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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.  Photos courtesy Flora Klumpler
 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. 
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.  Photo credits: Flora Klumpler & Rich Winstanley
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. Photo credit: Chris Sze
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. 
The club was delighted to welcome paddlers from Chelmsford CC, Cambridge CC, Leighton Buzzard CC, Hemel Hempstead CC and Le Valley Paddlesports to our Regatta - not only because it was the first local regatta since 2019, but also because we were using the occasion to celebrate the club's 50th anniversary.
The 49 paddlers spent the morning taking part in a series of races across 500m, 1000m and 200m, in sets of four. After a lunch break, the organiser Rich made up teams for fun relays.
  After the prizegiving, everyone was invited to share a glass of bubbly and a a slice of celebration cake.
The full results of the Stortford Regatta can be found on the Sprint Results page of the FRA website.
 Many thanks to Kerstin and another contributor for the use of some of their photos!
This September, for the first time in a few years, Bishops Stortford Canoe Club took a team to a national sprint regatta at Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham. The races take place on a 2km long, purpose-built regatta lake. There are three race distances to choose from: 200m, 500m and 1000m, and there are races for singles (K1), doubles (K2), and fours (K4). The club took a small team of five paddlers to Nottingham for a weekend of camping and competition. 
The September regatta is also the national club championships, and points are awarded for the results of each club’s paddlers throughout the weekend, the club with the most points being awarded the MacGregor Paddle. Bishops Stortford Canoe Club came in 23rd place out of 40 clubs. Quite respectable given the small team that they took to the regatta. The full results from the event can be found on the National Regatta website.  Photos courtesy of Chris Sze
Eleven Stortford paddlers went to Herts Young Mariners Base to take part in the third local regatta of 2019. The 500m heats took place on the river and then it was over to the lake for the 200m heats.
After a break for a BBQ there were crew races in K2 and (always a special feature of this event) K4. Euan, Connor, Maddison and Josie put in a very creditable performance in K4 as if they had been paddling together for months. Hudson seemed to have endless energy, paddling with two different K2 partners as well as making up a mixed K4.
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