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RICHMOND Canoe Club has taken two new kayaks into service that were paid for in part by grants totalling £1,000 from the Richmond Sports Council and the British Canoe Union (BCU).

At a launch event attended by Colin Daily, chairman of the Richmond Sports Council, and Sue Hornby, head of the BCU's young people's programme, Richmond Canoe Club's commodore Trevor Wetherall (pictured above) said, "We are delighted with the support shown to us by both the Richmond Sports Council and the BCU. The new boats will be used in particular by younger paddlers at the club. We place a lot of stock in introducing children to the sport of canoeing and encouraging them to make use of the river."

According to Sue Hornby of the BCU, the excellent work done by Richmond Canoe Club with young people was one of the reasons for allocating the club money with which to purchase the new kayaks.

Richmond Canoe Club actively promotes canoeing in the borough. It runs a variety of courses for canoeists of all ages and abilities, and participates throughout Britain and Europe in racing events. The club is the current holder of the team event title of the 125-mile Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race and was the winner of the 1999 National Interclub Sprint Racing Championships. The club has produced a number of international and Olympic class athletes over the last 40 years.

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The planning application to build on the site of the car park next door to the club house was approved at a council planning meeting this month. The development will include 14 apartments and associated parking facilities, limited undergroung parking facilities for the canoe club along with additional boat storage and a loading area complete with turning circle. In addition to this, the club's lease on the clubhouse will now need to be looked into and the possibility of purchasing a long extention will need to be addressed.

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Recent attempts at sourcing alternative parking adjacent to the clubhouse have been abandoned. It was felt that loading and unloading canoes would be too difficult given the sharp angle - oh and your car might fall in the river.

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Following the recent serving of a Schedule of Dilapidation on the club by our landlords work has been progressing at a furious pace. Using a mixture of sub-contracted specialists and our own in-house grafters the work is progressing well and should be completed in the next few weeks. The input from club members has been enormous and great credit must go to Mark Pearce and Mike Wells for marshalling the troops.

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Famous throughout the world of canoeing, Ireland's Liffey Descent has grown into one of the biggest events on the calendar. Once again Richmond paddlers were out in strength.

First off were the K2s with two Richmond boats in the fray. In the K2 class, Gargantuan Garner paired with the brave Ms Gradwell, made steady progress to the five mile marker before totally destroying their boat. The offending weir is but a stones throw from Garner's family home but clearly this old war horse's memory is fading with the years and his suspect steering saw them retreat to the broom wagon.

In the K1 class we had two strong contenders in SA paddler Mark Hutson and Irish International Shane O Quinn. A pile up in the Jungle section saw O'Quinn swim and become separated from his boat but Hutson's form was magnificent and he powered down to finish second, a really excellent result. Fellow South African Anton Fatti was paddling well in 5th place until he folded his boat on the last weir. Ross Lloyd paddled a steady race to finish 13th. Further back in the K1 class the Hendron Saga continued with broken rudders and swims all round but both did at least finish. Never a dull moment when there is a Hendron about.

The Wild Water Racer class has become something of a Richmond stronghold over the last five years and this was no exception. Last years silver and bronze medalists Shane Kelly and Sean Martin broke away at the start accompanied by a French paddler. At the long portage Kelly made a run for it and broke away to swap last years Silver for a Gold. Kelly last won this race in 1984 and this result was the culmination of a four year 'mission' to retake his title. A top result, well done Shane. The frenchman split the Richmond pair so Martin, on his twentieth Liffey, collected another Bronze. Conrad Passmore better known for his 200m sprinting prowess sensibly opted for a Wild Water Racer for his first Liffey and paddled well to finish 23rd.

A good development this year was the number of 'Native English' paddlers from Richmond, unlike previous years where the Richmond output was almost entirely Irish and South African.