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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The MRC are excited to publish the current details for the 2023 season.
We are still looking for a host/venue for Hasler Finals 2023 – if you have not hosted a marathon major event or haven’t hosted in the last two years, please consider and get in touch, even if it’s just with a few questions on the commitment levels and requirements! Contact Dan Seaford, our major events lead, here.
The Great Britain Masters team had 32 Paddlers competing in the Masters World Cup in Portugal in September. This was a huge increase in the 4 who competed in the Masters World Cup 2021 held in Romania and the European Cup held in Denmark back in July.
The team that headed out to Portugal had a hard act to follow after the 2021 team won a gold and a silver medal and the recent European Cup team all managed to get onto the podium in their respective age group races. These set the scene for Portugal, with our team’s reputation running high.
The masters events always start with the single boats racing on Monday and Brian Greenway paved the way by showing that his many years of racing still counts as he took the Gold medal in the Men’s K1 70+ race.
Following on, we had paddlers in most of the other age group races with many of our paddlers competing in their first World Masters. Unlike 2021, the fields were huge, often using more than the start pontoon’s 20 places. The men’s team earned many top 10 places, including Edgar Boehm getting a 9th place in a highly competitive over 45 K1 men’s race and Robert Scholes and Antony Nolan achieved 5th and 6th respectively in the over 75 K1 men’s race.
The women’s team were not to be outdone and showed how this team has grown in size and confidence. Jane Millar took 4th in the over 65 women’s K1 and Sue Hawthorn earned 5th in the over 55 women’s K1.
Tuesday was the turn of the double crew boats and the British medals continued to come. Our over 75 Men’s K2 team of Keith Durham and Paul Newman won an unopposed Gold. Not to be outdone, Brian Greenway dropped down an age-group to paddle into a medal winning position with Simon Davies. The Kristin Queeney and Catherine Ayling completed a bronze medal winning performance in the over 55 women K2.
To conclude the programme of events, some of our paddlers took to the water for their 3rd race in 2 days to compete in the mixed K2. Unlike in previous years, the mixed K2 was merged into only 2 age-group based races. In the over 50 mixed K2, Chris Sze and Catherine Ayling achieved 10th with Micheal Hawthorn and Sue Hawthorn finishing close behind in 11th. It is worth noting that if the mixed K2 had be seperated out into the previous age categories like at last years world cup, Chris Sze and Catherine Ayling would have had 3rd place in the over 55 and Bryn Price and Jane Millar would have had a 2nd place in the over 65.
Thank to Bryn Price for his support creating this write-up.
To review, reflect and build on the successes of the 2022 Major Events Season, the MRC Major Events team is seeking feedback from the community of paddlers, coaches and clubs to allow us to make our events even better for the future.
Please fill out the following form for any of the major events you attended this year. If you did not attend one or two of the major events detailed, please skip onto the next section.
The World Marathon Championships 2022 looked set to be a major event, with athletes from around the world descending on the beautiful and historic town of Ponte De Lima to compete against the best of the best. British Canoeing’s own Chief Executive, Ashley Metcalfe, travelled out to watch the five days of racing to get a further flavour of marathon racing, especially from an international level, and our team, as well as the rest of the world, certainly put on a show for him!
The Para racing was billed as an exhibition event, and our British team came together from a variety of different disciplines and levels of experience to see how they would fare on the international canoe marathon stage. Para Team Manager, Tim Scott, said about the event: ‘It was emotional watching the 11.8k races, and a sense we were witnessing a historical development for para paddlers who have previously predominantly only had 200m as an outlet for flat water racing international competition …. the Para Marathon Worlds has the makings of a new home and new lease of life for para athletes, and a chance to include more.”
There were two separate races – an open para race, run under marathon rules, where athletes could paddle any boat and all classifications started together. The other was an 11.8k race run under sprint rules, where the boats were required to be 12 kilograms, super stable and each para category has its own separate results. Tim Lodge (Wey Kayak Club), Jon White (Exeter Canoe Club), Shaun Cook (Norwich Canoe Club) and Hein Pretorius (Tonbridge Canoe Club) all left their hearts out on the course, and all won medals. Tim took gold in the KL3 Men, with Hein taking silver in the same category. Jon earned silver in the KL2 men’s and Shaun took bronze in the VL2 men’s race. In the earlier open event, Tim won silver and Jon won bronze. The takeaway for the para team, and para racing, was even more than those hard-fought medals – welcome though they were. It was about new friends, new possibilities, new inspirations and motivations and a new love for the sport. It was all hugely inspiring.
