Four paddlers from Stafford and Stone Canoe Club have been selected to represent Great Britain this year at under-23 and junior level.
Following selection events incorporated into the Premier slalom competition held at the 2012 Olympic white water course at Lee Valley, Joe Clarke, Adam Burgess and Jazz Royle take their places in the under-23 GB Team, while Chris Bowers gains selection to the Junior GB Team.
Both teams have been selected to compete at the under-23 and Junior World Championship in Brazil in April and also at the under-23 and Junior European Championship in Poland in August.
Joe Clarke, current GB Senior number one, claimed first place in the Men’s Kayak category. Clarke also secured victory in the Saturday Premier race with a convincing four-second winning margin although in the Sunday Premier race, errors on both runs down the course left Joe in fourth place.
Adam Burgess, placing 4th and 3rd in the Premier Men’s Canadian Singles races, claimed the 2nd position in the under-23 GB Team.
Jazz Royle had earned pre-selection to the Women’s Canadian Singles under-23 Team following her excellent 7th placing at the 2014 Senior World Championship. Jazz proved her ability by claiming 2nd place in both Premier races.
Sixteen-year-old Chris Bowers paddled superbly to win the Junior Men’s Kayak category and secure his trips to Brazil and Poland. His performances also gave him 12th and 9th positions in the Premier event.
The Lee Valley event was the opening Premier Slalom of the season and there were several other top Stafford and Stone performances.
Lizzie Neave, London 2012 Olympian, finished 2nd and 3rd in her Women’s Kayak races. This was Lizzie’s first race since May 2014 following a lengthy lay-off through injury and her results suggest that she is almost back to top form.
In Canadian Doubles Mark Proctor is now competing alongside Olympic Gold Medallist Etienne Stott (from Viking Kayak Club, Bedford), following the retirement of Tim Baillie. Mark and Etienne, who only came together in the summer of last year, were faced with racing against Olympic Silver medallists David Florence and Richard Hounslow (also the 2013 World Champions). Very close racing on both days between these crews resulted in a win for Mark and Etienne on day one with David and Richard claiming the honours on day two.
Tom Brady paddled a stunning second run in the Sunday event to claim victory in the Men’s Kayak race, a performance that would have proved difficult for Joe Clarke to beat, even without errors in his runs.
The season’s opening event suggests that Stafford and Stone paddlers are in good form and will be contesting places to compete at this year’s World Championships that are also being held at Lee Valley in September. With Olympic nation qualification at stake, home advantage should prove beneficial for Team GB to claim places for Rio 2016.
