BSCC - News

B. Stortford Winter Series Marathon (2 Nov 2025)

2/11/2025

The rain held off and there was even a fair bit of autumn sunshine for the opening race of Winter Series 2025-26. We welcomed teams from 11 other clubs, making a total 118 competitors.

On the 7 mile course, Rich & Hannah were gold medalists in the mixed K2. Kerstin and Ealing's Catherine were silver in Ladies K2, and faster still were Jasper & Harry from Wey who took silver in Mens K2.

Both the Mens K1 and Ladies K1 course records were broken. William Stroud of (CLM) shaved 30 seconds off the previous best time set in 2014 by Keith Moule by finishing in 53:17. Ladies races only moved to this distance in 2023, with the fastest time of 1:19:08 set by Tori Elliott-Moulden (CLM) last year. Two paddlers beat that this year. Rebecca Perrin (CLM) finished in 1:17:40, but the new record holder is Lauren Avery (CLM) with a time of 1:13:23.

Joao was our fastest singles paddler, winning gold in Vet Men K1.

7 miles (6 portages):
K2 16+ Men - Jasper Kirtland & Harry Luck [WEY] 2nd (1:00:37), David Gurney & Robert Gough 4th (1:03:47), Ben Tubby & Tom Kelly [TON] 5th (1:04:57)
K2 16+ Mixed - Richard Winstanley & Hannah Crofts 1st (1:10:52), Claudia Redeker & Paul Lane [MAI] 3rd (1:23:45)
K2 16+ Ladies - Kerstin Queeney & Catherine Shirley [EAL] 2nd (1:09:23), Christine Meula & Karen Bradley 5th (1:16:58)
K1 Senior Men - Jamie Bond 4th (1:19:24)
K1 Veteran Men - Joao Spinola 1st (1:07:51), Jack Law 8th (1:28:09)

On the 5 mile course, gold medals were won by Zoe in SuperVet Ladies, Libby in u16 Girls and Petr in C1.

5 miles (3 portages):
K1 SuperVet Ladies - Zoe Norford 1st (1:23:13)
K1 u16 Boys - Jamie Winstanley 5th (57:03), Shehan Sheikh 6th (1:10:42)
K1 u16 Girls - Libby Gaulton 1st (57:02), Stella Thompson 4th (1:12:14)
C1 Advanced - Petr Luksan 1st (1:05:47)

The Boys' K1 record on the 3 mile course also fell - Marco Mangiantini of Royal CC beat the time of 25:57 set by Ali Kabeer in 2019, by finishing in 25:15. Summer won gold in u12 Girls, Clio took silver in u14 Girls and Rupert was joint third in the hotly-contested Boys u12 race. In the same race, Alex T won the medal for fastest under-10.

3 miles (1 portage):
K1 u14 Boys - Joshua Luksan 6th (41:46)
K1 u14 Girls - Clio Thompson 2nd (40:57)
K1 u12 Boys - Rupert Kirtland 3rd (32:09), Alex Thompson 5th (40:44), Benjamin Spinola 6th (44:37)
K1 Open - Sebastian Lane-Watkins 5th (38:21), Connie Colgate 6th (39:07), Georgia Leisegang 7th (43:52)

The overall winners were Chelmsford Canoe Club (100 points), with Bishops Stortford CC second (97) and Leighton Buzzard CC third (70).

Big thanks are due to the club's volunteers who turned out to marshal the starts/finishes, turns and road crossings, as well as to the catering team who kept everyone fed and watered throughout the day.

It was good to see so many members taking part - 27 in total. This included a large number of novice juniors. This was reflected in the club scoring the most "Dick Grieve" points by a long way.

Especially well done to all those who were taking part in their first marathon race: Joshua, Sebastian, Connie and Georgia.

See

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Chelmer Hasler (19 Oct 2025)

19/10/2025

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Despite getting the exact same total score as last year (582) which was enough to take second place on that occasion, Norwich pipped us to the 2nd place spot with 584 and we were third. Still a very good result to go over the winter with and some very good performances throughout the team.

