Category: Marathon Racing

Chelmsford Winter Series Marathon (22 Jan 2023)

22/1/2023

A sadly depleted team represented Stortford at the Chelmsford marathon on Sunday - it was left to just six paddlers to try to sustain the reputation of the club.

The race comprised one, two or three loops of the River Cam through Chelmsford.

Kerstin and Catherine made a spectacular recovery to finish 6th in the K2 class after they were completely spun around shortly after the start of the race. They won the medal for the fastest all-female crew.

Petr opted to enter the Vets race mistakenly thinking the course would not be suitable for high-kneel C1s, but nevertheless achieved an excellent 4th position.

Eilidh took silver in her class, and together with Oliver (1st Paddleabiity in GP) and Emilie (Gold as the 1st girl in u12 K1) the three scored enough points to bring Stortford a respectable 3rd place amongst the novice juniors.

8 miles:
Senior K2 - Kerstin Queeney & Catherine Ayling 6th (1:09:01)
Vet M K1 - Petr Luksan 4th (1:18:54)

5 miles:
Ladies K1 - Eilidh White 2nd (55:42)

3 miles:
GP - Oliver Klumpler 4th (43:41)
u12 K1 - Emilie Klumpler 7th (41:55)

Club points were another matter though, and with such a small team, a disappointing 5th place on the day was inevitable. The poor team result here has brought down our overall position in the Winter Series to 5th, as well as 3rd in the Dick Grieve league (novice juniors) and 3rd for the Bob Porter (participation in u12 K1). There is one more race to go - can the situation be retrieved?

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Thanks to Flora K for providing some of the photos

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Cambridge Winter Series Marathon (4 Dec 2022)

4/12/2022

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Only a dozen competitors represented Stortford in the Cambridge Winter Series race.

Kerstin and Catherine achieved a very good time in the senior doubles race, coming 8th out of 24 boats. Jasper won a very well-deserved silver in the u12's race, and there were two further medals in that class for Emilie (girls' silver) and Rupert (first u10). Oliver continues to persevere in racing the essentially non-racing boats of the GP class, and also won a first Paddleability medal.

A special mention should also go to Petr who for the first time competed in high-kneeler C1 at an away race.

7 miles (4 portages):
Senior K2 - Kerstin Queeney & Catherine Ayling 8th (1:12:35)
u18 Boys K1 - Tom Barton 6th (1:22:00)

5 miles (4 portages):
u16 Boys K1 - Jack Gaulton 4th (1:00:57), Daniel Baines 5th 1:15:26
u16 K2 - Eddie Kirtland & Libby Gaulton 1st (59:38)

3 miles (2 portage):
u14 Girls & Novice C1 - Petr Luksan 5th (48:45)
GP - Oliver Klumpler 5th (50:36)
u12 K1 - Jasper Kirtland 2nd (34:13), Rupert Kirtland 9th (44:57), Emilie Klumpler 10th (49:56)

With so few paddlers, Stortford's club position was always going to be disappointing, and we ended in 5th place, behind Chelmsford CC, Cambridge CC, Norwich CC and Leighton Buzzard CC. This has led to the interesting situation in which we are now tied in second place with Cambridge, Buzzard and Norwich.

However, enough points were scored by our unranked juniors (Daniel, Oliver, Jasper, Rupert and Emilie) to take joint second place with Leighton Buzzard CC in the competition for the Dick Greave Trophy. In terms of the series, we are now on an equal footing with Chelmsford, and Leighton Buzzard close behind - both of whom still have their home races to come.

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B. Stortford Winter Series Marathon (6 Nov 2022)

6/11/2022

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Heavy rain in the days leading up to the race forced a complete re-think of the parking arrangements, and as the rain continued on the day itself, created challenging conditions for everyone, especially the marshals and the volunteers manning the BBQ - but canoeists are not ones to be put off by a little water. Despite the downpour, race attendance was back up to pre-covid numbers. As well as 24 members of BSCC, the 130 competitors included teams from seven other clubs and independent paddlers drawn from at least three others.

