Category: Racing

German Nationals 2023 Report

   1 June 2023    Athletes, International, Racing

The annual development trip to German National Marathon Championships fielded a twelve-strong team of juniors and under 23’s after successful selection from the long course assessment race in April. Consisting of seven juniors and five under 23’s, the team traveled to Rheine to take part in three days of racing two weeks ago.

After a long travel day, the team took on the short course distance on Friday evening as a warm-up to the long course events on Saturday and Sunday. Short Course marathon racing consists of a 3.2km course over small laps. In the junior boys category, the British team produced a dominant 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th finish order with Arthur Morley (Wey Kayak Club) taking the overall win. Flynn Holt (Royal Canoe Club) finished in the bronze medal position, Lukas Schleiter-Nielsen (Falcon Canoe Club) in 4th position and Alex Worgan (Royal Canoe Club) in 5th.

In the junior girls race, Chloe Ritchie (Wey Kayak Club) had a lightning start with Nerys Hall (Wey Kayak Club) and Beth Hall (Southampton Canoe Club) benefiting from her wash. A tough fight at the front of the race resulted in Nerys taking the silver medal with Beth Perry and Chloe Ritchie not far behind in 4th and 5th position respectively. Elise Montagna (Royal Canoe Club) had a consistent race in the senior women’s category to finish in 4th position. 

In the senior men’s race, a fast pace off the start line broke the race up quickly. Matthew Collinge (Fowey River Canoe Club) made the break into the front group and was able to battle it out to achieve the silver medal. Tim Dowden (Norwich Canoe Club) finished 7th, James How (Norwich Canoe Club) in 8th and Tim Gannicott-Porter (Chelmsford Canoe Club) came in 9th.

Saturday saw the turn of the long course K1 races and the results of the previous day were almost completely replicated. Racing over a 19km course, Arthur Morley took the gold medal again, with Flynn Holt replicating his short course result with another bronze medal. Lukas Schleiter-Nielsen finished in 5th and Alex Worgan secured 9th position, despite racing up an age group from under 16’s. The juniors girls also competed over a 19km course. Nerys Hall secured a hard earned silver medal, despite having issues with her boat pump, and Beth Perry secured 4th. Chloe Ritchie ended up retiring after a frustrating incident involving a post in the water. 

Elise Montagna competed over a 19km course and had a successful sprint finish to secure herself another fourth position. The senior men’s race was another packed field with a quick start. Matthew Collinge finished the 24km course in silver position again, with Tim Dowden not far off the pace securing fourth. Tim Gannicott-Porter finished in 6th and James How in 7th. 

As tradition for a canoe marathon national weekend, Sunday was the turn of the crew boat with all our athletes combining into K2’s. Yet more podium positions and medals were secured, despite a chaotic move of a race start that disrupted some of our paddlers’ later breakfast! 

In our junior races, our strength in crew boats nationally showed, with every boat entered securing a medal. Chloe Ritchie and Beth Perry won the start and continued the form to take the silver medal behind an experienced German K2. In the junior boys race, the two K2’s of Arthur and Flynn, Lukas and Alex, dominated the field and made an early break away from the rest of the boats to secure a first and second place finish order. Nerys Hall raced up to the senior race, partnering with Elise. A disappointingly small field meant that they didn’t experience the race they would have enjoyed but they still managed to earn a silver medal. In the senior men’s race, a fast paced front group of four challenged our two K2’s through some tight portages, with Matthew and Tim securing the overall victory and a gold medal. Tim and James finished in fourth.

A successful weekend of racing which enabled all athletes to put their hard winter training to the test away from home. Thank you to all volunteers who made the trip possible, especially our trip staff of Nanette, Suzanne, Charlie and Graham.

National Short Course Marathon Championships 2023 – Final Details

   3 May 2023    National, Racing

The final race briefing for the 2nd edition of Short Course Nationals 2023 can be found here.

During the event, live streaming can be found via our Facebook group as well as updates throughout the day on our other social media channels.

Marathon Racing Major Events 2023 – Hasler Final Update

   24 April 2023    National, Racing

The MRC Major Event team are excited to finally announce the Hasler Finals 2023 date and venue. Thank you to Worcester Canoe Club for hosting another major event.

Devizes to Westminster 2023

   4 April 2023    Racing

The 73rd Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race is due to start this weekend and with fast river conditions and some exciting crews entered, it looks to be a thrilling edition to follow. Could the long standing senior doubles record be broken?

To follow all the action throughout, visit the following links below:

For further details on how to spectator appropriately, visit the DW Organisation Website here.

Good luck to all taking part this year!

National Short Course Marathon Championships 2023: Entries now open!

   2 April 2023    National, Racing, Selection

Entries are now open for the 2023 edition of Short Course Nationals. Spots are limited so get your entries in quickly by visiting our entries page here.

Division 1 K2 at Hasler Races 2023

   21 February 2023    Athletes, Governance, Racing

Based on athlete feedback, the Marathon Racing Committee are excited to announce the addition of a Division 1 K2 to a select few Hasler Races. In recent years, there has been no provision for Division 1 standard K2’s to race on a regular basis due to lack of engagement from paddlers historically. This addition will allow Division 1 ranked paddlers, as well as Division 2 ranked paddlers, to race K2’s outside of assessment and selection. This could be with a potential selection-worthy boat, supporting younger juniors to race up or to race mixed boats.