Short Course Races
The athletes, supporters and spectators were treated to a spectacle of high drama and high performance in the short course races – a 3.2km course with beach portages in front of the grandstand and lots of tight turns. Team manager Jo Bates was grinning from ear to ear as the results came tumbling in; Beth Gill (Chelmsford Canoe Club) paddled a stunning and focused race to be crowned Senior Ladies C1 World Champion, making the most of pre-race favourite Babak making an error on the course. Beth demonstrated that she was one of the most consistent technical C1 paddler out on the course, allowing her to storm ahead from the rest of the field as she went clear to complete the race.
After taking the world title, Beth Gill said, “It was a good race. Babak definitely took me by surprise, especially with her experience, but I had replayed the race that many times in my head that I knew what I needed to do off each portage… I just trusted that really and [I’m] ecstatic… it’s really just credit to my training group in Nottingham, to Chelmsford Canoe Club with the support, particularly the Moules… but in particularly Dan Johnson and all the the hard work that he puts in to both myself and the group as a whole.”
Sam Rees-Clark (Nottingham Kayak Club) raced superbly well, showing every bit the World Class paddler she is, to take bronze in the Senior Ladies K1. Sam automatically qualified for the final after a dedicated heat saw her finish in sixth earlier in the day. An impressive first portage meant Sam joined the lead group in fourth as they led away, she was able to maintain this position and then better it after a strong demonstration of her skills on the second portage. She followed out of the second portage in third with only the small lap to go and maintained it until the finish line. A fantastic performance saw Rees-Clark match her bronze medal from the European Championships back in July.
James Russell (Chelmsford Canoe Club) found himself on the start line with the “who’s who” of the fastest men in the World, and he certainly earned his place on that role of honour. James paddled a superb race, never away from the sharp end and always threatening to take a medal. He eventually took 5th place, the highest place he’s managed in international senior races. The pace that Pimenta put down was staggering, he approached the Marathon as he would his 1,000m, pushing to dominate. He showed the world that canoe racing, be it 500m or marathon, has its foundations on hard work and there aren’t any short cuts to being this good. With Beth, Sam and James’s performances all so impressive (based on the “The Norm Plan” masterminded by Norman Mason for Nottingham Kayak Club), they showed the value of quality coaching and a positive culture towards the training that is needed to be successful.
Long Course Races
Long course races took place throughout the four-day event for every age category (Junior, U23 and Senior) over a variety of different distances.
The first race off on the Thursday morning was the Junior Girls K1. Greta Roeser (Wey Kayak Club) was fearless in her approach, challenging the two Hungarians and South African paddlers. Through she was missing out on raw speed in the opening 1,500m, Greta fought back to the leading boats, using the boat skills developed on the River Wey and finished 4th. Isla Bethune (Elmbridge Canoe Club) put into practice many of the skills her highly experienced and successful coach, Roland Lawler, had been working on with her. Isla moved well around the washes and finished 16th. In the Junior Boys K1, Sam Cribbett (Royal Leamington Spa Canoe Club) made his international marathon debut in a tough field. He had a good start, getting into the mix early on, and looking every bit a quality paddler. The race edged away from Sam lap by lap and a 24th finish doesn’t do justice to the maturity and conviction he showed throughout.
In the Junior Girls K2, Nerys Hall & Greta Roeser (Wey Kayak Club), a tried and tested team who secured bronze at the Marathon Euros were looking to build on that performance. Nerys & Greta didn’t disappoint, they pushed for a top position right from the start. However, the first turn was a little frantic for all the boats. Unfortunately the Swedish pair capsized, and the race judges felt Greta & Nerys were partially responsible. They finished their race in 5th but were disqualified due to the earlier incident. Isla Bethune (Elmbridge Canoe Club) & Mathilda Enoch (Nottingham Kayak Club) worked well throughout and showed some great spirit to stay with the pace in the first half of the race. They were still tantalisingly close to the front of the race for the remainder and finished 7th. Undoubtedly these four girls will be looking to build on this at next year World Championships in Denmark as they all have at least one year left of junior.
On Sunday morning, Harry Freeland (Reading Canoe Club) & Dominic Stanley (Falcon Canoe Club. took on the Junior Boys K2. A good start from the boys put them in the second group, where they were able take some recovery from the blistering start. However, it seemed the start and the high pace took its toll and the boys never fully recovered, finishing in 16th place. After their race, they said, “It was a tough race. We found the pace a lot different from the Euros. I think understanding the pace at the World Championships is only possible when you are on the water amongst them… it was very hard to judge when to put the power in and I think we may have tried maybe too hard to catch back up to the second at the start. It was a good race and I think we will learn from what we did for the future.”
