National Championships 2023 – Report

The 2023 National Canoe Marathon Championships were hosted by Norwich Canoe Club three weeks ago, with some sunshine, lots of wind and rain greeting paddlers from across the country who competed for the canoe marathon national titles.

Ever an exceptional host, Norwich Canoe Club ran a professional looking event with their event branding and sponsors evident throughout the main site area, as well as being incredibly adaptable with the rainy conditions.

Day one saw some tight racing as athletes navigated around the course on the tidal River Yare, with over 47 clubs being represented on the water. The tidal river added an extra element into the racing. As the tide came in later on in the day, what was a pontoon portage in the morning submerged and became a beach style portage for the afternoon races. Racers had to learn to read the river successfully to ensure that they were maximising the direction of the flow and not trying to paddle against it. Additional challenges included the course being covered by weeds which saw some extra decorations to boats.

The National Championships are also serving as a crucial assessment event as athletes battle it out in the hopes of securing their ticket to the upcoming 2023 Canoe Marathon World Championships in Vejen, Denmark as well as for junior development athletes wanting to achieve selection to the French Nationals trip in the later part of September. Both teams have now been announced and can be found by clicking the event names above.

Senior K1 Races

James Russell (Chelmsford Canoe Club) was crowned canoe marathon National Champion in the Senior Men’s race for the second year in a row. After a flying start the Chelmsford paddler joined forces with Charlie Smith (Nottingham Kayak Club) in a huge effort that saw the two boats go clear from the rest of the field early in the race. 

Completing one long lap, and two short laps, along with five portages, the duo created a huge lead which secured them the top two positions. It was decided with a sprint finish that saw Russell claim gold. He completed the 24km course with a time of 01:49:22.

James secured this national title, coming off the back of competing at the Canoe Marathon European Championships last weekend in extremely hot weather. There he took fourth in the Senior Men K1 Short Course event, heartbreakingly close to the medals.

Reflecting on his race, James said, “It was good…I knew it would be crucial after the first portage because it was only 2-3k into the race so I just positioned myself in the group to ensure I could cover any moves if it did happen or exploit any mistakes and that’s what happened in the end. [I] got to the other side of the portage and it was clear there was going to be a break so I just dropped the hammer down and pushed on for twenty minutes… and that was probably the biggest point in the race.”

“European Championships [was] last weekend. Short Course went really well. It wasn’t ideal starting on the less favourable side of the course but I made it work. Fourth place was pretty strong for me. Long Course was less good. I think I positioned myself well and did everything right leading up to it but it was just too hot for me. Mid-thirties nearly forty degrees….Hopefully I have done enough to be selected for Denmark. Little bit cooler there, which is good, I think it will suit me [and] I can have another crack at it.”

Charlie was back in action after some time away from racing, and proved his marathon talent once again by crossing the line a second after Russell. Smith claimed the silver national medal completing the course with a time of 01:49:23.

Matthew Johnson (Chelmsford Canoe Club) was joined in a chase pack by Finn Cadell (Nottingham Kayak Club), Joe Petersen (Banbury & District Canoe Club) and Albert Hicks (Norwich Canoe Club). Johnson was third across the line claiming bronze with a time of 01:53:00 after a head-to-head sprint to the line.

You can see the full results for this race here.

There was sibling success from the Johnson family as Melissa Johnson (Chelmsford Canoe Club) was crowned National Champion in the Senior Women’s Race.

The senior women were joined on the start line by the U23 women for a combined start due to numbers in their race. Something for us on the Marathon Racing Committee to work on with the community…

A fast paced start saw Melissa caught in the washes while fellow competitor, Fay Lamph (Wey Kayak Club, taking a lead but digging deep through the first long lap saw her power back through the field to reach Fay.

The pair continued to endeavour around the 24km course alongside the race leaders in the U23 women’s race (see report below). The senior duo broke away in the final lap and it was a sprint finish that decided it, with gold going to Johnson and silver to Lamph. Lamph recently competed at the European Championships, taking 7th in the long course distance.

Johnson completed the course with a time of 02:07:12 and Lamph followed closely with a time of 02:07:14. Chelmsford’s Leah Falltrick was third across the line in the senior women’s after a dedicated performance that saw her finish with a time of 02:29:39.

