After the disappointment of last year's finals being cancelled, it was worrying to hear that the event at Worcester was in jeopardy because of the wind and rising water levels. Fortunately, the event was able to go ahead and with very little adjustment to the original arrangements. However, the flow was strong making the upstream starts very hard work.

Next up were those on the 8-mile course, comprising 2 laps and including one beach portage. Eddie was up against the biggest field of the day - 44 competitors in Div 4. Joao & Jasper in Div 4 doubles  (35 boats) got a great start and were in 7th place at the end of the first lap, moving up to end in 6th. Robert also had a good start in Div 6, and was able to improve on his position of 10th at the end of lap one, to finish 7th out of 23.

Kerstin partnered a Worcester CC paddler but as a split boat were not able to score, under the special rules that apply to the finals. Zoe & Christine were both taking part in their first race over this distance, having been promoted at the last regional race.

Many of those on the 8 mile course reported slipping over in the mud at the beach portage.

Because of the challenging conditions, the Geoff Sanders course was shortened from its intended 2.5 miles. Four Stortford youngsters took part and completed the course,

There was an excellent turnout of 58 paddlers for our annual regatta. As well as 24 Stortford competitors, there were teams from Chelmsford CC, Ealing CC, Cambridge CC, Lee Valley Paddlesports, and Hemel Hempstead. 

See

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

Fourteen paddlers from BSCC travelled up to Holme Pierrepont for the final National Sprint Regatta of 2025 - our biggest team at the Nottingham Sprints in many years. The September regatta is the National Inter-Club MacGregor Competition, in which paddlers score points for their club. BSCC achieved a fantastic position of 16th in the country – our best result in 16 years!

Zoe was also competing in her first national regatta, in the Women's D class, coming 5th in her 200m K1 heat, and 6th in her 500m K1 heat. She also teamed up with Jamie B, Ben, and Rob, to paddle in the Men D K4 500m Final, where the team came a creditable 7th in their first outing together.

Libby came 4th in both of her K1 heats, qualifying for both the 200m and 500m Finals. She came 8th in the K1 200m Final, and 9th in the K1 500m Final, both good results against strong competition.

In the MiniSprint series, Rupert competed in the A class races, and at her first sprint regatta, Summer competed in the B class races. Rupert qualified for both the 200m and 500m K1 Finals, coming 9th in the 200m, and 5th in the 500m race. Summer qualified for the mini sprint K1 500m final, finishing in 9th place. Rupert and Summer also teamed up for the Mini Sprint A K2 200m race, sailing through their heat easily, and finishing in 7th place in the Final. They also teamed up with two Chelmsford CC paddlers to fill a K4 boat, coming 7th in the K4 200m Final, and 6th in the K4 500m Final.  As this was the final sprint regatta of the season, the final scores for the mini paddlers were added up, with Rupert finishing in first place overall in the A series, and Summer in 3rd place overall in the B series! 

The September regatta is also the PaddleAbility National Championships, with medals on offer. Oliver competed in three of the Junior PaddleAbility races (a 500m race, and two 200m races), coming 2nd in all three, and earning three silver medals for his efforts.

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

Stortford again played host to the final race of the Eastern Region Hasler season. The team of 36 paddlers was the largest put out by Stortford for a race since 2018 - when the club were joint top of the Eastern Region League. Most of the racers were doubling-up as volunteers to supplement the non-racing members and their family staffing the event.

The season has therefore ended with Chelmsford CC in the lead, BSCC second and Norwich CC third - our best position in 7 years.  

See also

• Results on the Marathon website
  
• Eastern Region Hasler League to date 
• Race photos in Angela's Google album

Not to be outdone by mum, Summer brought home a bronze medal in from the 2-mile Geoff Sanders B race and has been promoted to A.

On the 8 mile course, all three doubles races were won by Stortford paddlers: Ben T & Joao, Jasper & Libby, and Jamie B & Robert.

The longest course saw an impressive performance by Rich & Oleh in Div 3 K2 (silver), but it was David G in Div 3 against a large field of 13 competitors who took the club's only gold over this distance.

