marathon-canoeing.org.uk

Venue: Centre of Rome, river, with flow, within the site of national row/canoe centre.

Staff: Dyson Pendle Norwich (Manager) Melvin Swallow Chester, Sarah Akerman Wey, Dave Sackman Reading, Stan Missen Bradford.

Weather: A comfortable 25 degrees some rain.

Team:
Sen. Men K2; Ben Farrel /John Simmons Royal/Wey, Stuart West/Jonny Tye Worcester.
Sen. Women K2; Fay Lamph/Lizzy Broughton, Wey/Richmond.
U23 Men K1; Tim Pendle Norwich. U23 Women; Jenny Illage Runcorn.
Jun. Men K2; George Barnicote/Louis Allen Cokethorpe, Albert Hicks/Dan Johnson Norwich Chelmsford.
Jun. Men K1; Albert Hicks Norwich, Charlie Welsh Wey.
Jun. Women K2; Amy Ward/Rebi Simon Elmbridge.
Jun. Women K1; Amy Ward Elmbridge.

The event featured a strong field in all classes as usual, with 40 countries attending and some Olympians from London 2012 with medallists like Pimenta (Portugal silver 1000Mts K2) and many others from various sprint teams especially in the junior classes.

U23 men K1: Tim got off to a good start and was always in the mix in the front group which was fast slow-fast slow, at one point a group of 6 travelling at high speed with second group some 3 minutes down, just to come back together again with pimento POR and Grant Van de welt (the eventual winner) dictating the race. Minde NOR last year’s winner finishing 4th Tim 8th only 42secs down and only 58sec splitting the first 12 boats.

U23 Women K1: Jenny normally struggles off the start and then establishes herself in the  second half of the field, finishing here in world cup events. She fared better on the world U23 women start (a much harder race), clearly some work has been done is this area. She improved her position during the race and finished 9th ,4mins down on the leaders instead of 8mins as she did at the world cup.

Junior Men K1: A very fast start as you can expect, Albert and Charlie both struggled with pace off the line, Albert with few years experience at this level, quickly picked a good line in clear water downstream, with that and picking his way up the inside coming back up stream, he  was with front group of 8 or 9 by the portage. This split into two after the portage and with two Hungarians in the front group there was no slowing down. Charlie was in the next group back after Albert. This stayed the same until the last lap with Albert’s group trailing by 40sec for most of the race, when Albert made an all or nothing effort and caught the front group at the bottom turn. This ignited the front group and the medals were decided by the last portage. Albert finished 1.10secs down on the winner.

Junior Girls K1: Amy got off to a cracking start and looked comfortable throughout the race, she negotiated the portages well which is not considered her strong point. The two Hungarian girls worked together to get away at the last lap leaving Amy and the talented Belgian girl to fight it out for bronze. Amy ran the portage well and dropped the Belgian by 60Mts. Amy made a great effort to stay away for the last 1500Mts but the Belgian proved too strong and beat her over the line with a sprint finish.

Junior Boys K2 : Again a strong field Louis and George had a blistering start riding on the wash of the leading crews, as like most junior racing with large numbers all sorts of clag ups and crashes happened within the first 500Mts. Albert and Dan got caught up in the washes with their boat turning sideways they struggled in the first 500Mts. Two crews fell in, two ended up in the trees and one came across Louis and George running over George’s paddle which broke clean in half. They paddled over to our supporting staff, who had a paddle waiting with minimum time lost. Meanwhile Albert and Dan also had trouble but were very fast and managed to catch the front group . Again the Hungarians were dominant and broke the group early, leaving the second group chasing. Albert and Dan did well at the sprint finish and finished 6th. Louis and George worked their way up the field and finished in a credible 14th after their problems at the start. 

Junior Girls K2: Amy and Rebi started well and controlled their race and although they had some  moments when they looked as if they would lose the pace in the front group, Amy’s driving and Rebi’s power  kept them in contention.  All four boats in the top group went into the last portage together, after leaving the portage the boats were separated and the girls crossed the finish line an impressive 3rd place.

