Category: Hasler Races - BSCC

Norwich Hasler (22 May 2022)

22/5/2022

The race at Norwich was the best attended of the series so far. The home team turned out in force and comprised almost exactly half of the 141 competitors taking part. Norwich CC clocked up their third win of the four races so far, with a maximum score of 600.

Although Stortford's Hasler team was much more modest in size (19 in the Hasler divisions), they were distributed across the singles and doubles divisions to give the maximum opportunity for points scoring, bringing the club its best overall result since 2018 - Stortford finished second with 587 points, ahead of both Leighton Buzzard CC (581) and Chelmsford CC (568).

Joe and Mark formed a very effective crew to take second place in Div 4 doubles in a photo-finish, one second ahead of the third-placed crew and just 30s behind the winners.

Tom H and Jamie G led Division 7 doubles from the start and refused to be overtaken, making them the fastest boat on the 6.5km course despite some serious competition.

In singles, there was another photo finish in Div 7. Jack broke free quickly leaving Ben T in the melee of the start line. However, Ben was able to catch up and take the lead to become the eventual winner. The next three places were closely contested right up to the line, with Jack missing out on the silver spot by a single second. Ben and Jack have both been promoted.

Despite being an under-14, Libby paddled in the Div 9 race. She executed an impressive start and achieved an extremely creditable finish time in her longest race to date.

The day's most notable racing début was the appearance of club chairman Kevin Short partnered by Mick Hussey in an open canoe in Division 9 doubles.

Although still fourth in the Eastern Region League behind Norwich CC, Leighton Buzzard CC and Chelsmford CC, there is now a much wider gap between BSCC and the rest of the clubs.

In the under-14s races, Nadim did exceptionally well, taking second place in Div C in only his first Geoff Sanders race.

DOUBLES -
13km, 2 portages
Div 4: Joe Fitzpatrick & Mark Adams 2nd (1:03:39), Chris Sze & Eddie Kirtland 7th (1:09:27)
Div 5: Kerstin Queeney & Catherine Ayling [MAI] 7th (1:12:19)
6.5km
Div 7: Tom Holloway & Jamie Gaulton 1st (33:26)
Div 8: David Cayford & Jacqueline Cayford 5th (37:04)
Div 9: Ewan Gowing & Arthur Catmur 1st (41:25), Mick Hussey & Kevin Short 2nd (57:40)

SINGLES -
6.5km
Div 7: Tom Barton 4th (37:03), Jaroslav Klumpler 5th (37:29)
Div 8: Ben Tubby 1st (36:34), Jack Gaulton 3rd (37:23), Petr Luksan 9th (38:49)
Div 9: Libby Gaulton 6th (41:22)

Under 14s (Geoff Sanders)
3.5km
Div A: Oliver Klumpler 4th (26:02)
Div B: Rupert Kirtland 5th (25:31)
Div C: Nadim Shawky 2nd (25:34), Emilie Klumpler 6th (30:00)

See also

Bedford Hasler (1 May 2022)

6/5/2022

As usual at Bedford, the high man-made banks caused choppy water in places, and this combined on the day with a stiff breeze along the wide river to create demanding conditions for the club's youngest paddles.

Despite this there were excellent results from our seven under-14s competitors. Five of them made a clean sweep of the gold medals in the Geoff Sanders Divisions on the 2.5km course. Libby, Jasper and Rupert won Div A, B and C respectively. Rupert's time was especially good, and he now joins his brother in Div B.

Zuzanna and Emilie gained Silver in A and C. In the afternoon Libby and Jasper went on to crew a doubles boat in the under-14s K2 race over the same course, and won two more gold medals.

Under 14s (Geoff Sanders)
2.5km
Div A: Libby Gaulton 1st (29:31), Zuzanna Madeja 3rd (33:08)
Div B: Jasper Kirtland 1st (23:13)
Div C: Rupert Kirtland 1st (22:30), Emilie Klumpler 3rd (27:05)
GS K2: Libby Gaulton & Jasper Kirtland 1st (18:55)

Oliver and Finlay, also both u14s, entered the Hasler Div 9 doubles race and were rewarded for undertaking this challenge with Silver medals.

