Thank you to Paul Dimmock for providing this write-up and for being Team Manager on the trip.
K4 racing in Spain is second to none with some 70 K4’s racing in the Spanish Federations annual Regional, National and International K4 5km races. Great Britain had two relatively young crews competing in the K4 International events involving a Saturday race in Sanabria and a Sunday race in Valladolid. We certainly fielded the youngest boats in both the women’s and men’s fields, and the racing was both exciting and a huge learning opportunity of K4 racing against some of the best paddlers in the world; an experience which will assist all the athletes in their athletic careers.
The Senior Men K4 Crew were: William Stroud (Chelmsford Canoe Club), Sam Cribbett (Nottingham Kayak Club), Finn Cadell (Nottingham Kayak Club), Gabriel Popham-Coveley (Falcon Canoe Club).
The Senior Women K4 Crew were: Nerys Hall (Wey Kayak Club), Freya Peters (Richmond Canoe Club), Jessie Urquhart (Nottingham Kayak Club), Matilda Enoch (Nottingham Kayak Club).
The Spanish hospitality, like the weather, was very warm and the Federation could not have been anymore supportive, not just to us but the Czechia, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Germany, and Denmark. The international line up, including of course the hosts Spain, assured our athletes some fast and furious racing. As Sam Cribbett, who stroked the Senior Men K4, found out when lining up against multiple World Championship medallist Adrian Boros stroking the Hungarian K4, racing Internationally in K4 is not for the faint-hearted and Sam rose to the challenge. Technical problems besieged the men’s boat, but they pushed on with great heart to beat the Danish.
The girls experimented with different combinations for the two races. Jessie stroked at the first race and Freya at the second, both combinations were equally strong. On Sunday, the women unfortunately had rudder issues after the 2nd turn and were robbed of the result they deserved but like the our men’s crew pulled hard in the second half of the race and managed to keep the German crew behind them.
For Great Britain, the results didn’t reflect the team spirit or the tenacity each paddler put into the two races. I’m confident that we will see more of these eight athletes as they grow their athletic careers and develop into world class paddlers in their own right. There’s no better way for Marathon Racing Committee to achieve its objective of developing athletes in international racing than through crew boat racing on this scale. It is through our engagement in racing, athletes will grow in their personal ability, learn the subtle complexity of crew boat racing and ensure the love of racing is the essential ingredient of long-term success.
The Spanish Federation facilitated superb racing and were the perfect hosts and should be congratulated for ensuring all the National Teams were part of a K4 racing spectacular.
Final word for the athletes Finn, Gabriel, Sam, Will, Freya, Matilda, Nerys and Jessie, who all are relatively new to senior racing, showed great potential and all conducted themselves with maturity way beyond their years.
Due to logistical difficulties, the Marathon Racing Committee (MRC) will be unable to send an Under 14 & Under 16 development team to the French Nationals event in 2024. However, the Selection committee recognises the importance of this opportunity to many of the young athletes and remain committed to athlete development. Therefore, the National Marathon Championships, at Reading Canoe Club on 13th and 14th July, will remain a selection event for Under 14 and Under 16 athletes. The MRC are making arrangements for the selected athletes to attend the German National Championships, or an international equivalent race in Spring 2025, in place of the French Nationals. The provisional date for the German National Championships is 9-11th May 2025.
All athletes who are racing in the Under 14 and Under 16 event categories at the 2024 National Marathon Championships who are wishing to be considered for selection must complete the below availability form by 22:00 on the 7th August.
Did you know we have SUP races alongside the National Canoe Marathon Championships next month in Reading??
On Saturday 13th July, SUP paddlers can compete over an 8KM course in one of four categories: Rigid Board (Women), Rigid Board (Men), Inflatable Board (Women) and Inflatable Board (Men). They will not be national title races but you will be involved in the event and have a opportunity to see some marathon racing either side of your race!
Get your entry in by the 5th July at 23:59 to avoid the late entry fee! We would love to see you there!
There is a change to what used to be Event Tickets (ET). Temporary PaddleUK membership for an event is now available online as a Single Event Membership (SEM). Paddlers entering without either On the Water Membership or Club Associate Membership via an Affiliated Club will need to purchase SEM where they used to use an ET. This can be done while entering.
Race Organisers will need to be aware that the paper ET form should no longer be used or payments taken which will reduce their tasks.
