BSCC - News

Maidstone Winter Series Marathon (26 Nov 2023)

26/11/2023

Thirteen BSCC paddlers made the journey down to Kent to be part of the first ever Winter Series race hosted by Maidstone Canoe Club.

The club's best results on the 9-mile course came from Joe & Eddie who won silver in the men's doubles race.

On the 5-mile course it was Ben who shone, winning bronze in Men's SuperVets.

Jasper was the standout performer on the short course, and he too achieved a bronze for his time in the u14 boys race.

Other high scorers were Eilidh and Libby who won gold in the u18 and u14 girls races respectively, and Jack and Kerry who were each second in their races (u18 boys and SuperVet ladies).

9 miles (2 portages):
K2 16+ Men - Joe Fitzpatrick & Eddie Kirtland 2nd (1:11:51)
K1 Senior Men - David Gurney 6th (1:23:20), Joao Spinola 8th (1:27:22)
K1 u18 Men - Jack Gaulton 2nd (1:44:35)
K1 u18 Ladies - Eilidh White 1st (1:48:56)

5 miles:
K1 SuperVet Men - Ben Tubby 3rd (46:13), Mark Adams (rtd)
K1 SuperVet Ladies - Kerry Tubby 2nd (59:28)
K1 u16 Boys - Aaron Sandhu 3rd (1:13:05)

under 3 miles:
K1 u14 Boys - Jasper Kirtland 3rd (13:11)
K1 u14 Girls - Libby Gaulton 1st (14:44)
K1 u12 Boys - Rupert Kirtland 3rd (18:51)

Aaron and Rupert not only won significant points for the club but brought us to second place on Dick Grieve points (based on the performance of unranked juniors).

While Chelmsford were the overall winners of the event, Stortford came second, and Barking third.

See

B. Stortford Winter Series Marathon (5 Nov 2023)

5/11/2023

An even greater vote of thanks than usual is due this year to the club's volunteers, who not only had to contend with marshalling off-site parking for the 136 competitors but also had to adjust at the last minute to course changes to avoid the huge fallen tree which blocked the river upstream of the club, preventing the town stretch from being used.

Blessedly, the day itself was dry and even sunny, though cold.

Inspecting the fallen tree (photo Flora K)

As usual there was a good turn-out of doubles crews, now split into three classes for the Men, Ladies and Mixed. Matthew Johnson & Leah Falltrick of Chelmsford CC set a new course record for doubles with their time of 52:15.

Three (or, strictly, two and a half) Stortford crews were in the Ladies K2 race, which was won by Kerstin & Catherine (Ealing CC), with Octavia & Kerry hot on their heels. Karen & Christine put in a spirited performance to come 5th.

In total Stortford had a team of 26. It was lovely to see Megan back paddling with us again though, under rule that comes with bringing the race under the MRC, she was obliged to paddle for her official club of Exeter.

While concern about the river conditions may have put off a few of the younger juniors that we would normally expect, numbers were more than made up by the return of Veteran/SuperVet Men at a level seen since the pandemic. Over-50s now have the option of entering M/F "SuperVets" classes on the 5 mile course, but this still left a field of 14 for the 7-mile Veteran Men's race. Rich reprised last year's success to take Gold in Vet Men, while Ben did the same in the SuperVet M.

7 miles (6 portages):
K2 16+ Ladies - Kerstin Queeney & Catherine Ayling [EAL] 1st (1:10:18), Octavia Abbott & Kerry Tubby 2nd (1:11:50), Karen Bradley & Christine Meula 5th (1:21:53)
K1 Senior Men - Joao Spinola 5th (1:12:44), Jamie Bond 7th (1:40:30), David Gurney (rtd)
K1 Senior Ladies - Megan Kenny [EXE] 1st (1:16:06)
K1 Veteran Men - Rich Winstanley 1st (1:01:12)
K1 Veteran Ladies - Kat Wilson 1st (1:03:15)
K1 u18 Ladies - Eilidh White 2nd (1:26:21)

5 miles (4 portages):
K1 SuperVet Men - Ben Tubby 1st (45:45), Mark Adams 2nd (47:28), Robin Dromard 8th (1:06:54)
K2 u16 - Oliver Klumpler & Finlay Sandall 3rd (1:03:46)
K1 u16 Boys - Eddie Kirtland 2nd (47:28), Jacob Chan 7th (1:12:21), Aaron Sandhu 8th (1:13:36)
K1 u16 Girls - Ananya Bhusari 6th (1:18:51)

approx 3 miles (2 portage):
K1 u14 Boys - Jasper Kirtland 4th (39:42), Jamie Winstanley 8th (47:11)
K1 u14 Girls - Libby Gaulton 1st (41:12)
C1 Novice - Petr Luksan 1st (42:53)
GP 16+ Men - Alex Scott 3rd (1:04:20)
K1 u12 Boys - Rupert Kirtland 4th (50:06)

The Mayor of Bishop's Stortford, Richard Townsend, kindly came along to give out the medals.