After her race, Melissa said, “Really happy I got the win. It’s been really tight all season between me and Fay so quite glad I finally managed to get the win. Started off with a rocky start but had to make my way back through the field… I had a strong first portage,[and it] broke down to a group of five, which was tough but it was a good group… Got caught out by a couple of the [junior] boys coming round the top turn by the portage but made that into my little advantage. Got away with just me and Fay and we then just worked together for the rest of the race. [It] came down to a lovely sprint finish.”

“[The] seasons been going really well this year. I moved up to Nottingham last year so I’ve had a strong training group up there, being coached by my brother. I had a great World Cup winning a bronze, which was very unexpected but very happy to get that, which has increased my confidence the whole way through the season.”

You can see the full results for this race here.

U23 K1 Races

In the U23 Men’s class, it was Norwich’s Luke Shaw who claimed the National title. Competing on home waters, Luke got away strong after a tense battle for water in the first few strokes with fellow Norwich paddler Tim Dowden. A group quickly formed after the line with Chemsford’s Alex McIntyre, and fellow Norwich paddlers Daniel Sklenar, Shaw and Dowden. 

Shaw demonstrated great skill throughout the five portages of this 24 km race and proved he was the fastest U23 Men’s boat, crossing the line to claim gold with a time of 01:52:56. McIntyre was following close behind to secure the silver medal with a time of 01:53:03 and Dowden made it two Norwich boats on the podium at their home National Championships finishing with a time of 01:54:43.

You can see the full results for this race here.

The U23 Women completed the same 24km course with Sam Martyn (Wey Kayak Club) being crowned National Champion. 

Martyn completes a back to back racing weekend after competing at the canoe marathon European Championships last weekend. The Wey paddler completed the course with a time of 02:09:48, one minute ahead of the rest of the field. She tried to stay with the senior women pair of Lamph and Johnson but dropped off just before the second portage.

Freya Peters (Richmond) had a strong performance that saw her claim silver with a time of 02:09:44 after managing to stay with Sam for the first full lap. The national bronze went to Nottingham’s Jessie Urquhart. She completed the course in 02:13:20.

You can see the full results for this race here.

Paracanoe Races

Paracanoe returned for a second year at the Canoe Marathon Nationals with athletes hoping to get selected to compete at the Paracanoe demonstration races at the Canoe Marathon World Championships later this year. With more entries than the previous year, particularly in the Kayak categories, it looked to be a much more competitive category.

All the Para categories joined on the start line for a combined start.

Tim Lodge (Wey) was the first boat across the finish line, competing in the KL3 class, after taking gold in the same class at last years World Championship Exhibition Event. He completed the 13km course with a time of 01:11:02, with Charlie Knowlden (Royal Leamington Spa) claiming second in the KL3 at his very first national championships. He completed the course in 01:14:37. Jeff Vincent (Norwich Canoe Club) took third.

After his race, Tim reflected on para-racing in canoe marathon and said, “It was great. Really enjoyed it. There was more paddlers this time round than last year. A couple more people getting involved, which is fantastic as we really want to grow the sport. It was a good race. Spent most of it round with Jon [White] and Charlie [Knowlden], one of the new guys.”

“It’s great because I trained at 200m for probably about nine years and I was part of the set-up at Holme Pierrepont [British Canoeing National Base], which was… a fantastic opportunity. But away from that environment, the training for 200 is quite isolated. Not many of the clubs do specific 200m training so from my perspective of wanting to carry on canoeing, because I love canoeing, it’s a really good opportunity to be involved with club training sessions. We are on the water at six thirty every morning. There’s groups of between five and ten of us out every day training for an hour… and we come to wonderful events like this which are really relaxed and friendly and it was the same in Portugal and hopefully it will be the same in Denmark. We have this year and next year and then hopefully the ICF [International Canoe Federation] will make a change and make it an official World Championships for the first year in 2025.”

Competing in the Para KL2 class Jonathan White (Exeter) completed the course in a time of 01:11:23, just being beaten by Tim Lodge in the sprint finish but taking the win in his category.

