Joe Clarke – former Alleyne’s Academy pupil and member of Westbridge Park’s Stafford and Stone Canoe Club – will be competing for Team GB at the 2016 Rio Olympics after a dramatic three days of racing at Lee Valley in London.
But it was heartache for London 2012 Olympian Lizzie Neave, who was edged out of the Rio team at the national selection trials by Fiona Pennie by the closest of margins.
Joe Clarke grabbed his ticket to Rio in the K1 class with a nailbiting final race today, edging out Scotland’s Huw Swetnam.
After the race, Joe told British Canoeing: “I really can’t put into words how I feel right now. It was a three-day event which came right down to the wire on the last race of the last day. I didn’t exactly start off the best this weekend, having finished third on day one, so to come through really meant so much and it took a lot of mental strength.
“I won back to back yesterday with fantastic runs. I came today with a similar plan to put one down in the first and I did that. I knew it was beatable and we saw that with Bradley on his second run. He took the time so I thought I’ve got to do this again and took a few seconds again and fortunately that was enough for the win.”
Huge congratulations to Joe. His place has to be ratified and will be officially announced next week.
And commiserations to Lizzie Neave. Four years ago at the London 2012 selection trials, it was Lizzie who beat Fiona Pennie to take the sole K1W berth. But today, in the last run of the final race, Pennie turned the tables to put Lizzie into second place.
Stafford and Stone Canoe Club’s Adam Burgess missed out on a Rio 2016 spot but has his sights firmly set on the 2020 Games after he made it into the Team GB national squad for 2016. But he’s planning a rest first, as he told the Staffordshire Newsletter: “I didn’t really have a break after the 2012 cycle so I’ve not switched off properly really for a number of years – it’s very intense. I don’t think I’ll be able to stay off the water, I love it too much, but maybe just not every day for the next month or so. I’m also going to head out to Australia and New Zealand for the new year to kick off my Tokyo campaign.”
Stafford and Stone’s Mark Proctor, who partners in the C2 class with Etienne Stott, came third over the national selection weekend.
Jasmine Royle rounded off a successful weekend with a second place today, to add to her second place from day one and third on day two. Tom Brady, meanwhile, claimed a second, a third and a fourth place in the K1M.
