The club sent an 8-strong team of paddlers to the June National Sprint Regatta at Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham.

For everyone over 34 years of age at the event, this was the National Championships, with medals available in various age categories.

In the doubles, Claudia and Kerstin teamed up for the Over-54 K2 1000m, taking a very close second place. In the Over-34 mens K2 1000m, Rich Winstanley teamed up with Shaune Walsh of Nottingham to take home the gold medal. Claudia and Ben joined forces to take gold in the Over-44 mixed K2 500m.

In the K4 event, Claudia and Kerstin paddled with Catherine Shirley and Sally Alexander of Ealing and Addlestone Clubs respectively, and won the gold medal.

Outside of the national championships events, it was a normal regatta for the juniors, who were racing in ability classes.

Oleh Kuzmenko had a fantastic first regatta racing in Boys D, where he came second in both his individual events of K1 200m and the new format 2500m long distance event. These performances earned him a promotion to Boys C for the next regatta  Edward Kirtland had a great day on the Saturday, coming in a convincing second place in the Boys C K1 200m, earning him a promotion to Boys B. Jasper Kirtland was just over a second behind his brother in the Boys C K1 200m final giving him a solid 5th place. Jasper also qualified for the final in K1 500m, and came in 5th. Libby Gaulton qualified for the Girls D K1 200m final, and came 8th. She also took part in the 2500m long distance event and raced really well to come 6th out of 19.

In the doubles events, Edward and Oleh teamed up together, and Jasper paddled with Knoah Aryan of Oxford. Both took part in the Boys C K2 500m, which Oleh and Edward won, with Jasper and Knoah coming second. For the 200m event, Boys A-C were combined into a single race meaning the boys were up against the best boys in the country. Despite both boats putting down good times in the heats, it wasn't enough to qualify for the finals.

In K4, the event was again a Boys A-C combined race. The club entered an all Stortford crew of Jasper, Edward, Oleh (Boys D) and Libby (Girls D). Both Oleh and Libby were racing up in the higher ability class than they were ranked. Against the best boys crews in the country, the Stortford boat managed a credible 6th place.

The next national regatta (July) will be the Junior, Senior and Under-23 National Championships.

See also the full results on the Sprint Racing Committee website.

Photos & reporting: Rich Winstanley

A team of six from BSCC went up to Nottingham for the first National Sprint Regatta of 2025 over an unexpectedly glorious sunny April weekend.  They took part in K1, K2 and K4 races over 200m/500m/1000m on the 2km long, purpose-built regatta lake at Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham. The weekend also served as a selection event for national canoe and paracanoe teams, so the paddlers were sharing the water with Olympians and Paralympians past, present, and future.

Jasper Kirtland was particularly successful at this event. His class (Boys D) was incredibly competitive, with multiple heats and 2 finals in each race. Jasper qualified in 2nd place in his heat for the K1 200m final, where he finished in 5th place (53.02), and again in 2nd place in his heat for the K1 500m final, where he placed 8th (2:22.08). Teaming up with Knoah Ayran from Falcon canoe club for the Boys D K2 200m race, they qualified in 3rd place in their heat, and managed to remain in 3rd place in the final, finishing in 51.94. Jasper also teamed up with paddlers from Leighton Buzzard, Falcon, and Cardiff canoe clubs to finish in 2nd place in the Boys D K4 200m final (49.83). Following the weekend’s racing, Jasper has been promoted to Boys C class.

Jamie Winstanley also raced in Boys D, unfortunately capsizing in two of his heats – however, he joined forces with paddlers from Glasgow and Worcester canoe clubs to take a stunning second place in the Mixed Boys/Girls D K4 200m final in 51.01.

