Open & British National Paracanoe, Senior and Junior Sprint Championships 2024

Last weekend 23 Norwich paddlers came home with an impressive haul of 16 National Championship medals.

We didn’t have to wait long for our first medal, Kamila Sklenarova winning Silver in K2 500 with Frankie at 9.30 Saturday morning. Over the course of the weekend the Silver medals kept coming for Kamila, k1 500, 500 mixed with Flynn, k1 200 and k1 1000.

Saturday saw further Silver medals for Lucy Lee-Smith k1 500, 200 and it was great to see three crews with Norwich paddlers in the u16 mixed k2 500 final. Well done Ollie, Eva, Dom and Jasmine.

The medals kept coming on Sunday, Lucy with Hanah Brown taking Gold in Senior k2 500 with Flo Duffield and Maia missing out on Bronze by 0.6 secs. Flo and Maia made up for that though with Silver in the k2 200. The u14 k4 crew of Hugo, William, Tom and Harrison were rewarded for changing their minds and staying to race with Bronze medals in the 500, not bad for their first season as u14s. Tom Mableson bagged a Bronze with crewmates from Wey, Lincoln and Falcon in u18 k4 500. James How and Timothy Dowden won Bronze Senior k2 1000 and Lucy added a final Bronze to her haul in k1 1000.

Well done to everyone who raced and supported the racers. National Regattas are a big event and it takes commitment from all concerned to make it happen. It’s not just about winning medals, it’s about teamwork and having fun together and supporting each other. Well done in particular Warrick, Hugo, Ollie, Tom, Harrison and William who all stepped up a category at this regatta and got out there and did it.

Race of the weekend goes to Harry Sewell-catchpole, 1st in Final 2 u18 k1 200 with a photo finish, that was a goodun’.

I’m stepping down as sprint rep at the end of this season, if you’d like to know more about the role, please feel free to come and have a word with me.

Well done Norwich.