Bishop’s Stortford Canoe Club members handled choppy conditions well to achieve good results at the National Sprint Regatta in Nottingham.
The seven-strong team competed in K1, K2 and K4 races over 200m, 500m and 1,000m on the 2km-long, purpose-built regatta lake at Holme Pierrepont.
Jasper Kirtland was promoted from the mini sprint to the intermediate class at the end of the 2023 season and thoroughly enjoyed moving up a level.
He qualified fastest for the K1 500m race in the heats before coming second in the final (2min 46.49sec).
He also paired up with Matthew Anderson, of Leighton Buzzard CC, in the K2 intermediate races and they came second in both the K2 200m (1.00.19) and K2 500m (2.38.59).
Rupert Kirtland, in the under-12s mini sprint B class, came fourth in the K1 200m (1.34.17) before pairing with Connor Bates (Leighton Buzzard) to come third in the mini sprint A K2 500m final (3.17.17).
They partnered with the winners of that race, Lexi Small and Freya Snell (Wolverhampton and Royal Leamington Spa CCs), to take first place in the K4 500m mini sprint (2.51.27).
In the paddle-ability class, Oliver Klumpler came third in the K1 200m final (1.10.88) and fourth in the K1 500m final (3.32.99). As one of only two juniors in the class, he achieved two first places in his age group.
Joao Spinola, who was representing BSCC at a sprint regatta for the first time, competed in the men’s D class (combined with master’s C/D) and came fifth in the K1 500m final (2.28.81) and a brilliant second in the K1 200m final (55.77sec).
He also partnered with Joe Fitzpatrick in the K2 men’s A/B and master’s A K2 500m final, coming a very respectable third (2.10.00).
Fitzpatrick also competed in the men’s B class, with his results including fourth in both the K1 500m final (2.22.97) and K1 1,000m final (5.21.48).
Rich Winstanley took part in the master’s B class (combined with men’s C) and came seventh in the K1 1,000m final (5.52.28) and eighth in the K1 500m final (2.45.02).
As it was a junior selection event, Eddie Kirtland was competing in the boys’ under-16 class as opposed to boys’ C. He took part in a number of heats, qualifying for the K1 final in the 200m (ninth, 55.27) and the K4 500m final in conjunction with paddlers from Gailey, Richmond and Worcester clubs, coming seventh in 2.06.15.
When the promotions were announced at the end of the event, Jasper Kirtland was promoted from the intermediate class to boys’ D.