Stortford's best results came from the Veteran Men's K1, in which Rich won gold for his impressive time of 1:02:42 and Chris took the medal for first "ultra-vet" (over 60).

Eilidh won bronze in the combined ladies class and was the club's fastest girl on the 5 miles course. In the u12s race, Jasper and Emilie each won bronze as third boy and third girl, and Rupert won the medal for first boy under 10. Oliver was awarded a first paddleability medal in the GP race.

Special mention should be made of Petr for successfully completing his first marathon race in C1.

7 miles (6 portages):
Senior K2 - Kerstin Queeney & Catherine Ayling 13th (1:15:18), Jacque & Dave Cayford 17th (1:20:49)
Vet Mens K1 - Rich Winstanley 1st (1:02:42), Chris Sze 5th (1:10:22), Ben Tubby 10th (1:20:06)
u18 Boys K1 - Tom Barton 4th (1:22:03)

5 miles (3 portages):
u16 Boys K1 - Jack Gaulton 4th (56:36), Arthur Catmur 7th (1:01:27), Ewan Gowing 8th (1:05:02), Daniel Baines 9th 1:08:14
Ladies K1 - Eilidh White 3rd (1:05:54), Kayleigh Gaulton 4th (1:06:14), Karen Bradley 5th (1:06:38), Tamzin Catmur 6th (1:22:39)
u16 K2 - Eddie Kirtland & Libby Gaulton 1st (54:23)

3 miles (1 portage):
u14 Boys K1 - Finlay Sandall 8th (37:47)
u14 Girls & Novice C1 - Ananya Bhusari 6th (45:03), Petr Luksan 7th (55:10)
GP - Oliver Klumpler 9th (53:14)
u12 K1 - Jasper Kirtland 3rd (35:30), Emilie Klumpler 12th (51:24), Rupert Kirtland 13th (51:25)

Stortford Mayor Dave Anderson braved the rain to come along and present the medals.

The club was second overall with 114 points, behind Chelmsford CC (271) but comfortably ahead of Leighton Buzzard CC (73).

The club is also off to a good start in the Dick Grieve league, based on point scored by novice juniors, with Eilidh, Oliver, Arthur, Ewan, Daniel, Finlay, Ananya and Jasper all making significant contributions towards this.

See

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Masters World Championships 2022

27/9/2022

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Stortford paddlers Chris Sze and Kerstin Queeney headed off to the 2022 ICF Masters World Championships held on 26-27 September in Ponte de Lima, Portugal. The K1 racing took place first - Chris came 24th in K1 mens 60-64 (1:52:56) and Kerstin was 10th in the ladies 55-59 race (1:42:47)

On the following day Chris paired up with Gordon Bullock to come 6th in the mens 60-64 K2 race and came 6th (1:54:11). Kerstin together with Catherine Ayling then secured a bronze medal in the ladies 55-59 K2 event (1:28:40). Well done!

Photo: Chris Sze

Full results can be found at
https://www.canoeicf.com/canoe-marathon-masters-world-championships/ponte-de-lima-2022

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Hasler Finals 2022

25/9/2022

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It was a very small group who travelled to Runnymede to take part in what has traditionally been the most important race in the club calendar.

Inevitably, in a race which is scored on the basis of the results from the club's top 6 singles boats and top three doubles, the results from the club were never going to great (23rd out of 32 clubs present), but there were some individual highlights.

Jacque and Dave did so well in their race that they only narrowly missed being promoted. There was an excellent performance from Tom B who came 11th out of a huge field of 33 competitors. Also good to see Joe resuming his rightful place in Div 2.

Singles:
Div 2 - Joe Fitzpatrick 16th (1:38:23)
Div 4 - Eddie Kirtland 25th (1:04:57)
Div 6 - Tom Barton 11th (1:07:01)
Div 7 - Jaroslav Klumpler (ret)

Doubles:
Div 8 - Jacque & Dave Cayford 11th (44:25)

The complete results can be found on the marathon website here:
https://entries.gbcanoemarathon.co.uk/results/races/2022/hasler-final-2022
(click on the "Points" tab to see the club results)

Stortford did not have any Geoff Senders (u14s league) paddlers taking part in this event, but the national results for the Geoff Sanders Trophy are cumulated over the whole season, and it has been reported that we came 9th overall! (Not yet online to be confirmed?) If this is right, it is a real achievement for the club and enormously encouraging for the future.