The club had two competitors in the Men C class – Joao Spinola and Rich Winstanley. Joao competed in the K1 1000m, coming 7th in his heat in 4:41.34. He also took part in the K1 500m, finishing 5th in his heat, in 2:24.37. Rich won his heat, and finished in 4th place in the final of the K1 1000m, in 4:18.10. He also finished in 5th place in his heat for the K1 500m, but with a time that qualified him for the final – where he finished 7th, with a time of 2:14.65. Rich also competed in the K1 5000m race, which was for all Men in class A-C – he finished in 17th place, with a time of 21:46.81.

Joao and Rich teamed up to take part in the Men A-D class 1000m K2, where they finished in an excellent 4th place (4:22.18), and again in the Men C/D class K2 500m, where they finished once more in 4th place (2:00.14), showing a true aversion to the podium.

See also the full results on the Sprint Racing Committee website.

Photos & reporting: Flora Klumpler

Fifteen Stortford paddlers were joined at our home regatta by competitors from Chelmsford, Cambridge, Lee Valley, Hemel Hempstead and the LYR Boat Club, bringing the total number of participants to 46. 

It was particularly pleasing to see several of our newest recruits taking part.

As well as the times for the different distances in K1 and C1, there was an opportunity after the lunch break to have a go in some K4s - many thanks to Chelmsford CC for bringing two of theirs along.

A team of eight from BSCC went up to Nottingham for the final National Sprint Regatta of 2024 over a very damp September weekend.  Paddle UK had provided a big screen so that those spending their weekend at the event did not miss the paralympics canoe sprint which was taking place in Paris, which added an extra bit of excitement to proceedings!

Eddie also competed in the Boys C class, coming 5th in his K1 200m heat (46.70), and 7th in his K1 500m heat (2:13.45). He teamed up with Jasmine Seargent from Norwich Canoe Club to race in the Mixed Boys and Girls K2 class, coming 5th in their K2 500m heat (2:07.17), and narrowly missing out on qualification for the final. He also joined a scratch team of paddlers from other clubs to compete in the Boys B/C K4 500m race, where they came a very respectable 4th (1:48.38).

The club had three competitors in the Men D/Masters C combined class K1 200m race – Tom Barton finished 6th in his heat (52.42), Tom Holloway 5th in his heat (48.92), and Joao Spinola won his heat in a fantastic 44.71.  Tom H qualified for Final 2, coming a brilliant 3rd (48.49), whilst Joao qualified for Final 1, coming 7th in 46.37.

Tom B and Joao also teamed up for the Men D/Masters C/D K2 1000, finishing in a creditable 5th place in their heat (4:47.38), and only just missing out on the final.

Following the weekend’s racing, Joao has been promoted to Masters B, whilst Rupert has been promoted to Mini Sprint A.

See also the full results on the Sprint Racing Committee website.

A team of seven from BSCC went up to Nottingham for the National Sprint Regatta. The weather was mild but very windy, making for very choppy paddling conditions on the lake.

Jasper Kirtland was promoted from the Mini Sprint to the Intermediate class at the end of the 2023 season, and thoroughly enjoyed moving up a level! He qualified fastest for the K1 500m race in the heats, coming 2nd in the final (2:46.49), and paired up with Matthew Anderson of Leighton Buzzard Canoe Club in the K2 Intermediate races. They had two close fought sprints with a Glasgow pairing, with the BSF/LBZ pair taking the lead from the start before being narrowly beaten on the line and coming 2nd in both the K2 200m (1:00.19) and K2 500m (2:38.59).

When the promotions were announced at the end of the event, Jasper had been promoted from the Intermediate class up to Boy’s D - an excellent achievement.

Rich Winstanley competed in the Master’s B class (combined with Men's C). He came 7th in the K1 1000m final (5:52.28) and 8th in the K1 500m final (2:45.02).

As this was a Junior Selection event, Eddie Kirtland was competing in the Boys Under 16 class (as opposed to Boy’s C). He took part in a number of heats, qualifying for the K1 Final 2 in the 200m (9th; 55.27), and the K4 500m final in conjunction with paddlers from Gailey, Richmond, and Worcester clubs, coming 7th (2:06.15).

