Four Richmond paddlers made the long trip to Norwich for the K2 Marathon Assessment race on Sunday, the last selection race before the European Championships in Portugal in early June. The races followed the international format which will be adopted from next year, with the lap distances shortened and the number of laps and portages increased.
In the senior mens K2 class (8 laps), Brett Irvine & Tom Sharpe were the first Richmond boat to race in this category for a long time, and they didn’t disappoint. This was the first time the two had raced together but they were well on the pace, finishing 2nd, just 20 seconds behind the GB squad boat and well ahead of the rest of the field. Awesome grind….
Nick Romain raced in the junior mens class (6 laps) with Sam Plummer from Leighton Buzzard. The boys were easily in the front group throughout the race and finished 2nd in a sprint to the line. This was another good result for Nick following on from a 2nd and 3rd at the two K1 assessments.
Finally Lizzie Broughton raced with long term K2 partner Fay Lamph from Wey and won the senior ladies class (7 laps), in what was a disappointing turnout of just 2 senior ladies boats.
Excellent results all round, it’s been a very long time since Richmond had four paddlers at a marathon assessment race and even longer since three Richmond boats have finished in the top 2. Full results available here.