The club was second overall with 183 points, behind Chelmsford CC (338) but well ahead of Leighton Buzzard CC (125).

BSCC is also leading the Dick Grieve league, based on the performance of novice juniors only, thanks to the efforts of Jacob, Aaron, Ananya, Jasper, Jamie W, and Rupert.

Congratulations to Jamie B. and Jacob for successfully completing their first marathon races, and to Jamie W. on his return after a long absence.

See

Chelmer Hasler (15 Oct 2023)

15/10/2023

Brilliant results for Stortford at the Chelmsford Hasler. The 26-strong team (the largest the club has fielded in over a year) very nearly swept the board in the doubles classes by achieving a first and/or second place in six out of the seven contested divisions.

DOUBLES -
12 miles, 10 portages
Div 2: Joe Fitzpatrick & Rich Winstanley 2nd (1:21:17)
8 miles, 8 portages
Div 4: Chris Sze & Ben Tubby 1st (1:15:51)
Div 5: Mark Adams & Steve Tingay [LBZ] 1st (1:23:02), Kerstin Queeney & Jack Gaulton 2nd (1:23:04)
3 miles, 2 portages
Div 7: Octavia Abbott & Kerry Tubby 1st (32:28)
Div 8: Libby Gaulton & Isabel Knight 1st (32:31), Dave Cayford & Jacque Cayford 5th (34:22)
Div 9: Oliver Klumpler & Finlay Sandal 1st (33:59)

The nine first places and four second places, plus another second from David G in singles, brought the club a near-perfect score of 597 and overall victory, though Chelmsford CC were just three points behind.

Libby & Isabel's win was particularly impressive, given that it was achieved with a broken footplate which came adrift soon after the start and partly immobilised the rudder.

Chris and Ben also had rudder trouble when they bashed the rear end of their boat during one of the portages. Fortunately they were able to pull it back into alignment without breaking it and make up the lost time.

Edit: Now that the results have been finalised, there are lots of promotions for our doubles crews. Rich joins Joe in Div 2, and Kerry joins Octavia in Div 7. Libby and Isabel go to Div 7, and Finlay & Oliver to Div 8. Well done everybody!

Eilidh's fourth place in Div 8 singles was only fractionally short of the promotion time. Jasper's 12th place in Div 9 singles was also especially notable, given his age and the large field of 31 entries.

SINGLES -
12 miles, 10 portages
Div 2: David Gurney 2nd (1:27:50)
Div 3: Kat Wilson 13th (1:48:06)
8 miles, 8 portages
Div 4: Eddie Kirkland 7th (1:23:08)
Div 6: Jaroslav Klumpler 7th (1:29:25)
3 miles, 2 portages
Div 8: Eilidh White 4th (35:00), Tom Stephens 9th (39:24)
Div 9: Jasper Kirtland 12th (37:45), Karen Bradley 14th (38:36), Petr Luksan 15th (38:45), Robin Dromard 25th (43:45)

See also

Under 14s (Geoff Sanders)
2km
Div B: Rupert Kirtland 6th (18:18)

Hasler Finals, Worcester (24 Sep 2023)

24/9/2023

Fourteen paddlers from BSCC made the journey to Worcester to be amongst the 613 taking part in the Hasler finals.

Everyone acquitted themselves well, and in particular Gold medallists Finlay & Oliver (Div 9) and Bronze medallists David G & Kat (Div 2) - together making the club's biggest medal haul in at least the last 20 years.

The River Severn was swollen from recent rain, and flowing strongly, with a stiff breeze as well. These were always going to be challenging conditions for young paddlers reared on the Stort, but Finlay & Oliver took it in their stride.

Even being knocked badly off course by another boat at the start did not phase them. They just kept paddling determinedly to the end - and won.

David & Kat's race ended with an exciting contest for third place against Chelmsford's Melissa Johnson & James Walkinton, which the Stortford pair won by the very narrowest of margins.