The rest of the Stortford team also brought home a good haul of medals, particularly in the doubles races. Jacqueline and Dave were competing in Division 8 doubles on the 2-lap 7km course. After getting a good start and taking an initial lead, they were overtaken by a Norwich CC boat as they approached the first turn. However, they were able to see off the challenge and regain their position for the rest of the race to win, 49s ahead of their rivals.

BSCC had two doubles boats on the 3-lap 13km course, both taking part in the Division 5 race. This course included two "false portages" where paddlers have to disembark and run with their boats. Mark partnered Kirsten to second place. Their time of 1:08:45 being faster than all the competitors in the Division 4 doubles race, it is not surprising that they have both now been promoted to Div 4.

Also paddling in Div 5 doubles were Eddie (Div 7) with Chris (Div 4). They finished only fractionally behind Mark and Kerstin, so Eddie too has been promoted to Div 4.

DOUBLES -
13km, 2 portages
Div 5: Mark Adams & Kerstin Queeney 2nd (1:08:45), Chris Sze & Eddie Kirtland 3rd (1:09:19)
7km
Div 8: David Cayford & Jacqueline Cayford 1st (44:51)
Div 9: Oliver Klumpler & Finlay Sandal 2nd (1:02:32)

Most of the singles competitors from BSCC were on the 7km course. Division 8 included two Stortford entrants: Jaroslav (Jay) and Ben. Ben took the lead from the start while Jay, though initially forced to drop back by the press of boats, was soon able to catch up and the pair were in first and second place as they went around the first turn. However, Ben took a swim at the second turn, and although he was able to finish the race and make up a lot of the lost time had to settle for 6th place. Jay was overtaken by two other boats, so finished third - however, his excellent time sees him promoted to Division 7.

Stortford's highest-placed singles paddler was Eilidh, who won silver in Div 9. Also in this race, Arthur put in an impressive performance to finish 4th in his first Hasler.

SINGLES -
13km, 2 portages
Div 4: Joe Fitzpatrick 4th (1:12:43)
7km
Div 7: Tom Barton 7th (43:38), Jack Gaulton 10th (45:31)
Div 8: Jaroslav Klumpler 3rd (44:10), Ben Tubby 6th (45:40)
Div 9: Eilidh White 2nd (47:39), Arthur Catmur 4th (48:24), Karen Bradley 7th (52:32)

The Stortford team came fourth out of the nine Eastern region clubs represented, with a score of 583 points, tantalisingly close to 3rd-placed Chelmsford CC's total of 588. Leighton Buzzard CC and Norwich were joint winners with 595 each. Bishops Stortford CC now sit fourth in the Eastern Region League.

See also

Cambridge Hasler (13 Feb 2022)

13/2/2022

This report has been updated 28/2/22 (for the 2nd time) in the light of further revisions to the provisional results. Further changes to the points and promotions are still possible.

A small BSCC team was amongst the 188 competitors who flocked to Cambridge from all over the country for the first Hasler race of 2022. After two years of interrupted racing, no fewer than twenty different clubs took advantage of this unusually early start to the Hasler season. As well as the usual faces from within the region, the list of out-of-region clubs read like a Who's Who of flatwater racing, with members of Pangbourne, Reading, Nottingham, Elmbridge and many other well known clubs represented, and Richmond and Lincoln particularly in evidence. Needless to say, the standard of paddling was high.

Whenever there has been a long break between races, and also whenever paddlers from different regions compete together, there tends to be a great deal of movement between divisions as the discrepancies between regions are levelled out. Perhaps for this reason it proved impossible to calculate the promotions on the day, and thus the points due to each of the six Eastern Region clubs present.

All the BSCC competitors gave it their all with some spectacular individual results. Tom B had a start that he himself described as awful, but after going round the tight turn at the first buoy he recovered to catch up with the Division 9 leaders. From this point, he and three other paddlers (two from Chelmsford and one L. Buzzard) remained in tight competition for the rest of the race. All four sprinted across the line with only a second between each of them, with Tom in gold position. For this he has received a double promotion and will now race in Div 7.

Also in Div 9, Jaroslav (Jay) demonstrated how much he has improved through the winter by finishing only 2:15 behind Tom to take 8th place out of 21 entries - and wins a promotion to Div 8.