DOUBLES -
12 miles, 6 portages
Div 3: Rich Winstanley & Oleh Kuzmenko 2nd (1:38:40)
8 miles, 2 portages
Div 4: Ben Tubby & Joao Spinola 1st (1:06:26)
Div 5: Jasper Kirtland & Libby Gaulton 1st (1:11:28), Kerstin Queeney & Catherine Ayling [EAL] 4th (1:14:01), Claudia Redeker & Kerry Tubby 6th (1:14:52)
Div 6: Jamie Bond & Robert Gough 1st (1:15:44)
​4.5 miles
Div 7: Zoe Norford & Christine Meula 4th (41:50), Dave Cayford & Jacque Cayford 5th (42:09)
Div 8: Rupert Kirtland & Benjamin Middleton 2nd (44:31)
Div 9: Jack Law & Robin Dromard 1st (46:26), Kevin Short & Ionela Padina 2nd (55:48)

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

There was perfect paddling weather at Norwich, which attracted a huge turnout of 170 competitors (though admittedly over 40% of these were from Norwich CC itself). There were some excellent Stortford performances and a number of promotions.

The Div  7 race had 19 entries, but Robert  got a good start and sat in second place throughout. As well as his silver medal, he gained a promotion to Div 6. The step up should not phase him too much, as he has been there before - Robert was one of the club's junior stars in his youth.

Our juniors won both the Div 9 singles and doubles races. Jamie W clocked up an excellent time in K1, as did Oliver & Rupert in K2 - all three have been promoted to Division 8. Chairman Kevin was also drafted into the Div 9 doubles to partner Petr in a Canadian, where they earned valuable points with a 3rd place, and probably made Rupert's victory all the sweeter.

There were also good solid performances in Div 9 from novices Jack and James, who continue to improve.

See also

• Results on the Marathon website
  
• Eastern Region Hasler League to date 
• Race photos in Angela's Google album

Our Geoff Sanders competitors made up half of the entries in the under-14 classes, and all won medals. Rupert has been promoted to Div 9 and Summer to Geoff Sanders Div B - very well done both!

Under 14s (Geoff Sanders)
2.5 km
Div A: Rupert Kirtland 2nd (19:28), Benjamin Middleton 3rd (20:08)
Div C: Summer Norford 1st (20:45), Sophie Middleton 2nd (24:15)

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

The team of 26 who went to Cambridge this year was the largest BSCC had put out for any away event in over a year, and you would have to go back to 2018 to find a larger one.

Although the total attendance of 158 was lower than last year's 175, there were more paddlers competing from Eastern Region clubs than last year - the 2024 race included 30 out of region paddlers who are ignored for point-scoring purposes, whereas this year there were only a handful. The main Eastern Region clubs were all out in force, determined to ensure places at the national finals - perhaps spurred on by the shock of missing out on last year's finals (due to river conditions).

David G and Jasper successfully fought off a determined challenge by a mixed crew from Norwich/Falcon to win the Div 3 doubles race. Ben T & Rich must have been making good time when they were in the boat, as they were little more than seven minutes slower despite four capsizes.

Oliver & Jamie W proved to be a good pairing and secured another doubles win for BSCC.

Petr and Mark took the venerable C2 "Victoria" for a spin, and the grand old lady proved she has still got what it takes by carrying them to a 3rd place in Div 9.

There was a well-earned third place also for Karen & Christine in Div 7 K2.

Joao was the only singles paddler to win an award in the divisional race, after beating a Norwich paddler to third place in a photo finish.

The final scores for the top three clubs at this race (Cambridge CC 596 points, Chelmsford CC 590, and Norwich CC 588) were all very similar to last year, so although BSCC's club score of 586 meant a 4th place at Cambridge, it represents a huge improvement over 2024, when Stortford was 5th with 467.

After two races we are now sitting in third place in the Eastern Region behind Chelmsford CC and Cambridge CC.

See also

• Results on the Marathon website
• Eastern Region Hasler League to date 
• Race photos in Angela's Google album