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.
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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.
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