The final sprint regatta of the season saw the best conditions of the season, with a flat lake the reward for the paddlers who had endured the extremely challenging conditions at some of the previous regattas this year. Richmond had a good size team entered, with paddlers in a wide range of divisions. This regatta was the National Championship event for the juniors, with medals up for grabs in the U14, U16 and U18 age groups.
The stars of the show were our U14s. In the boys, Joe completed a clean sweep across all distances and events, taking gold in K1 200m, K1 500m, K2 500m, K2 1000m, K4 500m and K4 1000m. In the K2 he was partnered with Harry, with Ollie joining them both in the K4 1000m. Not to be outdone, Lily also picked up 6 medals in the girls U14, winning the K1 200m, K2 500m, K2 1000m, K4 500m and K4 1000m and taking 3rd in K1 500m. Freya, the only one with a year left at this age group, made Final 1 in her K2 events and took a very close 4th place in the K4 1000m. Our other three junior kayaks were Ben and Jamie who were in a tough U16 age group and Isaac in U18- they didn’t make the finals this time but performed well in their heats. These were an excellent set of results from Mick’s group who have been training hard all year and are now among the best in the country in their age groups.
The fields were again small in the canoe races with Richmond making up most of the races. In the C1 1000m Ben and Adrian were 2nd and 3rd, and took 1st place in the C2 1000m (National U16 and U18 Champions) in an all Richmond race. They were followed by Gena in 2nd, Marvin in 3rd and Kyra and Jasmine in 4th (the only girls in the race and making them U16 National Champions). In the 200m Ben was 5th in final 1, with Adrian and Gena taking 1st and 2nd in final 2. Kyra took a clear victory in final 3. Ben and Adrian were 3rd in the C2 200m and 500m, and the Richmond paddlers formed a selection of C4s across the distances. Ben and Adrian will now go onto race at the Olympic Hopes regatta in Slovakia.
In the senior categories Tom took 1st place in the Mens B K1 1000m, and teamed up with Brett to take 2nd in the combined A/B K2 race. The also won the Mens B 500m race and finished 5th in the open mens K2 5000m. Freddie, Sam and Fred were all racing in mens B for the first time, with Sam making the final in the K1 500m. In mens C Jack was a very close 4th in both the 500m and 1000m. In the Masters C 1000m Tony W missed out on victory by just 0.02 seconds. Tony GN was 9th in the same race.
In the ladies race Sasha was making her Nottingham debut and stormed to victory in both the 200m and 500m (with a huge 5 second margin) in womens D, and is almost certain to be promoted. She joined together with Nikki, who was 2nd and 3rd in the K1 races, to paddle K2 and the pair took comfortable victories in both the 200m and 500m. Hilary and Sue were racing in the veterans class, taking 1st and 3rd and 2nd and 3rd in the 200m and 500m, and a 2nd in the K2 1000m. An excellent sight was the all Richmond ladies K4 that we were able to field, which took an emphatic victory in the C/D K4 500m.
There was a small team of lightnings racing at the regatta, with Zoe winning her K1 heat in Lightning A, and Rufus, Emilia and Melody paddling well in K1, K2 and K4 in Lightning B.