In Division 7 Eddie took second place from the start line and retained it all the way but with a Norwich paddler on his tail throughout, so he too had to sprint for the line to take his silver award in close finish. Eddie too has been promoted.

Also in this race were Jack and Tom H, both of whom were racing for first time in Div 7 following promotions from Div 9 at Chelmsford last October. Jack finished a very comfortable 7th. Tom got off to a great start and was going well at the first turn but had to pull out with an injury soon after.

Our only paddlers on the 14km course, Kerstin & Mark, unfortunately also fell victim to injury after a promising start. But it was still good to see Mark back in a BSCC vest!

DOUBLES -
14km, 4 portages
Div 5: Kerstin Queeney & Mark Adams (retired)

SINGLES -
7km
Div 7: Edward Kirtland 2nd (39:47), Jack Gaulton 7th (43:22), Thomas Holloway (retired)
Div 9: Thomas Barton 1st (39:58), Jaroslav Klumpler 8th (42:13)

The other Eastern teams Norwich, Leighton Buzzard, Chelmsford, as well as the Cambridge home team, were all out in force. As only four BSCC paddlers finished the race out of an already undersized team of seven, and only three of these scored points (no points are awarded if the paddler is promoted more than one division) BSCC inevitably finished in last place in the main Hasler race.

BSCC was much better represented in the Geoff Sanders under-14 competition, where BSCC's team of five paddlers was equalled only by the home team.

The youngsters found the start of the race very difficult as they headed into a stiff breeze, but it paid off on the way back with the wind behind them.

Libby Gaulton put in another excellent performance to take first place in Div B. She was the fastest girl on the course and is being promoted to Div A. Oliver Klumpler won the club's other Geoff Sanders medal for 2nd place in Div A.

Under 14s (Geoff Sanders)
3km
Div A: Oliver Klumpler 2nd (57:18)
Div B: Libby Gaulton 1st (40:41), Jasper Kirtland 5th (49:35)
Div C: Rupert Kirtland 5th (58:40), Emilie Klumpler 6th (59:17)

See also

Chelmer Hasler (17 Oct 2021)

18/10/2021

With the start of the new Hasler season, there were excellent results for the 13 BSCC paddlers who competed in the main divisions of the Chelmer Hasler, with 6 taking podium positions.

It was also a day of many promotions, as the effects of there having been much improvement over the summer months, but with little opportunity to compete against other clubs, worked its way through the system.

There was a good turnout for the race, with 176 competitors in total. Div 9 was given a split start. Eddie and Tom H each led their respective groups to the finish, and ended in overall first and second place, with Jack not far behind them. All three received a double promotion to Div 7. Petr, racing for the first time, was promoted to Div 8 after finishing 7th.

Another club member paddling for us for the first time was Ben K, who came 2nd in the Div 7 race and was promoted to Div 6. Jamie M, finishing 4th, was also promoted to Div 6.

Chris and Alasdair partnered in Div 4 K2 to take 3rd place, but the undoubted hero of the doubles racing was Kerstin who partnered Mark (the latter paddling for Broadlands) to win the Div 6 K2 race. As the pair finished with a faster time than all of the Div 5 K2 boats, it is no surprise that Kerstin has been promoted from Div 7 to Div 5.

Those awarded double promotions in K1 races do not score Hasler points for the club. Although other clubs also experienced a large number of double promotions, the impact upon them was less damaging as they were fielding larger teams in the first place. Given this context, BSCC's total score of 461 was very respectable, and left us in 4th place behind Leighton Buzzard CC (596), Chelmsford (595) and Norwich (589).

DOUBLES -
8 miles, 8 portages
Div 4: Alasdair Bruce & Chris Sze 3rd (1:18:35)
Div 6: Kerstin Queeney & Mark Adams [BPS] 1st (1:17:27)

SINGLES -
3 miles, 2 portages
Div 7: Ben Kelly 2nd (30:52), Jamie McAdam 4th (32:13), Jamie Gaulton 9th (34:02)
Div 9: Edward Kirtland 1st (33:03), Thomas Holloway 2nd (33:15); Jack Gaulton 4th (33:56), Petr Luksan 7th (35:22), Ewan Gowing 11th (37:38), Jaroslav Klumpler 13th (38:04), Karen Bradley 20th (40:27)

Six of Stortford's youngest team members competed in the under-14s Divisions on the 2km course. Libby Gaulton, only just 11, was the second fastest girl over this distance and finished 4th overall in the fastest group (Div A).