DOUBLES -
12 miles, 2 portages
Div 2: David Gurney & Kat Wilson 3rd (1:21:08)
8 miles, 1 portage
Div 4: Chris Sze & Ben Tubby 26th (1:05:24)
Div 6: Kerstin Queeney & Kerry Tubby 11th (1:09:55)
4 miles
Div 8: Dave Cayford & Jacque Cayford 7th (34:31)
Div 9: Finlay Sandall & Oliver Klumpler 1st (36:20)

Because of the conditions, the usual beach portage was abandoned in favour of a false portage directly in front of the clubhouse.

Being the finals, many of the races had a high number of entries - apart from Divs 1 and 2 all the singles divisions had at least 30 entries and there were as many as 48 paddlers in Div 7. Eddie's Div 4 race had a field of 37, so a position of 17th was impressive. The same was the case for Eilidh (18th out of 35 entries). Eddie and Eilidh were both paddling in divisions to which they had only recently been promoted.

SINGLES -
12 miles, 2 portages
Div 2: Joe Fitzpatrick 4th (1:26:12)
8 miles, 1 portage
Div 4: Eddie Kirtland 17th (1:05:08)
4 miles
Div 7: Libby Gaulton 39th (36:42)
Div 8: Eilidh White 18th (36:25)

Bishops Stortford were 15th out of the 30 clubs taking part.

Chris & Ben had an eventful race. The were in top form, making excellent time and seemed on course for a good result - until their boat was unexpectedly swamped and they soon found themselves neck-deep in the water. They were able to completed the race, but the incident cost them a lot of time - though it certainly made for some memorable Go-Pro footage.

See also

B. Stortford Sprint Regatta (17 Sep 2023)

17/9/2023

For the first time, Stortford's annual Regatta was run as a Local Sprint under the auspices of the BC Sprint Racing Committee. Through the SRC, we were put in touch with Laura Sugar MBE, the reigning KL3 World Champion and Paralympic gold medallist, who came along to chat to everyone during the lunch break and kindly agreed to present the medals for the day.

As well as the home club, paddlers came from Chelmsford, Cambridge, Lee Valley, and Maidstone. Although a smaller event than usual with only 37 competitors, everyone was kept busy during the morning with repeated runs of 500m, 200m, and 1000m.

In the afternoon there were relay races for fun and also timed runs of 100m in the club's newly-acquired K4.

As usual the Social Committee ensured there was a lovely BBQ and a spread of cakes available - thanks are particularly due to the volunteers who baked and donated cakes, or who cooked and served the hot food. Many thanks also to all the club the volunteers who helped by doing the timings and on water safety - as well as getting the clubhouse ready and tidying up afterwards.

Results for Stortford paddlers:
u10 Boys - Rupert Kirtland (silver)
u12 Girls - Emile Klumpler (silver)
u12 Boys - Rupert Kirkland (gold)
u14 Girls - Libby Gaulton (silver)
u14 Boys - Finlay Sandall (silver)
u16 Boys - Eddie Kirtland (gold), Jack Gaulton (silver), Aaron Sandhu (bronze)
u18 Girls - Eilidh White (gold)
u18 Boys - Tom Barton (gold)
u23 Men - Tom Holloway (gold), Jamie Bond (silver)
Veteran Ladies - Ally Judge (gold), Karen Bradley (silver)
C1 - Petr Luksan (silver)
PaddleAbility - Oliver Klumpler (gold), Alex Scott (silver)

The day was rounded off with a specially-made piñata for the youngest children.

See
The full results (FRA website)
Photos (Angela's Google photo album)

Pangbourne Hasler (10 Sep 2023)

10/9/2023

Seven paddlers from Bishops Stortford went to the Pangbourne Hasler in September - four of them returning with medals.

DOUBLES -
12 miles, 3 portages
Div 2: Joe Fitzpatrick & Oli Rix [NOR] 2nd (1:29:23), David Gurney & Kat Wilson 3rd (1:33:49)
8 miles, 2 portages
Div 4: Eddie Kirtland & Ewan Bates [LBZ] 1st (1:07:34), Chris Sze & Ben Tubby 4th (1:08:18)

SINGLES -
4 miles
Div 9: Kerry Tubby 11th (41:29)

See also

Nottingham Sprints (2-3 September 2023)

3/9/2023

Over a very warm September weekend, Bishops Stortford Canoe Club took a team of eight paddlers to the National Sprint Regatta for a weekend of camping and competition.

They took part in K1, K2 and K4 races over 200m/500m/1000m on the 2km long, purpose-built regatta lake at Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham.

Rich Winstanley competed in the Masters B class (combined with Men's C). He came 5th in the K1 1000m final (4:22.40). He narrowly missed out on the K1 200m final, but qualified for the final in the 500m, finishing 9th (2:09.32).

