News

News

JDS Skills Day 4 – Sign up open now

   17 February 2023    Athlete Development, Coaching

The Marathon Racing Committee are delighted to open sign up for the final JDS Skills Day of the 2022/23 season. Joint organised and run by the MRC, Sprint Racing Committee and British Canoeing Talent Department, JDS is aimed at junior paddlers (U18) who are looking to develop their flatwater racing skills. The training days will offer paddlers the opportunity to learn new skills, meet new people and paddle in new waters. 

The fourth JDS skills day of the 2022/23 season will be a multi racing skills day at Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham. Paddlers will be split into smaller groups and work around 4 activity/session stations throughout the day. Each activity station will be led and delivered by a specialist coach. The stations will consist of the following:

  • Station 1 – Race day warm up routines (land based)
  • Station 2 – Starts from a bucket (K1/C1)
  • Station 3 – Three buoy turns (K1/C1)
  • Station 4 – Plan, Do, Review (K4/C4)

There will also be a lunchtime sport psychology talk focusing on motivations and finding your strengths. This will be based off the JDS booklet.

For more details on the day and how to sign up, please visit our website here.

We are also excited to offer more specific coach development workshops throughout the day led by Scott Hynds. For more information and how to sign up, please visit our coaching website page here.

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!

Marathon Selection Policy 2023

   25 January 2023    Athletes, Governance, International, Selection

The Marathon Selection Committee are excited to announce the 2023 selection policy is now live on the international selection website page on the Marathon Racing Committee website.

Any questions on the policy should be directed to the chair of selection committee, Nanette North, via her email here.

GB-One Coaching Conference

   25 January 2023    Coaching

British Canoeing have identified that there are not many opportunities for the flat water racing community, especially sprint community, to come together to create connections, enable conversations and to discuss learnings and work happening within the World Class Programme. Anything that involves club, community and coach collaboration is supported by the MRC.

Being hosted by Reading Canoe Club on Saturday 4th March, the GB-One Conference is completely free to attend. Sign up is now open and will close on the 17th February. Sign up here if you are interested.

British Canoeing Competition Hardship Fund

   21 January 2023    Athletes, Governance, International, Selection

British Canoeing has created a hardship grant for eligible English athletes who are having financial difficulties, or whose family circumstances mean they are at a disadvantage relative to their peers. The grant can be used towards athlete contributions to international competition, travel and accommodation for competition and entry and accreditation fees.

For full details on the grant and the full policy, visit the British Canoeing article here.

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.

JDS Skills Day 3 – Reading

   6 January 2023    Athlete Development, Athletes, Coaching

The Marathon Racing Committee, Sprint Racing Committee and BC Talent Department are pleased to announce that our third JDS Winter Series event is open for sign up. The event will be held at Reading Canoe Club on Sunday 29th January and will be led by Tim Scott & Paul Dimmock. 

The day will have a crewboat focus, specifically K4/C4’s. The day will focus on improving technique and working better as a crew boat. The morning session will be focussed more on skills and drills with the afternoon an opportunity to put those skills into action. 

We have 14 K4s available for the day and as such, kayak numbers will be capped at 56. This will be allocated on a first come first served basis. 

Since its inception in September 2021, the JDS has proved hugely popular with our earlier event at Elmbridge attracting 70 juniors from 21 clubs. While the uptake has been fantastic, we are having to dilute the content to manage the varied ability levels. Additionally, this requires a high number of coaches to support the sessions. As such, we will be sticking to the standards set out on the website (and below) more rigidly than before. 

The eligibility criteria for Kayak paddlers is as follows: 

  • U13 or above 
  • Girls – Girls C or above (Sprint Division) and/or Div 5 marathon or above for U16’s / Div 4 marathon or above for U18’s
  • Boys – Boys C or above (Sprint Divisions) and/or Div 4 marathon or above for U16’s or Div 3 marathon or above for U18’s

The eligibility criteria for Canoe paddlers is as follows: 

  • U13 or above
  • Girls & Boys – Any paddler who has competed at a Sprint National Regatta

We have changed our sign up process from using a Formstack to using British Canoeing’s membership system, JustGo. This will require you to create an account if you don’t already have one. For those with British Canoeing membership, this should be your normal account details. 

To sign up for the event, please click HERE. As a reminder, the cost is £10. Sign up closes on Friday 20th January at 17:00. Late entries won’t be accepted.   

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.

Support Staff Wanted for 2023 International Marathon Races – Call to Action!

   4 January 2023    International, Volunteers

The Marathon Racing Committee are seeking volunteer staff to support the GB team at its international races this year.

It’s a fun and rewarding but tiring few days travelling with our best athletes, helping them achieve their best possible result. You will be an integral part of the team and help out in a variety of ways potentially including driving, general organising, drinks changes at portages, emotional support, and safeguarding. Teams are led by an experienced manager so new staff are well supported and all forms of experience are welcome to volunteer. All expenses are paid, and team kit provided.

We are looking for support staff for the following international trips in the 2023 season:

  • German National Marathon Championships – Rheine, Germany – 19th-21st May
  • Marathon World Cup – Ruse, Bulgaria – 2nd-4th June
  • European Marathon Championships – Slavonski Brod, Croatia – 13th-16th July
  • World Marathon Championships – Koldingvej, Vejen, Denmark – 31st August – 3rd September
  • French National Marathon Championships – Decizes, France – 23rd-24th September

Please find further details 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.

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