Daniel - one of this year's recruits to the club - was one of the team's stand-out performers. Daniel managed to manoeuvre his way to a good position on the Div 9 start line and was able to get away ahead of the pack. He was soon locked in a battle for first place with a Chelmsford paddler, which continued as they portaged over Barnes Mill Lock, turned at Sandford Lock and returned across Barnes Mill Lock. Daniel eventually managed to draw ahead and crossed the finish line as the winner, 19sec clear of his rival. Not only did Daniel win the trophy for first place but was also awarded a double promotion to Division 7.

Daniel's daughter Stella was also in Div 9, racing for the first time and achieved a very creditable 11th place. Over the same course, there was an excellent performance from Rupert.

On the 8 mile course (8 portages), there were some great results from Stortford's doubles crews. Eddie & Robert won the Div 5, with Ben T & Kerry 4th. Jamie B & Kerstin took 2nd in Div 6. Joao's 6th place in the highly competitive Div 4 singles was also noteworthy, four of the paddlers ahead of him being promoted.

Those on the 12 mile course had to go all the way to Paper Mill with a total of 10 gruelling portages. In Div 3 doubles, Rich (Div 2) paired with Jasper (Div 4) to win. Meanwhile, in Div 3 singles, David G came second and was rewarded with a well-deserved promotion to Div 2.

DOUBLES -
12 miles, 10 portages
Div 3: Jasper Kirtland & Richard Winstanley 1st (1:32:08)
8 miles, 8 portages
Div 5: Edward Kirtland & Robert Gouth 1st (1:19:53), Ben Tubby & Kerry Tubby 4th (1:20:38), Jamie Winstanley & Mark Adams 10th (1:28:35)
Div 6: Jamie Bond & Kerstin Queeney 2nd (1:26:03)
3 miles, 2 portages
Div 7: Dave Cayford & Jacque Cayford 4th (33:38)

SINGLES -
12 miles, 10 portages
Div 3: David Gurney 2nd (1:32:38)
8 miles, 8 portages
Div 4: Joao Spinola 6th (1:16:54)
Div 6: Zoe Norford 10th (1:40:37), Karen Bradley 11th (1:40:43)
3 miles, 2 portages
Div 7: James Breeze 9th (35:49), Jack Law 10th (36:18)
Div 8: Rupert Kirtland 4th (35:41)
Div 9: Daniel Thompson 1st (34:06), Stella Thompson 11th (39:41)

Well done also to Summer, who won bronze in GS-A, and Benjamin S who was 4th in GS-C in his first ever marathon race.

Under 14s (Geoff Sanders)
2km
GS-A: Summer Norford 3rd (18:34)
GS-C: Benjamin Spinola 4th (20:55)

See also

The overall winners were Chelmsford CC (600 pts). Awards were presented by the European Longcourse Champion James Russell.

Presentation photos from Kerstin

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National Hasler Finals, Worcester (5 Oct 2025)

5/10/2025

After the disappointment of last year's finals being cancelled, it was worrying to hear that the event at Worcester was in jeopardy because of the wind and rising water levels. Fortunately, the event was able to go ahead and with very little adjustment to the original arrangements. However, the flow was strong making the upstream starts very hard work.

A total of 501 competitors took part in the main Hasler competition, and another 27 in the Geoff Sanders competition.The challenging conditions, which the organisers described as "lumpy", defeated many of the competitors and there were 44 who retired.

The first races of the day were those on the 4 mile course. Both of our doubles boats in Div 7 (Oliver & James B, and Jacque & Dave) got off to an excellent start amongst the 28 boats competing in this class. Jack found the flow of the river challenging but completed the distance without mishap. Robin in Div 9 (23 boats) was the club's top scorer.

Next up were those on the 8-mile course, comprising 2 laps and including one beach portage. Eddie was up against the biggest field of the day - 44 competitors in Div 4. Joao & Jasper in Div 4 doubles (35 boats) got a great start and were in 7th place at the end of the first lap, moving up to end in 6th. Robert also had a good start in Div 6, and was able to improve on his position of 10th at the end of lap one, to finish 7th out of 23.