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B. Stortford Hasler (10 July 2022)

10/7/2022

After the interruption of Covid it was good to finally be able to hold the Hasler at the club again - the 5th time it has been held on the Stort. The total number of 168 competitors was not too far below pre-Covid levels, and larger than most races in our circuit this season, which is extremely encouraging. There was a particularly good turnout of 20 Geoff Sanders (u14s) entries.

Many thanks are due to all the members and their families who gave their time to make this event happen - as starters, marshals, safety boats, car park marshals, or serving the refreshments; also not forgetting the bakers who donated delicious cakes and those who cleaned up both before and afterwards. The intense heat made the day an especially demanding one for everyone involved, perhaps especially those who were doubling up by acting both as volunteers and competitors.

The racing was conducted in two halves. In the morning, the Div 7/8/9s raced down to Sawbridgeworth and back (11.5km and 6 locks), while the Geoff Sanders classses went in the opposite direction to the town centre and back (2.5km). In the afternoon the Div 1/2/3s went down to Sawbridgeworth but with an extra loop to make a course of 19km and 8 portages. The were followed by the Div/7/8/9s who turned at Spellbrook to create a course of 6.5km with 2 portages.

There was a welcome return to the club for Tony Brett who, despite an absence from the sport of ten years partnered Ella to victory in Div 6 doubles, beating not only the other Div 6 boat but also all the boats in Div 5. BSCC continued to dominate the Division 6 races, with Ben K and Tom H taking gold and silver in the singles class.

Finlay Sandall was the club's star paddler in the Geoff Sanders races, winning gold in class B, and promoted to class A.

Stortford Mayor Dave Anderson kindly attended the event, and the Geoff Sanders prizegiving was brought forwards so that he could make the presentations before he had to leave.

In the afternoon there were gold and silver medals in Div 7 singles for Tom B and Ben T respectively. In doubles, Jacque & Dave took silver in Div 8 and Libby & Kayleigh took bronze in Div 9.

Ben K, Tom H, Tony and Ella have all been promoted to Div 5, while Tom B and Ben T will take their places in Div 6.

DOUBLES -
11.5km, 6 portages
Div 5: Kerstin Queeney & Catherine Ayling [MAI] 4th (1:09:36)
Div 6: Ella Beatty & Tony Brett 1st (1:06:36)
6.5km, 2 portages
Div 8: David Cayford & Jacqueline Cayford 2nd (37:27)
Div 9: Kayleigh Gaulton & Libby Gaulton 3rd (39:17)

SINGLES -
11.5km, 6 portages
Div 4: Eddie Kirtland 11th (1:18:01), Mark Adams (rtd)
Div 6: Ben Kelly 1st (1:12:22), Tom Holloway 2nd (1:13:04)
6.5km, 2 portages
Div 7: Tom Barton 1st (34:30), Ben Tubby 2nd (35:03), Jaroslav Klumpler 4th (36:39), Jack Gaulton (rtd)
Div 9: Arthur Catmur 4th (41:10), John Catmur 5th (42:17), Eilidh White 8th (43:25), Karen Bradley 10th (44:49), Ewan Gowing 11th (45:37), Christine Meula 13th (46:05), Daniel Baines 14th (46:21), Tamzin Catmur 16th (57:21)

Under 14s (Geoff Sanders)
2.5km
Div A: Zuzanna Madeja 4th (18:32), Ananya Bhusari 5th (21:42)
Div B: Finlay Sandall 1st (17:43), Jasper Kirtland 4th (19:41), Rupert Kirtland =7th (21:23), Oliver Klumpler =7th (21:23)
Div C: Emilie Klumpler 4th (25:42)

BSCC achieved 4th position at this race with a total score of 587 points - just one point behind Norwich CC. Leighton Buzzard CC were 2nd (594 points), narrowly beaten by Chelmsford CC (595). This was the last regional Hasler in the Eastern Region for the current season.