Team Leaders and Paddlers will need to be aware that they need to purchase SEM if they do not have other membership of PaddleUK. Team Leaders should however use Club Associate Membership if at all possible where a club paddler does not have On the Water Membership of PaddleUK. The link to Membership classes on the PaddleUK Website is https://paddleuk.org.uk/?s=membership
The system has been tested and appears to work fine, but should an issue arise, please let Mick Nadal know.
Over three weeks have past since the 2024 World Cup in Brandenburg, Germany. The event concluded with one medal and some great racing experience for our senior development team. It was also existing to see and take part in the test short course relay event being run for the first time on the international stage.
On Saturday 1st June, the team competed over the short course distance, with the senior women taking to the water first. Racing over 3.4k, athletes completed three laps and two portages. Both the Senior Women and Senior Men had to qualify from heats earlier in the day, with the top six from each heat qualifying automatically with the next best eight times making up the final start list.
In the Senior Women’s heat, Melissa Johnson (Chelmsford), Katie Brookes (Exeter) and Freya Peters (Richmond) all put down strong enough races to qualify, with Melissa qualifying automatically and Katie and Freya getting through on fastest times.
The afternoon final saw Melissa secure a solid position in the large lead group round lap one. Kiszli (Hungary) kept the pace high, and Johnson was able to stick with it all the way to the first portage. She was swift out her boat and a quick run meant she was able to gain a few places making her the third boat back in the water. Kiszli broke away from the field in lap two, leaving Johnson and Panna of Hungary to battle it out for the remaining podium positions. The duo upped the pace to create a gap from their chasers which cemented their top three positions.
Portage two saw Melissa in third place. She put everything into the final lap to emerge victorious and sped ahead of Panna to claim the silver. She upgraded her bronze medal in the short course earned last year at the World Cup, with this year’s silver finishing with a time of 0:18:01.
Speaking after her medal winning performance Johnson said:
“It was great, there was a lot more competition this year, so coming home with a silver medal definitely shows that I’ve improved over the winter and looks good for upcoming international races this year. I’m very pleased with second, I wasn’t expecting it and I was just hoping for a top ten finish so I’m really happy In the heat I was up against Kiszli, it was great to go around with her and gave me insight into what I need to do to be in with a chance of getting a medal.”
“In the final I got caught out on the start but moved myself into a great position next to both Hungarians going around the first turn. I think that put me in a great position going into the portage because I was able to run past them. I couldn’t quite keep to Kiszli’s pace, but the other Hungarian and I worked well together.”
Freya maintained a strong position mid field throughout the final as well. She fought hard to make it to the front group in lap one but dropped back to finish in 12th place with a time of 0:19:08. Brookes sat at the back of the group in the first half of the race but was able to claw back up the field, putting in a dedicated performance to finish 14th with a time of 0:19:27.
The Senior Men’s K1 field was one of the most competitive World Cup field we have seen for a couple of years and the short course heats were hotly contested. We had six athletes representing Great Britain in the heats: Matt Collinge (Fowey), Tim Dowden (Norwich), Finn Cadell (Nottingham), Will Stroud (Chelmsford), Sam Cribbett (Nottingham) and Arthur Morley (Wey). The latter three athletes were competing in a senior men’s international race for the first time. The heats were tough, with Matt qualifiying automatically and Tim and Finn getting through on fastest time. Sam, Will and Arthur just missed out but gained great experience within some very fast fields.
In the final, it was a fast race with the likes of Knudsen (Denmark) and Ramalho (Portugal) setting the pace high from the start. Matt powered to work his way through the field but an unfortunate swim towards the end of lap one, due to a class of paddles, caused him to lose contact.
Tim and Finn kept a strong pace and progressed around lap two together. Cadell dropped back from his team mate on the second portage, due to a couple of incidents at the portage. Tim crossed the line in 15th place with a time of 00:16:51, he was closely followed by Finn in 16th place in 00:17:11. Matt continued to show dedication to the race and completed the course in 18th place with a time of 00:18:37.
The new mixed relay race event also took place on the Saturday as a test event with a view to it potentially being introduced at a future ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships.
Three Brits took the opportunity to compete as part of multinational teams.
Melissa and Matt teamed up with French junior Ana-Lucia Nowakowski and Danish junior Jeppe Frejo-Rasmussen. It was the international racing debut for the French and Danish junior athletes and it was great racing experience for them to team up with the British senior athletes. The team performed well together and completed the relay race in 7th place in a time of 0:24:33.
Katie joined the Belgium team of Marthe Billet, Maarten Verschatse and Frederik Schulze to take on the relay. They proved to be another great relay team and finished in 8th place with a time of 0:24:59.