Kerstin partnered a Worcester CC paddler but as a split boat were not able to score, under the special rules that apply to the finals. Zoe & Christine were both taking part in their first race over this distance, having been promoted at the last regional race.

Many of those on the 8 mile course reported slipping over in the mud at the beach portage.

The club only had one competitor on the 12 mile course: David G was amongst the 30 entrants in Div 3. After an excellent start he was soon in the leading group. There were portages in the second and third laps. After the second portage he broke away from his group and caught up with a group from the Div 2 race ahead, and going on to win with a comfortable lead. Not only did he take the gold medal, but was the 12th fastest of all the singles paddlers at the finals.

SINGLES -
12 miles, 2 portages
Div 3: David Gurney 1st (1:22:22)
8 miles, 1 portage
Div 4: Eddie Kirtland 24th (1:04:03)
Div 6: Robert Gough 7th (1:11:00)
4 miles
Div 7: Jack Law 32nd (47:42)
Div 9: Robin Dromard 12th (44:24)

DOUBLES -
8 miles, 1 portage
Div 4: Jasper Kirtland & Joao Spinola 6th (56:30)
Div 5: Kerstin Queeney & Tamsin Pedlar [WOR] 16th (1:05:02)
Div 6: Zoe Norford & Christine Meula 14th (1:13:36)
4 miles
Div 7: Oliver Klumpler & James Breeze 21st (36:17), Dave Cayford & Jacque Cayford 24th (36:53)

Because of the challenging conditions, the Geoff Sanders course was shortened from its intended 2.5 miles. Four Stortford youngsters took part and completed the course,

Under 14s (Geoff Sanders)
Div A: Benjamin Middleton 10th (12:45), Summer Norford 11th (12:47)
Div C: Sophie Middleton 6th (14:21), Romeo Law 7th (17:38)

Overall, Bishops Stortford Canoe Club finished 15th out of the 28 clubs participating. Norwich CC were one place ahead and Chelmsford CC were 4th. The overall winners were Elmbridge CC.

See also

B. Stortford Sprint Regatta (14 Sep 2025)

14/9/2025

There was an excellent turnout of 58 paddlers for our annual regatta. As well as 24 Stortford competitors, there were teams from Chelmsford CC, Ealing CC, Cambridge CC, Lee Valley Paddlesports, and Hemel Hempstead.

The club's volunteers worked hard on organising the timings and manning the safety boats, as well as providing the BBQ and serving other refreshments

Medals were presented on the basis of performance in the 500m, 200m and 1000m singles races.

There were also relay races and timed K4's just for fun.

Results for Stortford paddlers:
u10 Girls - Sophie Middleton (silver)
u10 Boys - Alex Thompson (gold), Benjamin Spinola (silver)
u12 Girls - Summer Norford (gold), Clio Thompson (bronze)
u12 Boys - Rupert Kirkland (bronze), Joshua Luksan (5th)
u14 Girls - Stella Thompson (4th), Connie Colgate (6th)
u14 Boys - Jasper Kirtland (gold), Benjamin Middleton (9th)
u16 Girls - Libby Gaulton (silver)
u16 Boys - Oleh Kuzmenko (gold), Jamie Winstanley (6th), Shehan Sheikh (8th), Oliver Klumpler (9th), Sebastian Lane-Watkins (10th)
u23 Men - James Breeze (gold)
Senior Men - Jamie Bond (silver)
Veteran Ladies - Zoe Norford (silver)
Veteran Men - Robert Gough (gold), Daniel Thompson (silver)
SuperVet Men - Petr Luksan (4th), Ben Tubby (5th)
C1 - Petr Luksan (gold)
PaddleAbility - Oliver Klumpler (gold)

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Sprint Regatta, Nottingham (6-7 Sep 2025)

7/9/2025

Fourteen paddlers from BSCC travelled up to Holme Pierrepont for the final National Sprint Regatta of 2025 - our biggest team at the Nottingham Sprints in many years. The September regatta is the National Inter-Club MacGregor Competition, in which paddlers score points for their club. BSCC achieved a fantastic position of 16th in the country – our best result in 16 years!

