Five of Stafford and Stone Canoe Club’s paddlers have been recognised in the end-of-season national rankings.
And 12 of the club’s juniors have been selected for British Canoeing talent squads for next season, proof that the rich seam of superb paddlers produced by the club shows no sign of dwindling.
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The end of the canoe slalom season arrived last weekend with the announcement by the British Canoeing Slalom committee of the British National Champions and the Junior National Champions of 2015.
Stafford and Stone Canoe Club – based at Westbridge Park in Stone – have a long history of canoe slalom champions, both national and international. This year has been another hugely successful one for the club’s paddlers, with a host of trophies and Rio 2016 Olympics selection for Joe Clarke.
Five of the club’s paddlers were recognised in this year’s awards:
British National Champions 2015
Top Premier U23’s – K1 Men – Joe Clarke – Slalom Committee Trophy
Top Veterans – C1 Men – Dave Royle (Chairman of S&SCC)
Junior National Champions 2015
Top J18s
K1 Men – Christopher Bowers – Colin Ralph Trophy
Division One Champions 2015 (Highest Ranking Junior Newcomer to Division 1 this year)
K1 Men Junior – Kurts Adams–Rozentals – Peak Junior Award
C1 Women Junior – Jessica Magson – Cool Blue Junior Award
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Meanwhile, a raft of junior paddlers from Stafford and Stone Canoe Club have made it into British Canoeing talent squads for next season, proof that the rich seam of superb paddlers produced by the club shows no sign of dwindling.
Launched in April 2013, the England Talent Programme aims to develop a world-leading talent infrastructure for athletes throughout England. It is led and managed by British Canoeing and funded by Sport England.
Stafford and Stone Canoe Club have successfully contributed talent coaching as part of this programme, which has shown in the amount of local junior paddlers that have achieved places on the four squads since the conception of this programme.
In September and October many S&SCC junior paddlers went over to the National White Water Centre at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham to attend profiling days with British Canoeing. On Monday 2nd November the Talent Squads were announced for 2015/2016.
Stafford & Stone juniors achieved the following places:
England Performance Squad – Paul Sunderland K1
England National Talent Squad – Chris Bowers K1, Mike Dickinson K1, Nikita Setchell K1, Sam Maingay K1/C1
Central Super Regional Squad (SRS) – Jessica Magson K1/C1, Kurts Adams-Rozentals K1
Central Regional Talent Academy – Edward Dickinson K1, George Harratt K1/C1, Luc Royle K1/C1, Shannon Judge K1, Thomas Mayer K1.
These successful juniors will now be focusing on their winter training with their squads and we shall see them all competing at the annual pre-season S&SCC Mini series from mid-January through to February 2016. This is a great chance for them to test out their winter training before the slalom racing season gets under way in March.
Congratulations to all junior paddlers that achieved a place!
