There was a decidedly cold breeze for the first race of the 2017-2018 Winter Series. This did not deter 145 paddlers from 12 different clubs from turning out for the race.
| Danny and Dave H won gold and bronze respectively in Veteran Mens K1, and Octavia and Kerstin won the Fastest Vet and SuperVet medals in the Ladies class. Eilidh was second in u12s and was also the fastest girl. Malcolm & Gary won medals in C2, but perhaps some sort of irregular Canadian award should have gone to Chris & Neil who completed most of the long course in a makeshift kayak/canoe fashion after Neil's paddle snapped in the early stages of the K2 race.  |  |
Although the BSCC team was quite small this year, this was partly because some were involved in the many marshalling and other volunteer activities necessary to run the race. Start/Finish marshals were Ron & Alison T, James Smythe, assisted by Zoe, Kira & Gemma B and Ollie Smythe. Turns were manned by Lynne C, Shane S, Fred, Ian A, Claire Baldwin, Maria W, Alan Pinnock, Jacob Gazey, Steve Whipp, Maria Sze, Ricky & Brian. Andrew G, David G and Will Rowe were on-water safety and sweepers. Seb was bike sweeper on the long course. Southmill portage helpers and marshals were Stewart, Adrian Holman, John Daly & Izzy Gurney & Matt P. The BBQ was run by Phil & Jo, Neil S, Brian, and Mel W. The other refreshments - including selling the cakes donated by members - were undertaken by Charlotte, Jan, Jacq, Kerstin, Jean Sewell, and Amelia & Isabelle S. Angela, Siobhan and Stewart dealt with booking in and results. Buoys were put out and brought back in by Matt P, Ricky, Mike P, Chris & Ant. The car park and other jobs before and after racing were undertaken by Neil B, Malcolm, Dave H, Ricky, Chris, Mike T & Dave C. Advance preparations were made by Judith, Mitch, Jan, Andrew, Danny, and Matt Mills.
 |  Photo credit: Andrew Gurney |  Photo credit: Andrew Rush |
| 7 miles (6 portages): Senior K2 - Will & Luke Jones 9th (1:12:20), Mike Panrucker & Angie Flight 11th (1:15:22), Neil Boast & Chris Sze 13th (1:20:33), Jacque Cayford & Dave Cayford 16th (1:25:26) Vet Mens K1 - Danny Beazley 1st (58:57), Dave Hallam 3rd (1:02:37), Kevin Warbrick 12th (1:15:16), Mike Toomey 16th (1:17:19), Mitch Barclay 17th (1:18:04) 5 miles (3 portages): u16 Boys K1 - Murdo White 5th (55:20), James Daly 7th (58:31), Connor Higgins 8th (58:49) Ladies K1 - Octavia Abbott 4th (51:22), Lexie White 9th (57:20), Kerstin Queeney 12th (59:29), Siobhan Latham 16th (1:12:48), Catherine Robinson 17th & 1st Paddleability (1:15:06) C2 - Malcolm Duckworth & Gary Aldam 2nd (57:29), Paul Surrage & Richard Baker 3rd (59:17) 3 miles (1 portage): u14 Boys K1 - Jamie Gaulton 9th (41:14) u12 K1 - Eilidh White 2nd (36:41), Lewis Williams 8th (48:03), Noah Weaving 9th (50:18), Killian O'Dwyer 10th (50:47) Full race results on the FRA website. See photos of the Stortford race in Angela's Flickr album and from Maria and Chris Sze via Facebook. There is also a YouTube video by Chris of himself and Neil using the broken paddle! |   |