The following races have agreed to host a Division 1 K2 race during the 2023 season:

  • Nottingham Hasler – Sunday 30th April
  • Worcester Hasler – Sunday 14th May
  • Norwich Hasler – Sunday 21st May
  • Reading Circuit Hasler – Sunday 28th May
  • Falcon Hasler – Sunday 25th June
  • Richmond Hasler – Sunday 18th June

These events have been selected due to timing’s in the racing calendar, location in reference to current Division 1 paddlers and course specifics that will allow for good racing.

The MRC would strongly encourage Division 1 and Division 2 paddlers to engage with this provision.

For more details on how Division 1 K2 will work at the above Hasler’s, visit our race organisers information document below.

Short Course Nationals is back – SAVE THE DATE!

   14 February 2023    Athletes, National, Racing

Short Course Nationals is back for a second year! Come join us at Nene Park, Peterborough for a fun and exciting day of racing on Sunday 7th May.

More details to follow in the coming months!

Non-Hasler Marathon Races in 2023

   21 January 2023    Racing

Are you wanting to try something different this year? Check out our below list on some of the non-Hasler races happening nationally this year! This is not an exhaustive list but should give you a flavour of what is on offer.

Most race details can be found via our entries page here or our racing calendar here.

EDIT: Worcester Ring Challenge typically takes place is a 21 mile loop race taking place in July.

2023 UK Anti-Doping Prohibited List

   5 January 2023    Athletes, Coaching, Governance, International, National, Racing, Rules

Check the Prohibited List ? – Not knowing is not enough.

The 2023 Prohibited List is available to read now and comes into effect on 1 January. Read about the Prohibited List over on UK Anti-Doping‘s website below.

National School Canoe Championships 2022

   3 December 2022    National, Racing, Schools Racing
Senior category start their marathon race after lunch

In a new endeavour for the 2022 season and onwards, the Marathon Racing Committee has been working closely with the Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race Organisation to support and continue to facilitate school racing and development opportunities.

Reinstated as an annual event in 2013, the National School Canoe Championship’s objective is to encourage grassroots paddling, and better preparation and development of school teams in paddlesport. It has been well entered ever since by a range of schools, including Kimbolton School, Bryanston School, Lord Wandsworth College and Heathside School.

Novice category start their marathon event

In 2022, the criteria for entry was reviewed with a focus on schools playing an active part and commitment to supporting paddlesport within their schools. All schools are required to demonstrate paddlesport is part of their co-curriculum/sport offering. We therefore had eight different schools entering crews for a busy day of racing at Hawley Lake on Sunday 20th November.

The morning involved a series of “500m” and “200m” sprint races for both the Senior and Novice categories. In the Senior 500m final, Jago Taylor and Dominic Walker (Norwich School) finished first ahead of Jack Ockenden and Charlie Fane from Bryanston School. In the Novice 500m final, Oscar Brownfield and Ted Umbers just pipped Charlie East and Dan Corfield (both from Lord Wandsworth College) by a matter of miliseconds.

Jago and Dominic from Norwich School after winning the senior marathon and sprint events

The 200m event takes the format of a knockout, where crews are eliminated in groups until the last remained five boats go head to head in the final. In the Senior race, Jago Taylor and Dominic Walker (Norwich School) again took the win after a tough fight against Imogen Hunter and Theo Sales from Hills Road Sixth Form College. In the Novice category, Freddie Cullen and Oliver Groslin (Lord Wandsworth College) won by over five seconds.

After lunch, the crews took to the water to compete in the marathon event. The senior category completed five laps of the lake with four portages, whereas the novice category completed four laps with three portages. After the start, the senior race broke down to a lead group of three crews: Jago Taylor/Dominic Walker (Norwich School), Imogen Hunter/Theo Sales (Hills Road Sixth Form College) and Jack Ockenden/Charlie Fane (Bryanston School). After a couple of laps, Jago and Dominic made a break to take the win just over a minute ahead of Imogen and Theo in second.

In the Novice race, a dominate performance from Charlie Simon and Tom Shepherd (Lord Wandsworth College) saw them lead the race off the start and complete the course by the themselves to take the win. Isabel Davis and Alex Gherabi (Kimbolton School) took the ladies novice win.

Lord Wandsworth College crews at the portage on the novice marathon race

It was really positive to see, in both the senior and novice categories, that most crews were finishing within a ten minute window after the winner of the race. Close racing was the theme of the day throughout and crews were able to race hard no matter their position in the field.

Overall, Kimbolton School took the win in the Senior Team Trophy and Lord Wandsworth College took the Novice Team Trophy.

After taking the win, Jon Sweet, Kimbolton School team leader, said, “We always enjoy coming to this event. It’s a great introduction to racing for our new paddlers as well as giving the more experienced ones something to aim for. We are very happy to have retained the team trophy and are looking forward to [the 2023 season].”

The Kimbolton Canoeing Captain, Noah, also said, “Despite an especially competitive year, strong performances throughout helped the team prevail, winning the team marathon event for the second year running, after having not won it since 1999. We hope to continue this good form going into our Waterside series of races and… [Devizes to Westminster]… next year.”

Next years National School Canoe Championships will take place at Hawley Lake on Sunday 19th November 2023.

Filter by Category

News Archives

Copyright ©2026  Paddle UK Marathon Racing Committee
Powered by Paddle UK