 | 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. |
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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) |
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| 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) |  |
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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 u12 Girls - Summer Norford 1st (40:38)
K1 Open - Sebastian Lane-Watkins 5th (38:21), Connie Colgate 6th (39:07), Georgia Leisegang 7th (43:52)
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 u12 Girls - Summer Norford 1st (40:38)
K1 Open - Sebastian Lane-Watkins 5th (38:21), Connie Colgate 6th (39:07), Georgia Leisegang 7th (43:52)
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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. |  |
