Bishop’s Stortford Canoe Club come second in home Winter Series event after Storm Ciaran forces course changes
Bishop’s Stortford Canoe Club finished second on their home patch in the Winter Series after Storm Ciaran forced a course rethink.
The bad weather brought down a massive tree across the River Stort just upstream from the club’s base at Southmill Lock.
Both the three-mile and five-mile courses had to be completely changed to cut out the section between Southmill Lock and the town centre, meaning competitors headed downstream instead and had to tackle an extra portage over locks.
As usual, the event proved popular with doubles crews and with a total of 24 doubles boats took on the seven-mile course to Sawbridgeworth and back. This year, for the first time, these were split into three different classes for the men’s, ladies’ and mixed crews.
The fastest pair overall was Matthew Johnson and Leah Falltrick of Chelmsford CC, who set a new doubles course record with their time of 52min 15sec over the seven miles and six portages.
Stortford’s best doubles result came from Kerstin Queeney as she paddled with Ealing’s Catherine Ayling to win the ladies’ race in 1hr 10min 18sec. Octavia Abbott and Kerry Tubby took second place (1:11.50) and there was an excellent effort by Karen Bradley and Christine Meula (1:21.53) to come fifth.
The largest field of all the classes was the veteran (35+) men’s singles, which attracted 14 entries. Rich Winstanley repeated last year’s success to win for Stortford in 1:01.12.
In another change to the classes this year, the ladies’ under-18, senior and veteran races were moved to the seven-mile courses and Chelmsford’s Sienna Payne won the under-18s by setting a new standard over the distance of 1:02.40. The veteran ladies’ race was won by Stortford’s Kat Wilson in 1:03.15.
New men’s and ladies’ super vet (over-50s) classes were offered on the five-mile course and this proved popular with the men, attracting eight entries. Gold was won by Stortford’s Ben Tubby (45.45) and the silver medal went to clubmate Mark Adams (47.28) in a photo finish with Chelmsford’s Graham McKeand.
The 27-strong Stortford team achieved seven wins, five second-place finishes and three third-place finishes to come second overall behind Chelmsford.
They are now leading in the contest for the Dick Grieve Cup, in which points are awarded to novice juniors only, thanks to the participation of Jacob Chan, Ananya Bhusari, Jasper Kirtland, Aaron Sandhu, Jamie Winstanley and Rupert Kirtland.
Stortford mayor Cllr Richard Townsend was on hand to present the medals.
BSCC results: Seven miles - K2 16+ ladies: 1st Kerstin Queeney & Catherine Ayling (Ealing) 1hr 10min 18sec, 2 Octavia Abbott & Kerry Tubby 1:11.50, 5 Karen Bradley & Christine Meula 1:21:53; K1 senior men: 5 Joao Spinola 1:12.44, 7 Jamie Bond 1:40.30, David Gurney (rtd); K1 senior ladies: 1 Megan Kenny 1:16.06; K1 veteran men: 1 Rich Winstanley 1:01.12; K1 veteran ladies: 1 Kat Wilson 1:03.15; K1 U18 ladies: 2 Eilidh White 1:26.21.
Five miles - K1 super vet men: 1 Ben Tubby 45min 45sec, 2 Mark Adams 47.28, 8 Robin Dromard 1:06.54; K2 U16: 3 Oliver Klumpler & Finlay Sandall 1:03.46; K1 U16 boys: 2 Eddie Kirtland 47.28, 7 Jacob Chan 1:12.21, 8 Aaron Sandhu 1:13.36; K1 U16 girls: 6 Ananya Bhusari 1:18.51.
Three miles - K1 U14 boys: 4 Jasper Kirtland 39.42, 8 Jamie Winstanley 47.11; K1 U14 girls: 1 Libby Gaulton 41.12; C1 novice: 1 Petr Luksan 42.53; GP 16+ men: 3 Alex Scott 1:04.20; K1 U12 boys: 4 Rupert Kirtland 50.06.
