Stafford & Stone Canoe Club Sweep Board At British Championships

Canoeists from a SSCC swept the board last weekend at a national canoeing championship whilst two other club members competed at International World Cup races.

Seven paddlers from Stafford and Stone Canoe Club scooped national titles at the National Junior and Veteran Canoe Slalom Championships held at Llandysul, Wales last weekend.

In the Junior 14 age category, youngsters from SSCC cleaned up securing 1st and 2nd places in all 3 individual categories. 1st K1M – Joe Clarke, 2nd K1M – Martin Tatchell, 1st K1W – Emily Woodcock, 2nd K1W – Natalie Wilson, 1st Canadian (C1) – George Tatchell, 2nd C1 – Adam Burgess.

At junior 16 level, Claire Kimberley won the K1 (kayak) lady’s prize, whilst Tom Brady secured 2nd place and the junior 15 prize in the K1M race. In the Canadian doubles event (C2) Tom Brady and George Tatchell won the J16 event.

All of SSCC’s juniors raced incredibly well on the high water levels. Club coach, Andy Neave, said of their performances: “These results are the best ever for the club at this event. The commitment of these juniors is fantastic and hopefully we will see many future successes for them in canoe slalom.”

In the veteran’s event, husband and wife, Dave and Kay Royle won the Canadian and K1 lady’s prizes respectively. It was a truly family affair with their daughter, Jasmine, also racing and finished 5th in the J14 event.

Meanwhile, on the Olympic slalom course at Athens, 18-year old Lizzie Neave from Stone made an impressive debut performance in her first race with the GB senior team at World Cup Race 1. Lizzie performed well to qualify for the semi-finals, finishing 25th. She follows in the footsteps of team-mate, Laura Blakeman, who finished 13th in the same race.

This weekend, both Lizzie and Laura raced at Augsburg in Germany at World Cup Race 2. Lizzie again reached the semi final and took 24th place whilst Laura will have been disappointed to have gone into the final in 3rd place but dropping to 8th by the end – nevertheless still an excellent result. For Lizzie these performances bode well for the talented teenager who will be racing at the European under-23 Championships to be held at the National Whitewater course at Nottingham this August. Between now and then she will be competing with Laura at the Senior European Championship at Argentierre in France in July and at the Senior World Championship at Prague in early August.

These excellent performances come shortly after the news that SSCC has been awarded the Sport England accreditation, ClubMark and the governing body’s Top Performance Club and Top Community Club status after proving their high standards in coaching, safety and developing junior paddlers.