Men's Races

In the men’s races, BSCC Sprint Team Leader Rich was joined by Joao, Ben T, Rob and (taking part in his first national regatta) Jamie B. Rich and Joao competed in the Men’s C class, whilst Ben, Rob and Jamie were in Men’s D.

Rich came 5th in the K1 Men C 1000m race final, and won the K1 Men C 500m Final 2, as well as working with Joao to take an excellent 3rd place in the K2 Men C 500m Final. Joao finished in 4th place in the Men's C K1 1000m Final 2 as well as taking part in the heats for the Men’s C K1 200m and 500m races. Ben, Jamie, and Rob all took part in the Men D K1 200m and 500m heats, with Rob coming 6th in the 200m Final 2, and Ben coming 9th in the 500m Final 2. Jamie and Rob paired up to do the Men D K2 500m race, coming 7th in the final.

The club also had enough senior men to put together a Bishops Stortford K4 team of Joao, Rich, Ben, and Rob, coming 5th in the K4 Men B/C 500m Final, and earning valuable club points.

Women's Races

Zoe was also competing in her first national regatta, in the Women's D class, coming 5th in her 200m K1 heat, and 6th in her 500m K1 heat. She also teamed up with Jamie B, Ben, and Rob, to paddle in the Men D K4 500m Final, where the team came a creditable 7th in their first outing together.

Junior Races

Several club juniors took part in the regatta – Oleh, Jasper, and Eddie were competing in the Boys B class, Jamie W in the Boys D class, and Libby in the Girls C class. Oleh finished in a fantastic 2nd place in the K1 200m Final, and 4th in the K1 500m Final, also taking a strong 4th place along with Jasper in the K2 500m Final. Eddie came 7th in the K1 200m Final 2, whilst Jasper did not qualify for any of the Boys B K1 final races despite promising performances in the heats. Jamie W unfortunately took a brief dip towards the end of his 200m heat, but managed a much better 5th place finish in his 500m K1 heat.

All four Junior boys teamed up to form a full K4 crew for the Boys B K4 500m race, coming 2nd in the final against stiff competition.

Libby came 4th in both of her K1 heats, qualifying for both the 200m and 500m Finals. She came 8th in the K1 200m Final, and 9th in the K1 500m Final, both good results against strong competition.

MiniSprints

In the MiniSprint series, Rupert competed in the A class races, and at her first sprint regatta, Summer competed in the B class races. Rupert qualified for both the 200m and 500m K1 Finals, coming 9th in the 200m, and 5th in the 500m race. Summer qualified for the mini sprint K1 500m final, finishing in 9th place. Rupert and Summer also teamed up for the Mini Sprint A K2 200m race, sailing through their heat easily, and finishing in 7th place in the Final. They also teamed up with two Chelmsford CC paddlers to fill a K4 boat, coming 7th in the K4 200m Final, and 6th in the K4 500m Final. As this was the final sprint regatta of the season, the final scores for the mini paddlers were added up, with Rupert finishing in first place overall in the A series, and Summer in 3rd place overall in the B series!

PaddleAbility

The September regatta is also the PaddleAbility National Championships, with medals on offer. Oliver competed in three of the Junior PaddleAbility races (a 500m race, and two 200m races), coming 2nd in all three, and earning three silver medals for his efforts.

Photos & reporting: Flora K

Bishops Stortford Hasler (29 Jun 2025)

29/6/2025

Stortford again played host to the final race of the Eastern Region Hasler season. The team of 36 paddlers was the largest put out by Stortford for a race since 2018 - when the club were joint top of the Eastern Region League. Most of the racers were doubling-up as volunteers to supplement the non-racing members and their family staffing the event.

Stortford were not the only ones rallying the largest team possible. Chelmsford CC, Norwich CC and Leighton Buzzard CC were equally keen to do well and end the season in the top three, and thus secure a place in the Finals at Worcester. This resulted in a total of 173 competitors - a big increase in the 135 who came last year.

