Stafford and Stone Canoe Club turns 40!

Family, friends and members of Stafford and Stone Canoe Club were taken on an emotional journey back through time on Friday 8th November when the club celebrated its 40th anniversary.

Founder members Jon and Pauline Goodwin, and Ken Langford, set up the club – which is based at Westbridge Park in Stone – in 1973. Forty years later, it’s one of the most successful in the country.

The club have obtained 95 World and European Championship medals over the past 40 years!

The club got its first major success in 1979 where Liz Sharman won silver and Richard Fox won bronze and team gold at the World Chapionships in Jonquier. Two years later, Richard improved on his previous success by getting gold in both the individual and team categories. They were accompanied by a silver medal in the team K1W category by Liz Sharman and Jane Roderick, again at the World Championships in Bala.

1983 was a bumper year for the club. Richard once again saw off the competition and won gold, but was also accompanied by Liz who also took gold and her first World Championship win. Jane also took silver in the individual World Championship…. But their winning streaks didn’t just stop there. Liz and Jane went on to combine forces and win team gold. However, winning individual gold clearly wasn’t enough for Richard as he joined up with Paul McConkey to also win team gold.

All the years of hard work that Liz Sharman had put into her training was about to pay off: Bourg 1987 was her crowning moment in the club’s history. Liz won the 1986 Europa Cup in Seu and Mezzana, and the Pre-worlds in the previous year. Yet again, Richard, and this time with fellow club member Melvyn Jones, also won team gold in Bourg.

Fast forward to 1993 and again Richard Fox dominated the waters at the World Champion ships in Mezzana, Italy to become 5 times individual World Champion. He then went on to add to his collection by winning his 10th World Championship gold medal in the Mens Team with his partner, Melvyn, who also secured himself a bronze medal in the same individual Cahmpionship.

Richard’s sister also picked up a team bronze with club member Maria Francis, while Andrew and James Roden picked up an individual C2 bronze at the Junior Pre-Worlds. All this marked an era of dominant GBR success by the Stafford and Stone Canoe Club.

1997

Nowy Sacz, Poland

The Junior European Championships…

… and a new generation of athlete appears on the World stage, ready to make her mark in history.

Laura Blakeman takes gold in 1997, wins team silver at the Senior European Championships in Roudnice, Czech Republic in 1998, and goes on to represent GBR at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

In 2002, Laura takes an individual silver medal at the U23 European Championships in Bratislava (Slovakia), before taking team bronze at the Senior World Championships at Bourg, St. Maurice and a further bronze in the Individual World Championships in Augsburg, Germany, the following year.

In 2004, Stone’s 2012 Olympian Lizzie Neave takes to the waters and wins a team bronze at the Junior World Championships in Lofer, Austria. In 2005, Laura returns to Sydney and brings back a team silver with teammates H. Corrie and K. Welsh from the Women’s Senior World Championships. In 2006, Lizzie makes herself known yet again by taking a team silver at the U23 European Championships in Nottingham.

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It appears that Stafford and Stone Canoe Club is, once again, threatening to dominate the waters.

Whilst he picks up an Individual bronze at the same event in the Junior C1, Mark Proctor and Greg Pitt win team bronze at the Junior World Championships in Solkan, Slovenia. Greg goes on to open his own Individual medal count in the Junior European Championships by winning silver in Krakow, Poland. Club member Claire Kimberley also wins a team bronze in Krakow.

2009.

European Championships, Nottingham.

A time penalty in the final meant no individual medal for Lizzie. Unphased by this set back, Lizzie came back strongly alongside Laura Blakeman. the pair have so far won 5 team bronze medals and 2 silver medals…. But all that was about to change. In Nottingham, 2009, Lizzie and Laura paddled past the competition to win gold on home turf! (or should that be surf?). However, Lizzie wasn’t finished with 2009 just yet, adding a further Individual bronze and team gold to her collection at the World Championships in La Seu d’Urgell, Spain

After the club’s success over the years, the GBR Junior Team were beginning to turn heads, and by 2010, club mates Adam Burgess and George Tatchell won team gold at the Junior World Championships in Fois. The boy’s success was quickly followed by the girls: Natalie Wilson and Emily Woodcock took the team gold medal in the same Championship.

Stafford and Stone Canoe Club got their best results in their history in 2011 when all their paddlers medalled at all age-groups .

And the best news for the club was yet to come in 2012…

… Lizzie Neave would be representing Great Britain in the Olympics.

Away from the Olympic games, Adam, Greg and George also had successes of their own when they picked up C2 team medals in both the U23 World and European Championships. Natalie Wilson also joined the medals with a silver in Wausau. But Adam and George paddled one better and achieved a team gold in the Senior European Championships in Augsburg. All this before the 2012 Olympics in London were due to start!

Tight and competitive racing saw Lizzie finish just shy of the final in 12th place. Despite this, she had already made Club, Town and sport proud.

So. The present day: 2013. With the Olympic rings now packed away for another 4 years, would the club continue to dominate the waters?

The answer was yes!

The U23 World Championships in Liptovsky saw Emily and Jazz take gold in the C1 Women’s Team event, whilst Joe, Tom and Mikey took the K1m team silver. Lizzie added yet another silver to her collection from the European Championships in Krakow, and in Prague, Adam and Greg joined forces with the newly crowned World Champions to win a C2 team bronze.

95 World and European Championship medals in 40 years!