The Under 23 men’s race was shaping up to be an exciting one after an incredibly tight race at Europeans, and the added names of Lovemore and Hart from South Africa. Our own Charlie Smith (Nottingham Kayak Club) was looking to build on his impressive silver medals in the 5,000m at under 23 Sprint Worlds a few weeks earlier, and at the European Marathon Championships back in July. The race started well for Charlie, paddling faultlessly in positioning his boat in the group. As ever, he was making it look easy but whilst on the surface things looked fine, Charlie wasn’t as comfortable as he appeared. After hitting a buoy on one of turns and having to reverse back, he slipped from the group. Luke Shaw (Norwich Canoe Club) showed real quality, racing hard throughout and holding his ground on the frighteningly quick turn of speed. Ultimately both Luke and his teammate Charlie finished 10th and 9th respectively. Although this was Charlie’s last year at U23, Luke still has another year to develop his racing to see whether he can better this performance.
In the under 23 Women, Anoushka Freeman (Richmond Canoe Club) battled strongly throughout. Her tenacity was evident, but it was the turn of speed which caught her out. Anoushka ended up finishing in 8th position. After the race, she said, “I got myself into a few collisions on the start and ultimately didn’t end up where I’d hoped, but eventually settled into a group and just tried to get my head down and pick people off one by one. I’m happy to have bettered my result from last year and have come away with lots to learn.”
In the Senior Women’s C1, Beth Gill again showed what being World Class really means, battling throughout, and coming away with bronze – not a bad weekend at the office for any athlete. The Chelmsford paddler, who currently trains in Nottingham, defended her bronze medal position throughout the race. Picking up the pace to extend the gap between herself and Ukraine’s Tsyhankova. Similarly, Sam Rees-Clark built on her short course result, demonstrating dominance in the Senior Women’s K1 field and taking the lead of the front group from the beginning. She was tactically excellent at the portage, always putting in with the front boat and this allowed her to break away with Kiszili from Hungary and Andersson from Sweden. A tough fight to the line secured Sam another bronze medal to add to her impressive, and growing, collection of international marathon medals. Sam said, “I was really happy with how it went. I was trying to be quite defensive at the start and hold my own… as soon as we saw an opportunity to break away as a three, I think we worked really well together to make that break and after that it was trying to see who can grab which medal…I have really enjoyed racing this weekend. It’s nice to race on a river with a bit more to it.”
Albert Hicks (Norwich Canoe Club), competing in the Senior Men’s K1, had been plagued by shoulder injury early in the season. His shoulder surgery was so recent that he was unable to load too much power and his training was still restricted in volume. Albert wasn’t able to match the initial speed of the race and so lost out to the first couple of groups but, in his very determined style kept pace, never losing faith that he was going to get back in contention, to finally finish 18th.
In the Senior Women’s K2, Sam Rees-Clark & Mathilda Enoch (Nottingham Kayak Club) paired up to give Mathilda exposure to a senior women’s field – and who better to paddle behind than one of the best female technicians of all time. If Charlie can make paddling in the group look easy, Sam has turned it into an art form, and no doubt Matilda will have grown in confidence from the experience after they finished 16th.
The last race of the weekend was the Senior Men K2. Charlie Smith & James Russell both showed their form within what was, without doubt, the best men’s race of the year – maybe ever – and showed why they are world class athletes. They challenged for the best positions in the group, fearless and certainly not intimidated by the big names of the sport. The race was fast with the lead stroke rate sitting at 96 strokes per minute 58 minutes into the race, and after 70 minutes, 11 boats were still within 15 seconds of each other. Unfortunately, on the last portage, Charlie and James’ rudder failed, and they had to fight their boat to the line to take 11th. On reflection they said, “…the race went really well. There were lots of fast boats out there and we managed it as best we could. Only probably 2 or 3 burns away to making it stick to the portage, but really happy with it in the end. We nearly got a top ten but the rudder fell out on the last portage so the short lap was a bit hectic trying to keep the boat in a straight line… overall I think a good starting point for next year where we will give it another crack.”
The World Marathon Championships showed the depth of talent in British racing at all levels. We were 7th in the medal table, and some amazing top ten positions must give British Canoeing’s newly appointed Chief Executive a great deal of optimism. A special thanks to Jo Bates (Team Manager), Pete Gorman (Deputy Team Manager), Tim Scott (Para Team Manager), Paul Dimmock and Dyson Pendle (Logistics Manager) who collectively ensured the British team was a coordinated force at the World Canoe Marathon Championships 2022.
After the final day of racing, Pete Gorman reflected on the event: “It has been a brilliant world championships. Some outstanding performances from GB athletes… everybody gave everything at every inch of the way. Tightest, hardest racing I have ever seen and I’ve been paddling for 57 years. I’ve never seen anything like this. I am in awe. There is still more to come from our younger paddlers. The learning curve is steep but the positivity within them is awesome.”