The relay order saw the junior women get the racing underway to complete the first stretch, followed by the senior women, junior men and then senior men finishing the final lap of the 4.8k course. The teams completed four laps in total. Each athlete completed one lap the length of 1.2k and a portage to hand off to the next team mate.
It was great to see the inclusion of a new racing format at this World Cup. The combined nation teams provided a positive opportunity for our athletes to take part and gain experience in a new type of racing.
Melissa noted how enjoyable the relay race was:
“It was great fun and I’m glad we got to collaborate with the French and Danish team. I hope they do more relay races like this one because it was great fun to be a part of and really cool to pair up with different countries for the test race.”
Sunday saw the turn of the long course racing with all nine Brits taking racing in blustery conditions. The Women’s long course was the first race of the day with British participation. Melissa, Freya and Katie all lined up to race over a 26.2km course.
Melissa found a position in a large lead group off the start. It was a battle for washes and to keep up with the high pace set by reigning World Champion Kiszli of Hungary. Katie and Freya were close behind forming the second group.
After the top turn of lap one, Melissa dropped back and committed to chasing down the leaders. A large gap had been created between the leaders and chase groups by the time the first portage came around.
Johnson and Brookes teamed up midway through the race to form a chasing group with a number of other athletes in the mid field. The British duo split later on in the race with Johnson progressing through the field ahead. She sat on the edge of the top ten positions during the later half of the race. A hard fought final stretch saw her finish in 11th place with a time of 2:18:17.
Speaking after her race she said:
“My start was great, I got into the front group for the first half a lap but couldn’t quite keep the pace coming down the back straight. Was in a nice group of four until the fifth lap, then was dropped and did the final lap on my own. I’m very happy with where I came after a great performance yesterday. I came into the race hoping to make the top 10 but I’m happy with 11th.”
“It was a great experience being in the front group, I managed to get myself into a lot of good positions going up to the top turn. My aim is to try and get into the front group as often as I can.”
“Training has been going very well, I think I’ve made a big improvement from last year, in sprint as well as marathon. There is a big group of us that train together in Nottingham, and we all support each other during training and races. Dan has been great, he’s been coaching and supporting me and the team in Nottingham. I also get a lot of support from Chelmsford which has helped.”
Katie clawed back to gain a few places before crossing the line in 14th place with a time of 2:19:20.
Reflecting on her race she said:
“I really enjoyed the race. It was great lining up against some top senior women. I had a good start and was in the second group. I felt like I had a lot of learning experiences during the race, there is a lot to take away from it.”
The final Brit across the line was Freya in 17th position. She cemented a comfortable position mid-field early in the race and maintained it with hard work and good race knowledge. She split away from her chasing group and powered on solo towards the end of the race finishing with a time of 2:21:47.
Katie races again at the European Championships in the Under 23 Women K1 and the Senior Women K2. Melissa will also race again at the European Championships in the Senior Women K1.
The Men’s long course race took place in the afternoon with six British athletes competing in an incredibly high caliber race. They took on eight large laps and one small lap, racing over 29.8k.
It was a stacked start line, and the pace was fast off the line. Matt Collinge made it into a large lead group and fought for a comfortable position in the washes. He maintained this position around the first few laps before a group of four athletes broke away to lead the race out of a portage.
Matt proved to be fast on the portages and kept a strong position in a chase group of four for the majority of the race. The pace quickened in the final laps which saw Collinge drop back in the field. He was the first Brit across the line in 14th position. Finishing with a time of 2:20:25
Matt reviewed his performance post race saying:
“I was relatively happy with my race, I would have liked to have placed higher but I can’t complain. I went in with the plan to go out hard and try to stay at the front of the race for as long as possible. I was in the front group for the first 10km, moving from V wash to V wash, trying to race as efficiently as I could. As is life, all good things must come to an end, and I blew out at around 20km. After it was a long slog to the finish especially with the side chop.”
Finn and Tim were next across the line in 15th and 16th positions respectively. Cadell fought well throughout the race. Initially paddling with teammates Arthur and Sam around lap four, he was able to break away and join Dowden’s chase group further ahead in the field.
The Nottingham paddler had trouble with water getting in his boat on multiple occasions. However he always made up for any lost time on the portage get outs with exceptionally fast runs along the portage. He finished with a time of 2:21:57.