Eddie Kirtland was competing in the Boys D class. He qualified for the A finals of both the K1 200m and 500m, finishing in 5th place in the 200m (48.10), and 2nd in the 500m (2:15.50). Eddie has received a well-deserved promotion from Boys D to Boys C.

In Mens D (combined with Masters C) Tom Holloway stormed to victory in the 200m heats, qualifying for the finals, and came 9th in the final in 49.15 seconds.

Partnering Ethan Bates of Leighton Buzzard in the K2 200m race, Eddie qualified for the final, in which the boys came 3rd (47.96). Eddie also joined Ethan and two Nottingham paddlers for the 500m K4 race, which they won with a commanding lead (1:57.92).

Tom Barton also competed in the Boys D class, coming 7th in his heat in the 200m race (53.69), sadly narrowly missing out on a place in the final.

Jasper and Rupert Kirtland were in the 12s Lightning B K1 class 500m races. Jasper won both his heat and then the final (3:05.96). He has been promoted from Lightning B to Lighting A (rebranded as “Mini”). Rupert was 5th in his heat (3:34.54), narrowly missing out on the final. Rupert and Jasper teamed up to win the K2 Lightning A/B combined event with an excellent time of 2:50.08. They also competed in the K4 event along with a two paddlers from other clubs, coming 3rd in a thrilling finish.

In the Paddle-Ability class, Stortford’s Alex Scott and Oliver Klumpler competed in K1 500m and K1 200m races. Alex, returning to sprinting after several years, came 7th in the 200m (1:18.35), and 5th in the 500m (3:07.86). Oliver came 4th in his first 200m race with a personal best of 1:04.34, and 5th in his second race in 1:11.40. He finished 4th in the 500m race in a time of 2:56.38. As one of only two juniors in the class, he achieved a 1st and two 2nd places in his age group.

These results meant that BSCC finished in 22nd place in the Interclub “McGregor Paddle” competition, out of the 32 clubs at the event - a great result for such a small team.

See the Sprint website for the full results of the September Regatta.

It was the last Nottingham Sprint Regatta of the year, so some overall results were also announced. Stortford was placed 7th in the 2023 Intermediate Series (u14s). Jasper was the top-scoring boy in Lightning B during 2023, and Rupert was joint 2nd. Oliver was also awarded two bronze medals (200m & 500m) for his performance in Paddle-Ability Sprint in 2023.

Photo credits: Flora Klumpler & Rich Winstanley

B. Stortford Hasler (9 Jul 2023)

9/7/2023

Excellent results for Bishops Stortford at our Hasler race! Six gold medals, 4 silvers and 2 bronzes brought the team 592 race points and second place - just three race points behind Chelmsford CC, and ahead of Norwich CC (587).

This means that Stortford has finished in third place overall in the Eastern Region, and will therefore be going through to the National Hasler final at Worcester in September!

In weather that was hot but generally overcast, 157 competitors (including 24 paddling for BSCC) took part in the event. There was an especially large number of Division 9 singles (25) necessitating a split start.

photo: Chris Sze

Jaroslav elected to race for the first time in Div 6, and was rewarded with a gold medal.

Eilidh has been promoted to Division 8, as also has new club member Tom Stephens. Jasper also raced in Division 9 for the first time, having been promoted out of Geoff Sanders after the Leighton Buzzard race. Robin, Alex and Ally Judge all took part, having each been out of competition for some time.

SINGLES -
19km, 8 portages
Div 3: Kat Wilson 4th (1:34:07)
11.5km, 6 portages
Div 5: Eddie Kirtland 4th (1:11:11)
Div 6: Jaroslav Klumpler 1st (1:15:39)
6.5km 2 portages
Div 7: Libby Gaulton 11th (40:08)
Div 9: Eilidh White 2nd (38:11), Tom Stephens 5th (39:27), Jasper Kirtland 11th (42:16), Robin Dromard 12th (43:14), Alex Scott 20th (48:31), Tamzin Catmur 23rd (50:08), Ally Judge (rtd)

All of the doubles crews did well, and were responsible for most of the medals. Oliver & Finlay continued to score top points for the club in Division 9 doubles. Chris Sze & Ben Tubby have formed a formidable partnership, winning Division 4 by a comfortable margin.