Jen Warren (Royal Leamington Spa) was leading the way for women in marathon paracanoe as the first female para-athlete to compete at the National Championships. Competing in the Para KL3 race she came third with a time of 01:23:52 but took the women’s title for the first time. Reflecting on Para-racing in canoe marathon, she said, “Pretty tough conditions and it’s tough being the only woman and trying to make your own race but I’m just so overwhelmed at the opportunity to race at this kind of event because I saw last year that they had included a para wave in the Nationals so I’ve been training in the background and I felt ‘wow’ I’ve actually got a purpose. I’m just going to come and set a bench mark and… to be honest, I didn’t do as well as I wanted to but it’s one of those things. Now I’ve set a mark, if there’s no-one to race next year, then I can just try and beat that mark. I so hope that I have someone to race next year. I hope that people see this… and feel inspired to come and join me. It would be so awesome to have some more women. You don’t need to be the finished article or a paralympic athlete standard.”

Shaun Cook (Norwich Canoe Club) took the Para VL2 for the second year in a row with a time of 01:19:47.

Junior K1 & C1 Races

The U18 K1 athletes completed a 19km course on the River Yare. In both the Junior Boys and Junior Girls races, it was competitive throughout with at least four boats actively fighting for podium positions and therefore, any mistakes had the potential to be pivotal. The Juniors Boys race was decided in the final sprint to the line with Joe Enoch of Nottingham Kayak Club claiming the national champion title with a time of 01:26:10, Arthur Morley (Wey Kayak Club) taking silver and Sam Cribbett (Royal Leamington Spa Canoe Club) taking third. In the Girls U18 race, it was Isla Bethune (Elmbridge Canoe Club) who secured gold with a time of 01:33:04, with Sienna Payne (Chelmsford Canoe Club) taking second and Matilda Enoch (Nottingham Kayak Club) taking third.

In the U18 Junior Men’s Canoe race, it was a Richmond 1, 2, 3 with Owen Chisholm was crowned national champion after completing the 6.5km course in a time of 00:33:01, Areg Sarkisyan in a close second place and Andrew Elliot in third. All three Richmond boys still have a number of years left within the junior category.

William Short (Elmbridge Canoe Club) was the U16 Junior Boys’s champion. The U16’s completed a 13km course, where the Elmbridge paddler crossed the finish line with a time of 01:01:26. Toby Bullock (Exeter Canoe Club) took second and Oliver Mazur (Reading Canoe Club) finished in third in his first year within the under sixteen category. In the U16 Junior Girls race, Kamila Sklenarova of Norwich Canoe Club claimed gold with a time of 01:09:42 after a dominating performance, with Dianora De Bilio (Royal Canoe Club) taking second (even though she is still within the under fourteen category!), and Frankie Scrivener (Falcon Canoe Club) taking third.

Racing over 6.5km, Freddie Heard (Exeter Canoe Club) claimed the U14 Junior Boys win with a time of 00:29:43 and the U14 Junior Girls national title went to Dianora De Bilio (Royal Canoe Club) with a time of 00:34:34.

The U12 Junior Boy’s winner was Jack Wade (Reading Canoe Club) with a time of 00:38:11. The Girl’s champion Ruth Shephard (Reading Canoe Club) finished with a time of 00:35:59 in her second year taking the title.

The U10 races took place on the Great Broad with the paddlers completing a 3.5km course. In the Junior Boy’s, it was Marcell Barat-Farkas (Elmbridge Canoe Club) who came out on top completing the course with a time of 00:21:57. In the Junior Girl’s Adriana De Bilio (Royal Canoe Club) took the win with a time of 00:23:58.

In the evening, the under 13 paddler’s took in the water in rocket K4’s for a fun but rather rainy competition, cheered on by parents, coaches and friends. Thank you to Tim Scott for organising the fun event!

Masters K1 Races

There were plenty of medals to be won in the masters classes too. Athletes in the O34 and O39 Men’s races took on an 18 km course on the River Yare. It consisted of three laps and five portages. The O34 and O39 women took on a 13km course alongside the O44 and O49 races classes. Their race consisted of two laps and three portages. The remaining race classes competed over 6.5km, completing one lap of the course.

A summary of the podium places for each class is below.

Day 2 of the 2023 Canoe Marathon National Championships hosted by Norwich Canoe Club saw the turn of the K2 crew boat races.

After some action based racing in the K1 and C1 races on day 1, the second day of racing was looking to be highly competitive too with further World Championships spots up for grabs as well as the important National Championship titles. The highly anticipated Mixed K2 rounded off the weekend with roughly 60 boats on one start line.