The other five were all racing in Div B. Jasper and Finlay (5th and 7th respectively) have now been officially promoted to Division B for their performances.

Under 14s (Geoff Sanders)
2km
Div A: Libby Gaulton 4th (17:45)
Div B: Jasper Kirtland 5th (18:52), Finlay Sandal 7th (19:05), Rupert Kirtland 9th (20:16), Oliver Klumpler 10th (21:25), Emilie Klumpler 13th (24:11)

See also

Leighton Buzzard Hasler (18 Jul 2021)

18/7/2021

A dozen Stortford paddlers faced fiercely hot weather to compete at the Leighton Buzzard Hasler, and came back with seven gold medals and two silvers.

On the 12 mile course, Joe won Div 2 in a time which was less than a minute under the promotion time to Div 1.

Mike & Chris won their doubles race on the 8 mile course, and Jacque & Dave repeated their success at Norwich to do the same on the 4 mile course.

Tom B and Edward took the top two positions in Div 9, despite Tom stopping to help Edward recover from a capsize, in a perfect demonstration of the sportmanship which runs through kayak racing. Edward's finishing time confirmed his transition into Div 9, despite being under 14.

Three members of the Klumpler family were competing for the first time, with particular success for Oliver who won the remaining gold medal of the day for the club in Div C, one of the new u14s divisions. As a consequence he has now been promoted to Div B.

Others taking part in their first race to great credit were Karen (Div 9) and Jasper (Div C). Oliver and Jasper also raced a second time to take bronze in the mini-K2 race.

There were 89 competitors at the event, drawn from 7 Eastern Region clubs and 5 clubs from further afield, including a strong showing from Banbury.

SINGLES -
12 miles, 6 portages
Div 2: Joe Fitzpatrick 1st (1:37:17)
4.5 miles
Div 9: Thomas Barton 1st (45:13 adjusted), Edward Kirtland 2nd (45:32), Karen Bradley 4th (46:50), Jaroslav Klumpler 6th (48:01)

DOUBLES -
8 miles, 2 portages
Div 4: Mike Panrucker & Chris Sze 1st (1:10:51)
4.5 miles
Div 8: Jacque Cayford & Dave Cayford 1st (41:20)

GEOFF SANDERS (u14) -
2 miles
Div B: Emilie Klumpler 5th (32:15)
Div C: Oliver Klumpler 1st (20:30), Jasper Kirtland 2nd (21:19)
K2: Jasper Kirtland & Oliver Klumpler 3rd (20:09)

The full race results have now been published.

Photos courtesty C Sze & F Klumpler

Nationals (10-11 Jul 2021)

12/7/2021

Seven members of the club went to the National Marathon Championships at Reading, most taking part in both K1 and K2 classes across two days of racing.

Everyone did well at this prestigious annual event, but none more so that James Smythe who came 5th out of a field of 26 in his singles race and partnered Stuart Dunn to a Gold Medal in doubles.

25.2km, 2 portages
SMK2: Joe Fitzpatrick & David Gurney [CLM] 15th (2:09:54)
SMK1: Joe Fitzpatrick 12th (2:00:10)
U23 SMK1: David Gurney [CLM] 13th (2:03:10)

12.6km, 1 portage
O44 VMK2: James Smythe & Stuart Dunn [IND] 1st (56:32)
O44 VLK2: Kerstin Queeney & Catherine Ayling [MAI] 4th (1:08:26)
O49 VMK1: James Smythe 5th (59:58)
O49 VLK1: Kerstin Queeney 5th (1:15:37)

8km
O54 VMK2: Mike Panrucker & Chris Sze 15th (39:23)
O59 VMK1: Chris Sze 9th (41:46)
O64 VMK1: Gordon Bullock [BAD] 7th (45:41)

See full results here.

All photos by Chris Sze

Norwich Hasler (23/5/2021) & Reading Circuit (30/5/2021)

31/5/2021

The first Eastern Region Hasler to go ahead since the autumn of 2019 was held by Norwich on 23 May, and was attended by a small team from BSCC. You can tell how chuffed these three are to be back racing from their expressions!