In the morning, the Div 4, 5 and 6 races went down to Sawbridgeworth. Libby flew off the Division 6 start line in first place and, although she was overtaken by one person after about 500m, she remained in second place for the rest of the course to take the silver medal and is promoted to Div 5.

There were more silver medals for Stortford in the Division 4 doubles race thanks to Joao & Ben who finished in a strong second place.

While the divisional races were off downstream, the Geoff Sanders paddlers completed two laps down to to Twyford Lock and back. Four of Stortford's newest recruits were taking part in Geoff Sanders C. Well done to Clio, Alex T, Romeo and Lexi for completing your first race! Clio was third and has been promoted to GSB.

In the afternoon, it was the turn of the Division 7, 8 and 9 races, which took in a 4-mile circuit to Spellbrook Lock and back. In Division 7, Eilidh and Jamie W were 3rd and 4th respectively - both have been promoted.

The 20 paddlers in the Div 9 singles race had to be split between two starts. Jack who came 3rd received a double promotion to Div 7, so did not score - but his points were picked up by Shehan (4th) and new member Daniel (6th). Daniel's result was very impressive for a first race - especially as he took a swim at Twyford Lock and completed the next leg with a great deal of water sloshing about in the boat.

Stortford's first gold medals of the day were won by Oliver & James B in Div 8 K2. Zoe & Christine teamed up to take the third place in the Div 7 K2 race. All four of these have been promoted. Summer & Sophie gamely agreed to take on the Div 9 K2 race and won bronze.

Joe added an extra loop to the course for the Div 1,2, & 3 races, so that competitors had to complete two circuits between Sawbridgeworth and Spellbrook before they could finally return to the clubhouse.

Rich completed this in 2:2:49 for a Div 2 silver medal. Both of the K2s in Div 3 were Stortford boats, so for David & Oleh and Eddie & Jasper it must have felt as if the main contest was against the 30 degree heat.

SINGLES -
13 miles, 10 portages
Div 2: Rich Winstanley 2nd (2:2:49)
7 miles, 6 portages
Div 5: Kerstin Queeney 4th (1:17:53)
Div 6: Libby Gaulton 2nd (1:15:12), Jaroslav Klumpler 5th (1:19:19)
4 miles, 2 portages
Div 7: Eilidh White 3rd (37:00), Jamie Winstanley 4th (37:06)
Div 9: Jack Law 3rd (40:15), Shehan Sheikh 4th (43:34), Daniel Thompson 6th (44:53), Stuart Edwards 10th (47:10), Alex Scott 14th (55:20)

DOUBLES -
13 miles, 10 portages
Div 3: David Gurney & Oleh Kuzmenko 1st (2:13:09), Edward Kirtland & Jasper Kirtland 2nd (2:17:43)
7 miles, 6 portages
Div 4: Ben Tubby & Joao Spinola 2nd (1:03:11)
Div 5: Mark Adams & Ethan Tingay [LBZ] 3rd (1:13:15)
Div 6: Jamie Bond & Kerry Tubby 4th (1:15:24)
4 miles, 2 portages
Div 7: Zoe Norford & Christine Meula 3rd (35:32), Dave Cayford & Jacque Cayford 6th (38:02)
Div 8: Oliver Klumpler & James Breeze 1st (37:36), Rupert Kirtland & Benjamin Middleton 4th (43:19)
Div 9: Summer Norford & Sophie Middleton 3rd (46:23), Petr Luksan & Robin Dromard 4th (48:32)

Under 14s (Geoff Sanders)
2 miles
Div C: Clio Thompson 3rd (33:33), Alex Thompson 5th (36:19), Romeo Law 6th (37:42), Lexi Wilson 7th (40:34)

After a closely-fought battle, the event was won by Norwich CC (595 points), with B. Stortford CC and Chelmsford CC tied in second place (592), just ahead of Leighton Buzzard CC (591).

Stortford's Deputy Mayor, Cllr Murray White, kindly came along to present the medals.

