 | This April, Bishops Stortford Canoe Club took a team of six paddlers to the national sprint regatta for a weekend of camping and competition. The races take place on a 2km long, purpose-built regatta lake at Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham. There are three race distances to choose from: 200m, 500m and 1000m, and there are races for singles (K1), doubles (K2), and fours (K4).  |
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.
| Eddie Kirtland competed in the Boy's D class. He qualified for the A final in the K1 500m, finishing in 8th place, and partnered with Conrad Packer from Reading for the K2 500m race, coming in 3rd. Eddie also took the front seat in a K4 with Conrad and two paddlers from Linlithgow in Scotland. It was a very close race, taken right to the line, which Eddie's crew won by 0.1s! Jasper and Rupert Kirtland were in the Lightning B K1 final, which Jasper won, with Rupert finishing in 7th place. Rupert and Jasper also teamed up in the K2 Lightning A/B combined event, finishing a very respectable 3rd. They also competed in the K4 event along with a Norwich and a Nottingham paddler, again coming 3rd. Oliver Klumpler competed in two races in the Paddle-ability class, coming 4th in both the K1 200m and 500m races, but as one of only two juniors in the race, he finished in 2nd place in both races in his age group. |  |
 | Oliver is pictured here with the Junior competitors' prizes of "Tiddly-winks", which are small coloured buttons that can be stuck to a wooden stand. These can only be won by under-18s, and are highly sought after!  See the Sprint website for the full results for the April regatta. |
