Category: Management

James Smythe

22/4/2022

It is with great sadness that the Club announces the passing of James Smythe on Monday 18th April 2022 after a short second battle with cancer.

James started his paddling career in the mid 1980’s at Wey Kayak Club, finishing his first Devizes to Westminster 125 Mile Canoe Race (DW) with them in junior K2 in 1987. He then went to university and raced for Royal Lemington Spa before moving to Nottingham. By this time he was a Men’s A sprinter, Div 1 marathon paddler, and represented Great Britain at two World Cups in Hungary in 1994 and South Africa in 1995, as well as competing for GB at other races on the international circuit. In 1995 he also took the bronze at the National Marathon Championships in Senior K1.

He then took a break and moved to France before returning and joining Leaside in 2001 and latterly Bishops Stortford in 2016. In his very first race in a Bishops Stortford vest he took silver in Veteran 35-44 K2 at the National Marathon Championships before winning the Bill Sparks trophy for the fastest veteran K2 at the Hasler Finals later that same year.

Waterside D – Full kit rehearsal ahead of DW in 2016 [photo: Chris Worrall]

First race in a Stortford vest at the National Marathon Championships 2016

Start line of Hasler Finals 2016

On his return to paddling he started to drive the minibus and trailer to international events and later became Team Manager for the GB Marathon Team. He became secretary of the Marathon Racing Committee and has had a big influence on what happens in the sport today. Although not necessarily a regular attendee at the Club, he proudly raced in his Stortford vest and volunteered at many of the Club’s races.

Leighton Buzzard Hasler 2017 [photo: Chris Worrall]

In late 2019 James first discovered he had cancer. In April 2020 he had an operation to remove his kidney and other areas with tumours in his abdomen and had a further operation in December 2020 to remove a lump behind his lung. Probably his most impressive achievement was to come back from this to win the Veteran 45-54 K2 at the National Marathon Championships in 2021.

As well as marathon racing James very much enjoyed surfski paddling and spent lots of time paddling out of Southend and other places in recent years and raced surfski a few times too.

Surfski in Devon in 2020

In December 2021 James found out some lumps were detected on his routine scan and in February he was told these were inoperable. James leaves behind his wife Catherine and son Ollie.

Summary of achievements:

Bronze – Senior K1 – National Marathon Championships
6 x Veteran – National Marathon Championships medalist, 4 of them Gold
1st Veteran K2 at Hasler Finals
Waterside Series Veteran K2 winner and A & C course record holder (with the C record still standing today)
3 x DW finisher including 2nd overall and 1st Veteran K2
GB Marathon Team member for several years

Club revitalised by £14K grant funding

4/10/2019

We are delighted to announce that we have recently been awarded two major grants to help the club introduce more people to the exciting sport of kayak racing. The first grant of £9600 of National Lottery funding comes from Sport England and this has already funded the purchase of five beginner racing kayaks and is supporting three volunteers in taking coaching qualifications.

A further £4400 is to follow from an East Herts Council Community Grant towards the purchase of five more kayaks suitable as follow-on racing boats. Together, these will enable the club to run a programme of beginner training with the aim of tempting people into joining the club and taking up the sport regularly.

BSCC is strongly focussed on kayak racing on rivers and canals ("flatwater racing"). This often appeals to those who have not settled into the more mainstream sports, delivering a unique blend of serious competitive challenge with the perennial fun of "messing about in boats". It is equally accessible to both sexes and a very wide age range, making it ideally suited to family groups. Personal fitness need not be high at the outset, but canoeing delivers a great deal of exercise to those who participate regularly.

A new group of juniors begin training at the club

Racing requires a particular type of kayak.The grant has enabled us to purchase four extra boats of the most stable kind, suitable for new paddlers. From here, the beginners can gradually progress to lighter and sleeker craft which are harder to balance but can go faster. But the equipment alone is not enough - the magic ingredient is hours of teaching by racing coaches who can pass on the skills and techniques needed to master the sport.

Unfortunately, both have been in limited supply at the club of late. A shortage of coaches brought recruitment into the club to an almost complete stop in 2018. A record number of people were keen to come along, but the club simply did not have enough coaches to teach new paddlers as well as training existing ones. Like most racing canoe clubs, BSCC is 100% volunteer-powered, and it typically costs in excess of £700 for a coach to became qualified - often at their own expense.

Club chairman Andy White said: "We are delighted to have secured this investment to enable us to support our volunteer coaches - qualified coaches are the heart of the club, and without them we cannot thrive. Having the new beginner equipment will allow us to teach brand new paddlers in groups of similar ability which will be more efficient for the coaches and more fun for the participants".

Thanks to the smart new boats provided by the Sport England National Lottery grant, and with the new trainees already acting as assistants to established coaches, the club is now offering weekend beginner courses for adults and older teens new to the sport, and a programme of four taster sessions on Sundays for youngsters (usually age 10-15).

A two-day Starter course took place in September and there will be another in October - a third may take place in November depending on demand and the weather. More will follow in the spring. See our Join Us page for scheduled dates.

Participants on a weekend Starter course in September

The club is hugely grateful to Sport England and East Herts Council for their support - and of course to everyone who plays the National Lottery.

Anybody interested in giving kayaking a go should contact the secretary so that we can get you along to the club as soon as possible.

Premises working party (18 Jun 2016)

19/6/2016

Big thanks are due to the enthusiastic group of volunteers who met at the club on Saturday morning to get the club grounds tidied up ahead of the BBQ and Hasler race. They all worked hard to cut the grass, cut back overhanging branches on the lane, strimmed the bank and other overgrown areas and filled potholes. Well done everyone!

BSCC - still reaching the gold standard

27/3/2015

We are pleased to announce the arrival of our new TopClub Gold and ClubMark certificates!

TopClub is British Canoeing's scheme for recognising well-managed clubs who are striving to offer the best in coaching and sports development, and Gold is the highest standard. When BSCC first achieved this in 2007 we were only the 7th club in England to achieve TopClub Gold status, and we are now audited annually to demonstrate that standards are still being maintained.

TopClub incorporates the core values of ClubMark, SportEngland's "kite mark" scheme for high-quality community sports clubs.

The next challenge will be be to improve the service that we offer to disabled people and gain accreditation as a "Paddle-Ability Top Club". There are some exciting projects regarding this in the pipeline.

See the British Canoeing website to find out more about TopClub and Paddle-Ability TopClub, and also see the ClubMark website.

James Smythe

Club revitalised by £14K grant funding

Premises working party (18 Jun 2016)

BSCC - still reaching the gold standard

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