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!
 | Jasper Kirtland was racing in the Boys D class for the first time, and had a very successful meet, winning his 200m heat, and coming 3rd in Final 3 (49.62), and finishing 4th in his 500m heat, again coming 3rd in Final 3 (2:24.29). The Boys D class was incredibly competitive, with 7 or 8 heats and 3 finals in each race. Jasper joined forces with older brother Eddie Kirtland, racing up in the Boy’s C class K2 200m. They came 3rd in their heat to qualify for the final, but the effort took its toll, and they finished in 9th place in the final race (47.26). |
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.
| Also competing for the club were Jamie Winstanley in the Intermediate Boys class 500m K1 race, where he finished in 7th place (2:46.38), and Rupert Kirtland in the Mini Sprint B class (for under 12s), where he finished 7th in his 500m K1 heat (3:17.88). Both were in very competitive classes! In the Paddle-Ability class, Oliver Klumpler finished 2nd in both K1 200m races, the first male and first junior paddler to finish in both races. He also achieved a PB of 58.96 in his first race, and promotion to a higher Paddleability time band. |  |
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.
Photos & reporting: Flora Klumpler