Senior K2 Races

The Senior Men’s K2 field was as a competitive as ever with fourteen boats lining up on the start line to compete over the 24km course with five portages. A competitive first few kilometres saw an intense run into the first portage with a big group of boats. A break away pair broke away consisting of Daniel Johnson (Chelmsford Canoe Club) & Tom Lusty (Solihull Canoe Club), and Matthew Johnson (Chelmsford Canoe Club) & Alex McIntrye (Chelmsford Canoe Club). They managed to open up a big gap of as they headed towards their second portage and the gap remained.

The Chelmsford and Solihull team came out victorious, completing the course with a time of 1:43:59 earning their national title. Matt Johnson and Alex McIntyre were close behind as they crossed the line with a time of 1:44:05. The pair added the silver medal to the individual medals they both secured on Saturday. 

Keith Moule and Will Stroud (both from Chelmsford Canoe Club) stormed the final portage in an endeavour to catch the leading two boats. The Chelmsford crew were third across the line to claim bronze with a time of 1:47:27.

Speaking after their win, Dan and Tom said, “It was really good. Pretty big field today. Probably one of the best Men’s K2 fields that we’ve had on a start line in Britain for a long time so it was really good to make a break and get to the front with the other boat and hold them off in the end to take the win. Really happy with that.”

“We set the K2 1000 record at Nottingham a few months ago, one that was a set quite a long time there. and we’ve had two good World Cups [Sprint] and hopefully we’ll carry that on at Duisburg this summer and hopefully get one of the 1000 team qualified for the games in Paris next year.”

In the Senior Women’s K2, it was a dominant performance from Fay Lamph and Greta Roeser (Wey Kayak Club) that saw they take the national title with a two minute lead ahead of the next crew.

Both athletes were coming away from back to back racing weekends, after competing at the Canoe Marathon European Championships last weekend.  After their European success with Greta claiming a gold and two silver medals and a top five finish for Fay on the European stage, they added a home soil National title to the haul. They secured gold with a time of 2:02:56.

Lucy Guest (Nottingham Kayak Club) teamed up with Freya Peters (Richmond Canoe Club) to take home the silver National medal, completing the course in a time of 2:03:53. It was the sister duo of Olivia Geddes (Falcon Canoe Club) and Libby Geddes (Cardiff Bay Kayakers) who crossed the finish line in third, with a time of 2:17:19.

Speaking after their win, Fay and Greta said, “It was good thank you. I enjoyed it. It was quite tough out there and the wind on the way back down, it was quite a headwind, which is always challenging. It felt like a long race but we were pleased to get away at the portage and just plowed on. It was fun.”

“We sort of decided to train through [the week after European Championships] so recovery has been non-existent but I think you have kind of do that as you can’t constantly be resting up for races. I think it was tough out in Croatia with the heat but everyone had that. We then had a lot of early morning and journeys. There’s always something to challenge us and that’s why we like marathon racing!”

The highly anticipated Mixed K2 race rounding off the weekend with a bang. The start line saw 60 crew boats lining up to compete around the 13km course consisting of sibling pairings, parent and child pairings, junior and senior pairings and more. It was an action packed start with a couple of collisions and two crews ending up swimming – not too bad this year! The Mixed K2 race really shows the spirit of the canoe marathon community.

It was a tight finish between the top three as they powered toward the line together for the sprint finish. 

James Russell (Chelmsford Canoe Club) added another national title to his Senior Men’s K1 from Saturday. This time teaming up with Mags Dilai (Nottingham Kayak Club) to complete the course with a time of 00:58:59.  Matt Johnson (Chelmsford Canoe Club) took to the water again and teamed up with sister Melissa Johnson (Chelmsford Canoe Club) to take silver. They finished with a time of 00:59:00.

After securing gold in the Senior Women’s K2, Fay Lamph (Wey Kayak Club) teamed up with Senior Men’s K2 bronze medallist Keith Moule (Chelmsford Canoe Club) for the Mixed K2 race. They were the third boat across the line, finishing with a time of 00:59:01.

After their win, James and Mags said, “It feels pretty good. I think we’ve had three silvers [before]. The first one in 2017 so it’s been quite a few years now so quite a drilled crew and done quite a few sessions together. I had to get a super-sub in last year, Emma [Russell, James sister], took the win…so it was really good to win again with Mags after so many seconds.”

