Bishop’s Stortford Canoe Club finish joint second with Norwich at Bedford Hasler Marathon

Bishop’s Stortford Canoe Club produced their best results of the season so far to finish joint-second at the Bedford Hasler Marathon.

They shared the runners-up spot with Norwich as the pair ended 11 points adrift of winners Leighton Buzzard on the River Ouse.

It means Stortford are second overall in the Eastern Region League at the halfway point of the campaign.

In the Division Seven doubles, Karen Bradley and Christine Meula spent most of the 7km race battling with a Cambridge crew. Their rivals were faster on the straights, while the Stortford pair were better on the turns.

As the race comprised two laps, it gave Bradley and Meula the opportunities they needed to get ahead and eventually win the race in 40min 53sec, six seconds ahead of their rivals.

In the same race, Jacqueline Cayford and Dave Cayford were third (43.45).

Other medal winners for Stortford were Oliver Klumpler and Shehan Sheikh, racing together for the first time, who won silver in Division Nine doubles (49.00) and Robert Gough, who won a bronze in Division Seven (47.27).

In the Division Nine singles race. Zoe Norford came sixth and her time of 49.37 was rewarded with promotion to Division Eight. In eighth place was James Breeze (51.54) in his first competition.

The top divisions raced in the afternoon on the same course used in the morning, but with more laps. Divisions One, Two and Three had to go around five times (20km) and on four of these had to make a false portage by running for a distance along the bank. The tricky currents in the River Ouse, combined with an unusually hot day, made it a gruelling race.

Stortford’s fastest paddler was Rich Winstanley, who was third in Division Two (1hr 44min 51sec) while David Gurney won the Division Three race after an exciting photo finish (1:46.59) to beat Chelmsford’s George Hampton. Joe Fitzpatrick paired with Eddie Kirtland to win silver in Division Three doubles (1:45.47).

For the Division Four, Five and Six paddlers the race comprised three laps of the course (13km) and two portages.

In Division Four, Joao Spinola still managed to win silver despite having to stop and fix a malfunctioning rudder (1:13.30).

Recent recruit Oleh Kuzmenko, who has previously only competed in sprints, joined the club for his first marathon race and made easy work of the Division Five race, winning silver and an instant promotion to Division Four (1:16.23).

Kerry Tubby and Jamie Bond continued their very effective partnership in Division Six doubles by taking bronze (1:19.05).

In the under-14s competition, all four of Stortford’s juniors did well and achieved medals in their races.