The weekend of 23rd and 24th July saw a reasonable size team from Bishops Stortford head to the National Marathon Championships which this year were held on the River Thames at Reading. Saturday’s racing is all K1 / C1 starting with the Lightnings at 9:00am and finishing with the Veterans at 2:40pm with two other starts in between at 10:00 and 11:40. Sundays race is all K2 / C2 following the same format but finishing with one of the largest and hotly contested events of the weekend, the Mixed K2.
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Although there were five National Championship medals won by the Club, Toby Booth’s 5th place in Under 14 K1 (out of 28 entries) and Joe Fitzpatrick & Heidi White’s 9th place in mixed K2 (out of 58 entries) were the outstanding results of the weekend, beating many crews who on paper were faster than themselves.
Although there were some very good results on Saturday in the extremely hot and humid conditions we had to wait until the last set of races for Joe Surrage to start the medals coming with a good 2nd place in the Over 34 Vet Men K1. Danny Beazley then followed up with a gold in the Over 39 Vet Mens K1.
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Sunday saw slightly cooler and more pleasant racing conditions and Toby Booth partnering Lewis Smith from Lincoln won an impressive bronze medal in the Under 14 boys K2. The final medals of the weekend were won by Danny Beazley and James Smythe (racing in a Bishops Stortford vest for the first time) who finished a very close 2nd in the Vet Mens Over 34 K2.
Well done to all who raced - the Club finished in 17th place overall out of 54 clubs. It would be lovely to break into the top 10 next year with a larger attendance from the Club.
Well done to all who raced - the Club finished in 17th place overall out of 54 clubs. It would be lovely to break into the top 10 next year with a larger attendance from the Club.
| SINGLES - u10 Girls: Eilidh White 10th (23:31), Gemma Beazley 12th (27:54) u23 Mens K1: Joe Fitzpatrick 21st (2:04:00), Matt Parkes 22nd (2:05:37) u23 Ladies K1: Heidi White 8th (2:25:25) u18 Ladies K1: Isabelle Gurney (retired) u16 Ladies K1: Lexie White 19th (1:22:58) u14 Boys K1: Toby Booth 5th (41:10), David Gurney 13th (44:08), Murdo White 25th (51:44) o34 Vet Mens K1: Joe Surrage 2nd (1:39:24) o39 Vet Mens K1: Danny Beazley 1st (1:36:41) o54 Vet Mens K1: Chris Sze 16th (42:13) o59 Vet Ladies K1: Judith English 4th, and also 3rd o64 Ladies (52:00) DOUBLES - Sen Mens C2: Paul Surrage & John Harding (LBZ) 4th (1:20:57) u14 Boys K2: Toby Booth & Lewis Smith (LIN) 3rd (37:15) o34 Vet Mens K2: Danny Beazley & James Smythe 2nd (1:31:31) Mixed K2: Joe Fitzpatrick & Heidi White 9th (57:07), Josh Young & Maddie de Ferrer (WEY) 35th (1:06:00) Many thanks to Chris & Maria Sze and Alex Booth for the use of their pics. |    |