Meanwhile, in Division 8 there was a re-play of the close-fought contest between Octavia & Kerry and Jacque & Dave.

photo: Chris Sze

DOUBLES -
19km, 8 portages
Div 2: David Gurney & Oscar Griffiths [ACU] 2nd (1:22:27)
11.5km, 6 portages
Div 4: Chris Sze & Ben Tubby 1st (1:02:02)
Div 5: Mark Adams & Steve Tingay [LBZ] 1st (1:07:50), Kerstin Queeney & Catherine Ayling [MAI] 4th (1:08:45)
6.5km, 2 portages
Div 8: Octavia Abbott & Kerry Tubby 2nd (35:45), Dave Cayford & Jacque Cayford 3rd (35:49)
Div 9: Finlay Sandall & Oliver Klumpler 1st (40:32)

Under 14s (Geoff Sanders)
2.5km
Div B: Rupert Kirtland 5th (21:03)
Div C: Emilie Klumpler 5th (27:04)

Many thanks are due to all the members and their families who worked as volunteers to keep everyone, safe and well fed, and enabling everything to run smoothly on the day. Also, those who helped to get the club ready beforehand.

See also

Nottingham Sprints (1-3 July 2023)

3/7/2023

Joe F, Chris and Eddie K travelled up to the July Sprints at Nottingham which were also the Senior and Masters National Sprint Championships.

Joe took part in the Senior Men's K1 1000m event, coming 5th in his heat (4:29.10) and then 8th in Final 2 (4:32.29). He was also 9th in the 5000m K1 (22:06.05).

Eddie was racing in Boys D. In the K1 200m he was 2nd in his heat (55.30), winning him a place in the final in which he came 9th (56.96). In K1 500m he was again 2nd in his heat (2:32.08), and then 8th in the final (2:27.12).

However, he won three silver medals in crew boats, coming 2nd with C Packer of Reading in both the K2 500m race (2:23.86) and the 1000m (4:45.82), and 2nd with E Bates (LBZ), A Deri (LBZ) and M Grant (NOT) in K4 500m.

Chris was competing in Masters Over-54. He was 2nd in his heat in the K1 500m race (2:28.96), but in the final his time of 2:36.23 brought him only 8th place. However his third place in the K1 1000m race (5:03.59) won him a bronze medal, which he then equalled with a second bronze medal in the over-54/64 K2 1000m race with C Mayo of Devises (5:09.43). The high point came when he teamed up with P Gorman (Wey), G Holmes (Wey) & L Czillaho (Richmond) in the o54/64 K4 500m race and took gold with a time of 2:00.37.

See the Sprint website for the full results of the July Regatta. Also see Chris's Flickr album for more photos.

Photo credit: Chris Sze

Leighton Buzzard Hasler (18 Jun 2023)

18/6/2023

Six gold medals and five silvers translated into a draw for overall first place with the home team at Leighton Buzzard!

In doubles, the established crews of Chris & Ben, Jacque & Dave, and Finlay & Oliver all achieved medals, as did the surprise new pairing of Octavia and Kerry.

Libby & Isabel also crewed up for the first time and showed a lot of promise.

DOUBLES -
8 miles, 2 portages
Div 4: Chris Sze & Ben Tubby 1st (1:06:01)
Div 5: Kerstin Queeney & Jack Gaulton 5th (1:13:30)
4.5 miles
Div 8: Octavia Abbott & Kerry Tubby 1st (42:38), Dave Cayford & Jacque Cayford 2nd (42:39), Libby Gaulton & Isabel Knight 5th (45:41)
Div 9: Finlay Sandall & Oliver Klumpler 1st (45:40)

Jaroslav did well to catch up in Div 7 as far as he did considering the amount of time lost by a capsize at the start.

Joe was paddling up into Div 1 to win his silver. Daniel and Eddie also won silver in their respective divisions.

SINGLES -
12 miles, 6 portages
Div 1: Joe Fitzpatrick 2nd (1:35:43)
8 miles, 2 portages
Div 5: Eddie Kirtland 2nd (1:15:36), Tom Holloway 4th (1:33:47)
4.5 miles
Div 7: Jaroslav Klumpler 7th (43:35)
Div 9: Daniel Baines 2nd (45:06), Eilidh White 5th (46:30), Aaron Sandhu 13th (57:44), Petr Luksan 14th (1:03:08)

See also

Well done to Aaron for completing his first race.

Under 14s (Geoff Sanders)
2 miles
Div A: Jasper Kirtland 1st (17:16)
Div B: Rupert Kirtland 5th (19:24)
Div C: Emilie Klumpler 5th (26:54)
K2: Jasper Kirtland & Rupert Kirtland 3rd (23:17)

While the excellent results at Buzzard have not changed our overall position in the Eastern Region - we are still equal third with Leighton Buzzard CC - it has widened the gap with the clubs above and below, and a trip to the finals at Worcester now looks a lot more certain.

The big question now is, can we edge ahead and finish the the season with an outright third place in the region?