There are no club points being awarded this year due to the pandemic.

19.5km, 2 portages
Div 2: David Gurney (CLM) 5th (1:33:55), Joe Fitzpatrick 6th (1:39:47)

13km, 1 portage
Div 4 doubles: Gordon Bullock (BAD) & Chris Sze 3rd (1:06:35)

Photo courtesy Chris S.

6.5km
Div 7: Kerstin Queeney 5th (37:08)
Div 8 doubles: Jacque & Dave Cayford 1st (38:27)

The Norwich website has the full (provisional) Norwich results.

Three club members also went to the Reading Circuit Race on 30 May and competed with success.

12 miles, 2 portages
Div 2: Joe Fitzpatrick 4th (1:36:15)

8 miles, 1 portage
Div 4 doubles: Gordon Bullock (BAD) & Chris Sze 4th (1:06:09)

The Reading CC website has the full (provisional) Reading results.

Chris's videos of the races can be seen here:

Chelsmford Hasler (20 Oct 2019)

23/10/2019

The 2020 Hasler season got off to a good start at Chelmsford. Although the Stortford team (21 in number) was small by the standards of a couple of years ago, it was the largest team we have put out to an away race in the past year - and over half of those who went came home with a trophy!

Connor and Kerstin paired up to win Div 6 doubles with a time which also beat most of the Div 5 doubles crews as well.

Other awards went to Jacque & Dave (1st in Div 8 doubles), a 2nd for Jamie G & Jamie M (2nd in Div 7 doubles), and Catherine & Maddison (3rd Div 9 doubles).

Well done to our four Lightnings who all won trophies in their respective classes!

Although no Stortford paddlers made the podium in Div 9 singles, the race saw some exceptional results. Jack (technically still a Lightning himself) came 6th out of the 24 competitors, and new team members Alex and Tom H gave sparkling debut performances.

Connor's mum Jo also raced for the first time, partnering Josepha to a 4th place in Division 9 doubles.

DOUBLES -
8 miles, 8 portages
Div 6: Kerstin Queeney & Connor Higgins 1st (1:20:36)
3 miles, 2 portages
Div 7: Jamie Gaulton & Jamie McAdam 2nd (31:53)
Div 8: Jacque Cayford & Dave Cayford 1st (34:38)
Div 9: Catherine Robinson & Maddison Loveday 3rd (42:29), Joanna Brewer & Josepha Wallbank 4th (52:24)

SINGLES -
8 miles, 8 portages
Div 5: Mike Toomey 10th (1:26:35)
3 miles, 2 portages
Div 7: Malcolm Duckworth 11th (34:49)
Div 9: Jack Gaulton 6th (38:20), Alex Mulvey 9th (39:46), Eilidh White 11th (40:57), Thomas Holloway 12th (41:06); Kayleigh Gaulton 18th (44:50)

LIGHTNINGS
2km
u12 Boys: Edward Kirtland 2nd (24:05)
u10 Boys: Hudson Loveday 3rd (20:33)
u10 Girls: Libby Gaulton 1st (20:08), Genevieve Wilson 2nd (20:44)

There were 181 paddlers at this event drawn from 9 clubs in the Eastern Region plus some independents from further afield.

Overall we scored 221 points and came a very respectable 4th. Chelmsford CC were the winning club (234 points) with Leighton Buzzard CC 2nd (232) and Norwich CC 3rd (228).

See

STOP PRESS: Jamie G has been promoted to Div 7!

B. Stortford Hasler (7 Jul 2019)

19/7/2019

The fourth Bishops Stortford Hasler had the usual good turnout of competitors, with large teams of roughly equal size from Norwich, Chelmsford, Leighton Buzzard, Cambridge and ourselves, five smaller teams, and a smattering of out-of-region paddlers.

Water levels in the Stort were low, but considerably recovered from earlier in the week when, for a time, it seemed as if there was not going to be any water left in the river to run the race. Fortunately, CRT stepped in to fix the leaky lock gate which was at the root of the problem.