The season has therefore ended with Chelmsford CC in the lead, BSCC second and Norwich CC third - our best position in 7 years.

See also

Leighton Buzzard Hasler (15 Jun 2025)

15/6/2025

We needed a win at Leighton Buzzard - and we got one! This was BSCC's best result in the L. Buzzard Hasler in at least the last 20 years.

On the 4.5 mile course, Jamie W won the Div 8 race and is promoted to Div 7 - his second promotion in as many races. James B missed out on a win in Div 9 by the narrowest margin possible and had to settle for silver - he too has been promoted.

Christine & Zoe achieved a time in Div 7 doubles which sees Zoe promoted to join Christine in Division 7. Benjamin M (GSA) paddled up to partner Rupert in the Div 8 race and the pair were rewarded with silver medals.

In a last minute change, Jack sportingly agreed to pair up with Robin, though he had never paddled K2 before. The club's newest paddler, Ela, got her first taste of racing by partnering Kevin in a C2. The two crews mopped up all the medals in Div 9 doubles.

Not to be outdone by mum, Summer brought home a bronze medal in from the 2-mile Geoff Sanders B race and has been promoted to A.

On the 8 mile course, all three doubles races were won by Stortford paddlers: Ben T & Joao, Jasper & Libby, and Jamie B & Robert.

The longest course saw an impressive performance by Rich & Oleh in Div 3 K2 (silver), but it was David G in Div 3 against a large field of 13 competitors who took the club's only gold over this distance.

SINGLES -
12 miles, 6 portages
Div 3: David Gurney 1st (1:42:15), Eddie Kirtland 11th (2:0:9), Joe Fitzpatrick (rtd)
8 miles, 2 portages
Div 6: Eilidh White 6th (1:24:24)
4.5 miles
Div 8: Jamie Winstanley 1st (44:18)
Div 9: James Breeze 2nd (46:29)

Under 14s (Geoff Sanders)
2 miles
Div B: Summer Norford 3rd (21:14), Sophie Middleton 4th (21:47)

DOUBLES -
12 miles, 6 portages
Div 3: Rich Winstanley & Oleh Kuzmenko 2nd (1:38:40)
8 miles, 2 portages
Div 4: Ben Tubby & Joao Spinola 1st (1:06:26)
Div 5: Jasper Kirtland & Libby Gaulton 1st (1:11:28), Kerstin Queeney & Catherine Ayling [EAL] 4th (1:14:01), Claudia Redeker & Kerry Tubby 6th (1:14:52)
Div 6: Jamie Bond & Robert Gough 1st (1:15:44)
4.5 miles
Div 7: Zoe Norford & Christine Meula 4th (41:50), Dave Cayford & Jacque Cayford 5th (42:09)
Div 8: Rupert Kirtland & Benjamin Middleton 2nd (44:31)
Div 9: Jack Law & Robin Dromard 1st (46:26), Kevin Short & Ionela Padina 2nd (55:48)

Both Stortford and Leighton Buzzard were pulling out all the stops for this race to cling on to 3rd place, but after taking 1st and 2nd place respectively, things are looking better for both clubs and it is Norwich CC left in the uncomfortable 4th spot.

There are now only four league points separating Chelmsford, sitting first in the Eastern Region from 4th placed Norwich. All four clubs have something to fight for, and we can expect a lively competition in the final Eastern qualifier hosted by Stortford.

See also

Sprint Regatta, Nottingham (31 May - 1 Jun 2025)

1/6/2025

The club sent an 8-strong team of paddlers to the June National Sprint Regatta at Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham.

For everyone over 34 years of age at the event, this was the National Championships, with medals available in various age categories.

In the individual events, Claudia Redeker had an excellent debut at Nottingham, winning gold in the Over-54 K1 200m and K1 500m. Kerstin Queeney, also in her first national regatta, came home with bronze in the Over-54 K1 1000m. Ben Tubby, again racing at Nottingham for the first time, won bronze in the Over-44 K1 500m, behind two very experienced veterans of the sport. Rich Winstanley managed to come away with two silver medals in the individual events in the Over-34 K1 500m and K1 1000m.