Finally, thanks for the work of Ivan Lawler. His commentary and insightful (and jovial comments) along with the spectacular drone coverage have been instrumental in transforming the sport. Racing is now far more engaging and the excitement on screen and live at the venue are all aided by Ivan and his co commentator’s injections of humour and drama.
Thank you to Paul Dimmock and Tim Scott for their help in constructing this write-up to reflect the teams achievement over the event.
Basingstoke Canal Canoe Club have regretfully made the decision to cancel the 2022 Charles Hicks Challenge. This is due to persistently low water levels and excessively high weed growth combined with the usual fall of leaves at this time of year. As a result, the BCCC committee felt they could not provide a route for the race that was safe, while still providing the right level of challenge and value. Refunds will be paid to those who have already entered, and BCCC hope and expect that the race will run again next autumn.
The Marathon Racing Committee and Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race Organisation are proud to present details for the National Schools Canoe Championship 2022. Taking place at Hawley Lake on Sunday 20th November, this will be the first addition of the event with the Marathon Racing Committee’s support after many years of hard-work and success on the part of the DW organisation and Marsport Canoes.
All details and information on the revised qualification criteria can be found here. Entries must be submitted by Monday 14th November.
Any queries or questions can be directed through Holly Mobbs, the MRC Junior Development lead, or Gareth Scragg, the Junior Teams Liaison for Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race.
There was a hectic day of kayak racing on Sunday 25th September as more than 600 paddlers took to the River Thames at Runnymede Pleasure Grounds. For the first time ever, Wey Kayak Club and Addlestone Canoe Club paired up to joint host the event at a brand new location for canoe marathon. With the incredible support of Runnymede Council, Environmental Agency and Surrey County Council, the venue was ready for the final national event of the 2022/23 season.
The early morning sunshine was a welcome backdrop for the lowest-ranked classes taking to the water just after 9am. In several races the clashing of paddles and jostling for space left some in the water and out of the action until they could swim to the side, empty their boats and set off again. Tight racing the division 7 K1 saw Rachel Hampton, from Chelmsford Canoe Club, take the win just 2 seconds ahead of Delilah Webb from Wey Kayak Club. Similarly the division 8 K1 podium were all only 3 seconds apart, with Martha Roberts (Elmbridge Canoe Club) taking the top position.
The division 4-6 races had the most dramatic portages of the day, with some of biggest fields all entering the pontoon get out at the same time. Honor Lewis (from Wey Kayak Club) took the win in the division 4 K1, as well as earning the Ross Warland Memorial Trophy. The Ross Warland Memorial Trophy is presented to the highest placed junior in division four at the Hasler Final every year and Honor is the first junior girl to ever win it.
Just after lunchtime, the fastest racers in the country set off for Old Windsor Lock, with smaller but even more-determined fields of paddlers lined up, decked out in their club colours. Completing over the standard 12-mile course, the division 1 race was won by Joe Petersen from Banbury & District Canoe Club, closely followed by Tom Lusty from Solihull Canoe Club. The division 1 K2 race was won by Keith Moule and Matthew Johnson from Chelmsford Canoe Club.
It was also a personal highlight for the Marathon Racing Committee to see the younger (U14) paddlers being able to race in both K1 and K2 in the Geoff Sanders races. This is the first Hasler Finals to ever run a K2 race for that age group and clubs fully engaged with it as eleven crews started the race. It was won by Jessica Peters & Eira Shaw from Wey Kayak Club and the K1 GSA title was taken by Bjorn Bartsch-Cotta from Falcon Canoe Club. Overall, the winning club for the Geoff Sanders Trophy this season was Devizes Canoe Club with 1480 points.
Runnymede mayor Cllr Margaret Harnden joined in the afternoon to present a series of trophies, as well as the coveted Hasler Trophy. Elmbridge Canoe Club were crowned the winners (after an 11 year hiatus from holding the trophy), with Norwich Canoe Club and Wey Kayak Club also making the podium.
Away from the racing, the day also had a focus on the environment and helping to keep the river and surrounding area clean. Recycling of food packaging, a water station and regular litter picks ensured the event left a minimal impact on the area. British Canoeing set up a Check, Clean, Dry stand to encourage cleaning of boats coming off the water to prevent the spread of non-native species, such as floating pennywort. Pippa Rowlandson, Wey Kayak Club’s environment lead, said that at least 50 boats were cleaned on the day.
Thank you to Wey Kayak Club and Addlestone Canoe Club for putting on a great event and we look forward to returning to this new venue at some point in the future.
For full details of the results, please visit our race management site here.
If you, as a club or a group of clubs, are interested in finding out more about hosting a major event, contact our major event lead, Dan Seaford, here.