All available volunteers in the club had to be mobilised to undertake all the jobs associated with this complex event, with its separate morning and afternoon sessions and simultaneous upstream & downstream starts. Massive thanks are due to the small army of members and family who undertook timekeeping, on-water safety, towpath sweeping, turn marshalling, catering, entry booking, and car park marshalling, many of whom were also competing in the race.

David G was our fastest paddler , winning div 3 by a comfortable margin and gaining a promotion to div 2. Jenny & Kerstin took silver in div 7 doubles, while Catherine & Talal teamed up to achieve the same in div 9 doubles. Also in div 9 doubles, Eilidh partnered Maddison to gain bronze - a particularly pleasing result as Maddison is extremely new to the sport. Meanwhile, Maddison's brother Hudson, another new recruit taking part in his first race, won u10 boys Lightnings.

Jamie G narrowly missed out on the medals in div 9 singles despite putting in a very good performance, but was able to go home with a promotion to div 8. Special mention should also be made of Josie, who gained a very creditable 8th place in div 9 in her first ever competition.

DOUBLES -
11.5km, 6 portages
Div 4: Connor Higgins & Chris Sze 4th (1:05:00)
Div 5: Mike Panrucker & Ian Abrams 6th (1:11:56)
6.5km, 2 portages
Div 7: Kerstin Queeney & Jennifer Burtwell 2nd (46:57)
Div 8: Jacque Cayford & Dave Cayford 4th (52:20)
Div 9: Catherine Robinson & Talal Sajad 2nd (59:37), Eilidh White & Maddison Loveday 3rd (1:02:15)

SINGLES -
19km, 8 portages
Div 3: David Gurney 1st (1:30:26), Euan Caton 6th (1:38:52)
11.5km, 6 portages
Div 5: Ricky White 8th (1:11:57), Kevin Warbrick 9th (1:12:02)
6.5km, 2 portages
Div 9: Jamie Gaulton 4th (52:56), Josie Pretious-White 8th (56:16), Leo Ranade 14th (1:08:11), Kayleigh Gaulton 15th (1:10:24)
Div 10: Jack Gaulton 2nd (58:59)

LIGHTNINGS
2.5km
u12 Boys: Fabian Nyikos 5th (20:54), Edward Kirtland 6th (21:52), Josh Ranade 7th (22:23)
u12 Girls: Gemma Beazley 3rd (19:42)
u10 Boys: Hudson Loveday 1st (22:54), Killian O'Dwyer 2nd (22:57)
u10 Girls: Libby Gaulton 2nd (21:13)

The event was won by Cambridge CC with an impressive 237 points, only 3 short of the maximum. Overall, Stortford finished 5th - the position we have occupied for all the previous races of the season bar one. It was therefore no surprise to find ourselves 5th in the Eastern Region League table and excluded from the national finals. A disappointing result for a team that twelve months before was joint winners of the regional cup. But a fresh season begins in October, and who knows what that will bring.

The full results of the race can be found on the marathon website.
You may also want to look at the final league table at the end of the season (or, if you are from Stortford, possibly not ...)

Bedford Hasler (5 May 2019)

9/5/2019

Not so many Stortford paddlers turned out for the Bedford race. The highest points scorers were David G who took silver in Div 3 singles and Ant & Kerstin who took bronze in Div 7 doubles. Jacque & Dave also won silver in Div 8 doubles but were not close enough to the 1st-placed crew to score.

Doubles:
Div 4 - Chris Sze & Mike Panrucker 8th (1:09:05)
Div 7 - Ant Wright & Kerstin Queeney 3rd (39:41)
Div 8 - Jacque & Dave Cayford 2nd (44:34)
Div 9 - Catherine Robinson & Eilidh White 4th (50:55), Phil Brewer & Josepha Wallbank 5th (1:14:33)

Singles:
Div 3 - David Gurney 2nd (1:43:23), Euan Caton 6th (1:51:54)
Div 9 - Jamie Gaulton 10th (48:54), Jack Gaulton 13th (52:09)

The low turnout was reflecting in a disappointing 6th place overall for the club which, coming on top of a 6th place at Cambridge, leaves BSCC standing 5th in the Eastern Region League.

The full race results are on the MRC website and the league table can be seen on our results page.

Photos courtesy of Andrew Gurney