As Bishops Stortford have ended the season in 4th position in the Eastern Region, we should have secured our place at the prestigious National Hasler Final to be held at Runnymede on the Thames (hosted by Wey CC) on 25 September. Those who wish to compete in Hasler divisions at the finals must have taken part in three Hasler races during the season (which started at Chelmsford last year), whether in our region or elsewhere.

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Leighton Buzzard Hasler (19 Jun 2022)

19/6/2022

Twenty-three paddlers from Stortford took part in the Leighton Buzzard race with largely excellent results. The warm weather had brought out all the recreational paddlers and narrowboats on the Grand Union Canal, causing a significant extra challenge, especially at the second turn, where there were a particularly large number of narrrowboats.

Joe and Eddie won Division 4 doubles race with ease.

Most of our team were racing on the 4.5 mile course. Libby and Kayleigh paddled together in the Division 9 doubles race and won silver. A good start kept them in the lead to the first turn and although a minor mishap here saw them finish in second, they were very happy with their performance as they had never crewed a boat together before!

Ewan & Arthur entered the Division 8 doubles race (paddling up) where they came in hard on the heels of Jacque & Dave, who won bronze.

The best singles result of the day came from Tom B, who won the Div 7 race in a close finish.

The new members of the team - John, Tamzin and Miller, all successfully finished the race. John did especially well, sprinting across the line in a dramatic photo finish with a Chelmsford paddler to take joint 5th place.

DOUBLES -
8 miles, 2 portages
Div 4: Joe Fitzpatrick & Eddie Kirtland 1st (1:05:22), Mark Adams & Kerstin Queeney 5th (1:08:58)
4.5 miles
Div 8: David Cayford & Jacqueline Cayford 3rd (42:18), Ewan Gowing & Arthur Catmur 4th (42:27)
Div 9: Kayleigh Gaulton & Libby Gaulton 2nd (42:59), Jasper Kirtland & Finlay Sandall 4th (48:57)

SINGLES -
4.5 miles
Div 7: Tom Barton 1st (40:32), Jack Gaulton 6th (42:44), Jaroslav Klumpler 7th (42:51)
Div 8: Petr Luksan 11th (45:53)
Div 9: John Catmur 5th (46:55), Karen Bradley 7th (47:53), Miller Kitchener 13th (53:28), Tamzin Catmur 14th (54:20)

Under 14s (Geoff Sanders)
2 miles
Div B: Rupert Kirtland 6th (22:52), Oliver Klumpler 7th (24:41)
Div C: Emilie Klumpler 6th (28:13)

Bishops Stortford CC were fourth overall at this race, behind Leighton Buzzard CC (1st) and Norwich CC and Chelmsford CC who tied for second place. This left Leighton Buzzard and Norwich in equal top position in the Eastern Region league - the winner of the Eastern Region trophy will be resolved at the final race of the season at Bishops Stortford. The final positions after the Stortford race will also determine which four clubs from the region will qualify to go to the National Finals in September.

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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. Both have been promoted to Div 6.

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, and as a result has been permanently promoted to Div 9.

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

Waterside A (20 Feb 2022)

22/2/2022

Three members of BSCC took part in the 13.5 mile Waterside A race with 21 portages, from Great Bedwyn to Newbury.

Chris Sze and Gordon Bullock (paddling for BAD) were 18th in K2 Vets in 2:31:38.

However, the star of the day was Kerstin Queeney who again crewed up with Maidstone's Catherine Ayling. The pair completed the race in 2:21:20 to take 3rd position in Ladies K2.

Provisional results of the race on online.

Photo courtesy Chris Sze

<<Previous

Chelmsford Winter Series Marathon (22 Jan 2023)

Cambridge Winter Series Marathon (4 Dec 2022)

B. Stortford Winter Series Marathon (6 Nov 2022)

Masters World Championships 2022

Hasler Finals 2022

B. Stortford Hasler (10 July 2022)

Leighton Buzzard Hasler (19 Jun 2022)

Norwich Hasler (22 May 2022)

Bedford Hasler (1 May 2022)

Waterside A (20 Feb 2022)

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