In the doubles, Claudia and Kerstin teamed up for the Over-54 K2 1000m, taking a very close second place. In the Over-34 mens K2 1000m, Rich Winstanley teamed up with Shaune Walsh of Nottingham to take home the gold medal. Claudia and Ben joined forces to take gold in the Over-44 mixed K2 500m.

In the K4 event, Claudia and Kerstin paddled with Catherine Shirley and Sally Alexander of Ealing and Addlestone Clubs respectively, and won the gold medal.

Outside of the national championships events, it was a normal regatta for the juniors, who were racing in ability classes.

Oleh Kuzmenko had a fantastic first regatta racing in Boys D, where he came second in both his individual events of K1 200m and the new format 2500m long distance event. These performances earned him a promotion to Boys C for the next regatta Edward Kirtland had a great day on the Saturday, coming in a convincing second place in the Boys C K1 200m, earning him a promotion to Boys B. Jasper Kirtland was just over a second behind his brother in the Boys C K1 200m final giving him a solid 5th place. Jasper also qualified for the final in K1 500m, and came in 5th. Libby Gaulton qualified for the Girls D K1 200m final, and came 8th. She also took part in the 2500m long distance event and raced really well to come 6th out of 19.

In the doubles events, Edward and Oleh teamed up together, and Jasper paddled with Knoah Aryan of Oxford. Both took part in the Boys C K2 500m, which Oleh and Edward won, with Jasper and Knoah coming second. For the 200m event, Boys A-C were combined into a single race meaning the boys were up against the best boys in the country. Despite both boats putting down good times in the heats, it wasn't enough to qualify for the finals.

In K4, the event was again a Boys A-C combined race. The club entered an all Stortford crew of Jasper, Edward, Oleh (Boys D) and Libby (Girls D). Both Oleh and Libby were racing up in the higher ability class than they were ranked. Against the best boys crews in the country, the Stortford boat managed a credible 6th place.

The next national regatta (July) will be the Junior, Senior and Under-23 National Championships.

See also the full results on the Sprint Racing Committee website.

Photos & reporting: Rich Winstanley

Norwich Hasler (18 May 2025)

18/5/2025

There was perfect paddling weather at Norwich, which attracted a huge turnout of 170 competitors (though admittedly over 40% of these were from Norwich CC itself). There were some excellent Stortford performances and a number of promotions.

The Div 7 race had 19 entries, but Robert got a good start and sat in second place throughout. As well as his silver medal, he gained a promotion to Div 6. The step up should not phase him too much, as he has been there before - Robert was one of the club's junior stars in his youth.

Our juniors won both the Div 9 singles and doubles races. Jamie W clocked up an excellent time in K1, as did Oliver & Rupert in K2 - all three have been promoted to Division 8. Chairman Kevin was also drafted into the Div 9 doubles to partner Petr in a Canadian, where they earned valuable points with a 3rd place, and probably made Rupert's victory all the sweeter.

There were also good solid performances in Div 9 from novices Jack and James, who continue to improve.

Jacque & Dave added more silver medals to their collection, while Rich and David G both took third places on the long course.

In Geoff Sanders, both Benjamin and Sophie took gold medals in GSA and GSC respectively. Sophie especially deserves a big Well Done, having put in a massive effort to finish 3 sec ahead of a challenger from Norwich - both she and her rival have been promoted to Class B.

