Stafford and Stone Canoe Club’s youngest and newest group of paddlers competed at their first Canoe Slalom event at Stone on the weekend of 18th/19th October.
The group of 12 young paddlers aged between 10 and 12 have only been canoeing at the club since May. They attend weekly training sessions on the River Trent with club competition coach Andy Neave leading the coaching team.
At the slalom event the paddlers competed in the entry level Division 4 race, with paddlers of all ages attending from a wide variety of other canoe clubs. Competing at your first slalom can be quite daunting but the Stafford and Stone group rose to the challenge and all completed the courses.
Star performance of the weekend came from Tyler Dickinson, who won the Women’s Kayak race on the Sunday. Other top performances came from Bex Harratt who took 2nd place on Saturday in Women’s Kayak, with Dhanuja Perera also 2nd and Harvey Groves 3rd in the Saturday Men’s Kayak competition. All four gained promotion to Division 3, where they will now face tougher competition. They do, however, have plenty of time to prepare as the 2014 season draws to a close and their next canoe slalom competition will not be until 2015.