“I didn’t know whether I would even be able to make it round the race so to even finish good and then taking the win was even better. We never get a good start. Stressful. We started on the second line this time so it was a little bit hard work getting to the front and then I think we had a little bit of a disaster on the second portage and we had to do an almighty catch-up. Then we got back to the front and managed to regain control of the race.”

Junior K2 Races

In the U18 Junior Boy’s K2, it was the young Elmbridge Canoe Club crew of William Short and James Ross who claimed the national championship title. They completed the 19km course with a time of 01:20:58. This result is even more impressive considering that both boys are still under sixteen. It was an incredibly tense finish for second, third and fourth, with Ivan Barritt (Gloucester Canoe Club) and Sam Cribbett (Royal Leamington Spa Canoe Club) taking silver. Joe Enoch and Huw Singleton (both Nottingham Kayak Club) took third.

In the U18 Girls, it was Matilda Enoch (Nottingham Kayak Club) and Isla Bethune (Elmbridge Canoe Club) who finished victorious. They took the win with a time of 01:31:16. Nerys Hall (Wey Kayak Club) and Kamila Sklenarova (Norwich Canoe Club) took second, and Frankie Scrivener (Falcon Canoe Club) and Beth Perry (Southampton Canoe Club) taking second.

Freddie Heard and Toby Bullock of Exeter Canoe Club were the U16 Junior boy’s K2 national champions. They raced over 13km and completed the course with a time of 01:01:10. Oliver Mazur and Tyler Kinder (both Reading Canoe Club) took second and Isaac Aveson and Tom Hatton (both Royal Canoe Club) took third.

In the U16 Junior girl’s race, it was Dianora De Bilio (Royal Canoe Club) teamed up with Charlotte Fulford-Perez (Reading Canoe Club) to claim gold. They finished the course with a time of 01:10:45. Sophie Dunlop and Katharine Boon (both Elmbridge Canoe Club) took second and Emily Bowles-Trow (Addlestone Canoe Club) and Delilah Webb (Wey Kayak Club) took third.

Racing over 6.5km the U14 Junior Boy’s K2 national champions were Marcell Nagy (Reading Canoe Club) and Freddie Heard (Exeter Canoe Club). The Exeter paddler doubled up his K2 races to secure double national championship titles. The U14 duo completed the course in a time of 00:28:33. The Elmbridge Canoe Club crew of Madison McKernan and Imogen Field took the gold medal in the U14 Junior Girl’s K2 with a time of 00:32:09.

In the U12 Junior Boy’s race, Fergus Barnett (Worcester Canoe Club) and Jack Wade (Reading Canoe Club) secured the gold medal. They completed their 6.5km course with a time of 00:35:17. For the Junior Girls in the U12 class, it was Ruth Shephard (Reading Canoe Club) and Orla Anderson (Southampton Canoe Club) who took the win. They completed the course on the River Yare with a time of 00:37:45.

The U10 races took place on the Great Broad with the paddlers completing a 3.5km course. In the Junior Girl’s K2 race, Adriana De Bilio (Royal Canoe Club) joined up with Celelia Blanchard (Norwich Canoe Club) and took the win with a time of 00:24:47.

It was great to see such competitive racing and full start lines in the junior races over the weekend. There were lots of juniors racing hard no matter where they were in the field and not giving up when things weren’t going their way or following their plan. Well done to all who competed.

Masters K2 Races

Athletes in the O34 Men’s races took on an 18 km course on the River Yare. It consisted of three laps and five portages. The O34 women took on a 13km course alongside the O44 race class. Their race consisted of two laps and three portages. The remaining race classes competed over 6.5km, completing one lap of the course.

Congratulations to everyone who competed at this year’s Canoe Marathon National Championships. It was highly competitive competition with Norwich Canoe Club taking the overall win in the club points, Wey Kayak Club taking the win in the junior points and Nottingham Kayak Club taking the win for the Ladies K1 trophy.

A huge thank you to Norwich Canoe Club for organising and hosting this brilliant event, particularly Sarah Walker who did an exceptional job of leading the organising and running of the event.

You can still see all the official event photos here.

We are still seeking a host for next years National Championship so if you, your club or a couple of clubs are interested in discussing with us about the possibility, contact Dan Seaford here.