DOUBLES -
13 km, 2 portages
Div 5: Kerstin Queeney & Kerry Tubby 6th (1:13:11)
6.5 km
Div 7: Dave Cayford & Jacque Cayford 2nd (37:05)
Div 9: Oliver Klumpler & Rupert Cayford 1st (38:47), Petr Luksan & Kevin Short 3rd (43:44)

SINGLES -
19.5 km, 4 portages
Div 2: Rich Winstanley 3rd (1:34:28)
Div 3: David Gurney 3rd (1:38:33)
13 km, 2 portages
Div 4: Ben Tubby 5th (1:09:52), Oleh Kuzmenko 10th (1:11:09), Jasper Kirtland (rtd)
Div 6: Jamie Bond 6th (1:23:23), Eilidh White 7th (1:24:56), Christine Meula 9th (1:26:38)
6.5 km
Div 7: Robert Gough 2nd (36:46)
Div 8: Zoe Norford 8th (42:34)
Div 9: Jamie Winstanley 1st (39:27), Jack Law 6th (41:51), James Breeze 8th (42:35), Robin Dromard 9th (44:05)

Under 14s (Geoff Sanders)
3.5 km
Div A: Benjamin Middleton 1st (22:27)
Div B: Summer Norford 6th (23:22)
Div C: Sophie Middleton 1st (23:57)

Overall, Norwich CC won the event with a near-perfect 599 points, and Chelmsford CC were second (587). Crucially for BSCC, our total of 580 points was not quite enough to beat Buzzard's 584, putting us 4th.

Norwich's win has moved them up into the second in the Eastern Region league behind Chelmsford.

We are therefore now tied with Leighton Buzzard CC for third place - and only three Eastern clubs will be going to the finals this year.

See also

Bedford Hasler (27 Apr 2025)

27/4/2025

Surprisingly warm weather for the Bedford Hasler, and a surprisingly good result for BSCC - our best of the season so far.

Karen & Christine won gold medals after battling hard throughout the Div 7 doubles race against a Cambridge crew. Karen & Christine have both been promoted to Div 6!

David G also had to fight for his Div 3 gold in a photo finish.

There was a good crop of silver medals. Joe & Eddie were second in Div 3 doubles; as was Joao in Div 4, despite having to stop and fix a malfunctioning rudder. Oleh came second with apparent ease in Div 5, in his first ever marathon, and has been promoted to Div 4.

Shehan paired up with Oliver to deliver some valuable points in Div 9 doubles, and yet more silver medals.

Bronzes were won by Rich (Div 2), Robert (Div 7), Kerry & Jamie (Div 6), and Jacque & Dave (Div 7)

Especially well done to our two competitors in Div 9. Zoe (6th) and James (8th) both had their points boosted by the first four finishers getting double promotions, and thus not scoring. Zoe has been promoted to Div 8, and James can be very proud of his performance in his first competition for the club.

DOUBLES -
19.7 km, 4 portages
Div 3: Joe Fitzpatrick & Eddie Kirtland 2nd (145:47)
12.9 km, 2 portages
Div 4: Kerstin Queeney & Catherine Shirley [EAL] 4th (1:12:16), Claudia Redeker & Mark Adams (retired)
Div 6: Kerry Tubby & Jamie Bond 3rd (1:19:05), Libby Gaulton & Eilidh White 5th (1:23:36)
6.8 km
Div 7: Karen Bradley & Christine Meula 1st (40:53), Dave Cayford & Jacque Cayford 3rd (43:45)
Div 9: Oliver Klumpler & Shehan Sheikh 2nd (49:00)

SINGLES -
19.7 km, 4 portages
Div 2: Rich Winstanley 3rd (1:44:51)
Div 3: David Gurney 1st (1:46:59), Ben Tubby 12th (1:55:23)
12.9 km, 2 portages
Div 4: Joao Spinola 2nd (1:13:30), Jasper Kirtland 4th (1:17:04)
Div 5: Oleh Kuzmenko 2nd (1:16:23)
6.8 km
Div 7: Robert Gough 3rd (47:27)
Div 8: Robin Dromard 4th (54:20)
Div 9: Zoe Norford 6th (49:37), James Breeze 8th (51:54)

Our Geoff Sanders competitors made up half of the entries in the under-14 classes, and all won medals. Rupert has been promoted to Div 9 and Summer to Geoff Sanders Div B - very well done both!

Under 14s (Geoff Sanders)
2.5 km
Div A: Rupert Kirtland 2nd (19:28), Benjamin Middleton 3rd (20:08)
Div C: Summer Norford 1st (20:45), Sophie Middleton 2nd (24:15)