Finn shared his race experience saying,
“My race started particularly badly but improved as it went on. I was dropped clean out of the start and found myself in last place after a kilometre, having not responded well to the crowed start line and ugly cross wind. After the first lap I finally got into my grove a bit, and slowly moved up through the field. About 15km in, I chased down and caught up with a group who I then stayed with until the last portage, when myself and fellow Brit Tim Dowden broke away. Tim and I then had a head-to-head into the finish, which I just about won. I think my portages unexpectedly went well today, portaging is often an issue for me, but I learned that I certainly need to do some more work getting used to paddling in chop”
Tim held strong in the middle of the field throughout the race, he was consistent in demonstrating his strong racing knowledge and abilities. He was close behind Finn on the line finishing with a time of 2:22:02.
Arthur and Sam worked as a team in a chasing group of four and kept pressure on the group ahead with good pace. Unfortunately for Sam, rudder issues after the penultimate portage meant he had to stop to fix the problem. This caused him to lose touch with team mate Arthur and the rest of their group. Arthur finished in 23rd place with a time of 2:24:40 and Sam in 24th with a time of 2:27:34.
Will powered around the course accompanied by the Polish paddler towards the later half. He also demonstrated great portage technique and running speed, completing the course in 26th with a time of 2:27:56.
A successful trip with the principle aim to give international exposure to developing senior and under 23 athletes. Lots of lessons learnt and adjustments to take home to training. Thank you to all the staff who volunteered their free time to help support the trip and the team. Well done to all the athletes who represented Great Britain well.
Full results from the event can still be found here and you can rewatch the racing here. Unfortunately it seems the short course racing live stream seems to have been removed from Youtube.
The next international event is the European Championships, taking place between Tuesday 23rd July to Sunday 28th July. We look forward to seeing how the international team gets on. We are also counting down to our National Long Course Championships on the 13th-14th July in Reading. For more information, visit the entries page here. Entries are welcome from British clubs, independents and also internationals.
The 2024 Canoe Marathon World Cup team have successfully arrived in Germany to compete this weekend. Our team of athletes will be racing on Saturday 1st June in the Short Course Distance and Sunday 2nd June in the Long Course Distance. Full schedule can be viewed below in the images.
Start lists for all events can be found here and live results should appear via the International Canoe Federation website page here. Any live updates from our British team will be shared via our social media platforms.
All racing will be live streamed via the PlanetCanoe YouTube Channel. To find out more about how to join as a member, visit our “How to watch Canoe Marathon” page here. Click the link below to find the live stream on the day.
Following the conclusion of the May assessments, the Selection Committee met to select the European Championship team, including the Para Demonstration event, and the Sanabria K4 team. The Selection Committee would like to thank Elmbridge Canoe Club for hosting the K2/C2 and K1/K2 races as well as Reading Canoe Club for hosing the Junior Women K2 re-run. The Short Course Nationals, held at Peterborough, was also used to inform these selections.
The Europeans team was selected first. Funding was available for up to five paracanoe athletes, and with four strong athletes available, all were named onto the team. For the Championship event the team size was increased to 16 (from 14) this year to enable the new “first-past-the post” policy. The application of the revised policy saw 13 athletes automatically securing their places. 3 places were released back due to athletes doubling up and only one canoe available. These 3 places were filled using benchmarking across classes. Finally the Selectors optimised the team using the Team Profile Table. Where the program allows, additional entries may be added using the athletes already selected in their lead events. This will be done post announcement after discussion with the athletes, their coaches and the event team leader.
Finally the Sanabria K4 was selected. For the SMK4, this was selected from the two fastest K2s not selected for the Europeans. For the SWK4, the lead assessment of the K2 at Elmbridge was used with supporting evidence from the Short Course Nationals.
We would like to congratulate the athletes on their selections to their respective teams.
As per the 2024 Selection Policy (published here), any requests to review the selections must be made in writing to the Chair of the Selection Committee, Nanette North at Marathon Selectors marathon.selectors@vol.paddleuk.org.uk within 48 hours of the publication of this document, i.e. by 5pm on Friday 31st May 2024.
Please note that the Marathon Racing Committee ACM will be taking place on the 8th July at 8pm.
Each club needs to nominate a representative to receive voting rights during the ACM. This can be done on the link below and should be done by 10pm on Monday 1st July: https://forms.gle/hSKZ5bfzywjTu7t39
The ACM offers a formal space for the marathon racing community to engage with the committee and support the development of the sport further. We strongly encourage ALL clubs involved with marathon racing to attend and nominate a representative to vote. We also encourage ALL members of the marathon racing committee to attend even without voting rights.
Incidentally, the MRC are looking for feedback on increasing participation at the Short Course National Championships and would be delighted for any feedback from individuals/clubs before the ACM. Please also ensure this is complete by 10pm on Monday 1st July so that your views can be heard!
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