British Development Juniors deliver confident performances at the 2026 French National Championships
The junior development team recently returned from Charlesville, near Reims, with several paddlers obtaining podium finishes and all athletes taking away experiences that will serve them well in the future.
Racing on the river Meuse in a beautiful park, the event had 78 clubs taking part plus the British Development team. The course had a tricky long portage which forced the competitors to adapt their portaging technique to ensure they maintained their positions through the different laps. They quickly learned that the ability to swap their boat quickly to the opposite side and running to the end of the pontoon gave them the best chance of a good performance.
The team received a warm welcome from the French competitors and there was great team camaraderie which all contributed to developing the athlete’s confidence and racing experience. Experiences that they can now take into their winter training with their respective clubs.
All juniors raced up into the age category above.
Saturday began with the K2 races, Fergus Barnett and Jack Wade (Both Reading Canoe Club) had a great start and, after entering the first portage in 7th, they exited in 3rd position. This resulted in them paddling on their own for a majority of the race but they kept strong and finished 3rd.
Adriana De Bilio (Royal Canoe Club) and Emily Wainwright (Nottingham Kayak Club) had a lovely start positioning themselves well on the start line and coming into the first portage in the top group. Running well and manipulating their boat enabled them to move into first, a position that they maintained for the rest of the race with a winning time of 1hr and 17 minutes. Lexi Small (Wolverhampton Canoe Club) and Edith Smerdon (Chelmsford Canoe Club) had a more difficult start but then raced really well, running the portage efficiently resulting in 5th place finish.
Both under 18 boy’s crews came into first portage in the leading group. Sam Bull and Finn Meredith (Both Elmbridge Canoe Club) unfortunately dropped off at the portage but Doogal Barnett (Reading Canoe Club) and Edward Stroud (Wey Kayak Club) remained in the front group finishing second. Despite Sam breaking his paddle, he and Finn were close behind in third place.
Ruth Shepherd (Reading Canoe Club) and Molly Bates (Richmond Canoe Club) had a great start and an exceptional race finishing first in 1 hr 31 minutes.
Sam Cribbett (Nottingham Kayak Club) was providing the support as team staff but also took part in the senior men’s K1 and took an amazing win in 1 hr 56 mins. His exceptional portaging skills clearly rubbed off on the junior team.
After a restful evening, the team returned to compete in the K1 events. We knew this was going to be more of a challenge as in the French system you are only able to paddle with someone from your own club for the K2 races, which held back the potential of the French K2’s on the first day of the championship.
In the boys under 16, Fergus led the group of three into the first portage, with Jack coming into the portage in 10th, leaving in 7th. Fergus took the lead for the first three laps and then after the fourth portage was dropped off the front group. After spending some time paddling on his own the second group caught him just before the last portage resulting in a fourth place finish for Fergus and 8th place for Jack.
Lexi and Emily both had a good start but did not quite make the front group. Working hard and making the most of their portage practice the final result was 5th place for Emily and 9th for Lexi. With a large field in the start line and several C1s, Edith capsized just off the start line but worked hard to get back in the boat and catch up with some of the group to finish 22nd.
Doogal and Sam both had a good start and were in the first group after the portage with Finn executing a great portage to bring himself up the field. Ed was not far behind in the third group. However, the exertions started to take their toll with all boys tiring towards the end. Doogal unfortunately retired with an injury. The final results were Sam finishing 5th, Finn 11th and Edward 13th.
Despite still being in U14s, Adriana raced in the U18 age category and went into the first portage in first place, finally finishing in 3rd place. Molly unfortunately damaged her boat on one of the portages and needed to stop to fix her rudder but still continued and finished the race. Ruth and Molly both had a great race finishing 4th and 12th respectively.
I would like to thank Sam Cribbett, Neil Pollock and Donna Pollock who gave up their own time to enable this trip to happen and were all incredible on their first trip as staff. Claudine Le Roux who used to coach in the UK and now works for the french federation was key to helping the trip run smoothly and for translation prior to the event. Another thanks goes to Adriana for being the team translator most of the trip!
Thank you to Katie Williams, the team manager for the trip, for her leadership on the trip and her support with this write-up, alongside Donna.