Overall, it was a good set of results for the first National Sprint Regatta of the year!

See also the full results online.

For the first time, Stortford's annual Regatta was run as a Local Sprint under the auspices of the BC Sprint Racing Committee. Through the SRC, we were put in touch with Laura Sugar MBE,  the reigning KL3 World Champion and Paralympic gold medallist, who came along to chat to everyone during the lunch break and kindly agreed to present the medals for the day.

As well as the home club, paddlers came from Chelmsford, Cambridge, Lee Valley, and Maidstone.  Although a smaller event than usual with only 37 competitors, everyone was kept busy during the morning with repeated runs of 500m, 200m, and 1000m.

In the afternoon there were relay races for fun and also timed runs of 100m in the club's newly-acquired K4.

Results for Stortford paddlers:
u10 Boys - Rupert Kirtland (silver)
u12 Girls - Emile Klumpler (silver)
u12 Boys - Rupert Kirkland (gold)
u14 Girls - Libby Gaulton (silver)
u14 Boys - Finlay Sandall (silver)
u16 Boys - Eddie Kirtland (gold), Jack Gaulton (silver), Aaron Sandhu (bronze)
u18 Girls - Eilidh White (gold)
u18 Boys - Tom Barton (gold)
u23 Men - Tom Holloway (gold), Jamie Bond (silver)
Veteran Ladies - Ally Judge (gold), Karen Bradley (silver)
C1 - Petr Luksan (silver)
PaddleAbility - Oliver Klumpler (gold), Alex Scott (silver)

The day was rounded off with a specially-made piñata for the youngest children.

See
The full results (FRA website)
Photos (Angela's Google photo album)

Partnering Ethan Bates of Leighton Buzzard in the K2 200m race, Eddie qualified for the final, in which the boys came 3rd (47.96). Eddie also joined Ethan and two Nottingham paddlers for the 500m K4 race, which they won with a commanding lead (1:57.92).

Jasper and Rupert Kirtland were in the 12s Lightning B K1 class 500m races. Jasper won both his heat and then the final (3:05.96). He has been promoted from Lightning B to Lighting A (rebranded as “Mini”). Rupert was 5th in his heat (3:34.54), narrowly missing out on the final. Rupert and Jasper  teamed up to win the K2 Lightning A/B combined event with an excellent time of 2:50.08. They also competed in the K4 event along with a two paddlers from other clubs, coming 3rd in a thrilling finish.

It was the last Nottingham Sprint Regatta of the year, so some overall results were also announced. Stortford was placed 7th in the 2023 Intermediate Series (u14s). Jasper was the top-scoring boy in Lightning B during 2023, and Rupert was joint 2nd. Oliver was also awarded two bronze medals (200m & 500m) for his performance in Paddle-Ability Sprint in 2023.

Joe F, Chris and Eddie K travelled up to the July Sprints at Nottingham which were also the Senior and Masters National Sprint Championships.

However, he won three silver medals in crew boats, coming 2nd with C Packer of Reading in both the K2 500m race (2:23.86) and the 1000m (4:45.82), and 2nd with E Bates (LBZ), A Deri (LBZ) and M Grant (NOT) in K4 500m.

See the Sprint website for the full results of the July Regatta. Also see Chris's Flickr album for more photos.

Saturday started off cold, windy, and fairly miserable, which didn't stop the racing! By the middle of the day on Saturday, the sun was shining, and there were smiles all round as the team enjoyed cheering each other on and watching some truly world class racing on the lake, including the Paracanoe selection races. Sunday was a fine day, with some more exciting races to watch, and more racing opportunities for our team.

Rich Winstanley competed in the Masters B class (combined with Men's C). He qualified for the final in the K1 1000m, coming second in that race. He also qualified for the finals in the 500m and 200m on the Sunday, finishing 3rd and 9th respectively in those finals.

Tom Holloway competed in the Men's D 500m and 200m events. In both cases he made the finals, finishing 8th in the 500m and 9th in the 200m.