue	Bad Taste	Event Not Held	(Regular) Its a rodeo Jim, but not as we know it / (Judges) Those who can, do. Those who can't, judge / (Safety) Don't you worry, its going to be all right
2004	Kirsty Archibald	Leeds	Green	School Disco	Event Not Held	Lick my deck / Rodeo at its breast
2003	Will Hemming	Leeds	Yellow	Gangsters & Molls	Event Not Held	I used to be a rodeo champion but my horse drowned
2002	Will Hemming	Leeds	Black?	No theme, just a big party in a big field nowhere near HPP!	Event Not Held	?
2001	Ian Wood and Karen Evans	Event cancelled due to Foot and Mouth	-	-	-	-
2000	Steve Blagg and Lynne Wallis	?	?	?	Event Not Held	?

1999 ? ? ? ? ? 1998

1997 Arran Stephson and Rachel Sautton

1996 Arran Stephenson and Paul Shelly

See also

• Freeboating

• Playboating

External links

• "National Student Rodeo". http://www.nationalstudentrodeo.org.uk. 

• "Leeds University Canoe Club". http://www.luucc.co.uk. 

• Holme Pierrepont (HPP) National Water Sports Centre
• 2008 NSR DVD - Independent Playak Review