Sen. Men’s K2: This was the fastest race at the championships, Jonny and Stuart got a good start in the front group, Ben and John had to avoid a clag up and sensibly skirted round to pick up clear water. By the time they reached the first portage Jonny and Stuart were comfortably in the front group which was moving  at high speed, with Ben and John trailing two groups back.  Ben didn’t panic and believed they had the speed to get where they needed to be- with the front guys.  By the time the next portage came around our guys were all together in the front group, although strung out over the portage. The Spanish crews pushed the pace on and broke the group, getting away with the South Africans.  By the third lap, Jonny and Stuart were feeling the pace and had dropped off the chasing pack. Ben and john were now in a strong position in the second group and looked comfortable. There was an incident at the next portage which saw Ben pushed in the river by the Argentines which was protested.    Ben looked deflated after he had dragged himself back on to the pontoon, but wasted no time with getting back. They lost around 40secs through unfair behaviour at the portage.  By the 6th lap they were back with a group of 4 chasing the two crews in the lead, they finished 6th and Jonny and Stuart a respectful 14th.

Sen Womern K2 : Lizzy and Fay believed they could do well at this championship and were fired up for it. The start was quick and they went off well, they were caught by a crew from behind slightly, but enough to miss a couple of hard strokes at a crucial time meant they didn’t make the front group which they needed to settle down. They chased the group hard to the portage not quite making it. They suffered over the next 2K as a result, they paddled well for the rest of the race picking up a few places on the way and still managed to beat both Spanish crews, no mean feat, they shouldn’t feel too disappointed with top 10 in the world, they are still a quality K2.  

Summary : Although only one medal,  we finished in the top 10 in every class we entered, which shows the depth we have in the team. Make no mistake medals at this level are hard to come by. It was clear that poor portage arrangements led to some ugly scenes during the get out and get in, something the Italians should have taken more advice from those who have more experience.  

Dyson Pendle Team manager.

23rd/24th June was the date for the only World Cup event of 2012, a depart from the normal two events and probably partly because of the general economic climate but also down to this being an Olympic year..
 
19 Nations attended the event and the relaxing of the strict rules on the number of competitors that each Nation could enter saw a welcome increase in numbers competing.
 
The racing was held on a large lake in a picturesque setting, surrounded by trees, just to the North West of Copenhagen based at he Bagsvaerd Rowing Stadium. The organisers had done a good job and the event was well run, which bodes well for this venue in 2013 when it will host the World Championships.
 
Accommodation for our contingent of 16 was in a nearby Sports hostel, some 15 minutes drive from the course, which boasted rooms that challenged the size of those on a cross channel ferry - very cosy!
 
As always the very tight  MRC budgets meant that getting to the event was a two stage affair.  Athletes being flown out close to the event so ensure that arrive reasonably rested and by budget airline, whilst the boats were transported by ferry and then overland leaving a few days earlier. This has been the chosen method for some time and seems to work well but does always rely upon our volunteer staff drivers ( thanks to Melvin and Jamie )  having to endure some extensive, and boring, long distance driving with a heavy trailer in tow. Athletes arrived Thursday evening allowing some pre race preparation on Friday morning in very wet and windy conditions.
 
The crammed racing schedule commenced early on the Saturday morning following some very competitive Masters racing on the Friday.  The first race was shortly after 9.30am and the final race did not start until 15.00 so the lake was not open for training throughout the day, something that was not ideal and something that will probably be changed for next year.  Racing on the Sunday started earlier still and again saw a crammed programme, cumulating with the Senior Men's K2 at 14.30.
 
Previous experience of the lake told us that conditions could be calm and burning hot, or rough and windy and that things could change quickly - I know of another course at Nottingham like that!
 
As it happened most days were gusty presenting some challenging conditions at the far turn with a side chop - although not enough to need decks to be worn - but the weekend was marked by the near continuous , at times, torrential rain....!!      During Saturday visibility was at one stage no more than 500mtrs due to low cloud and rain that started early and finished around 5pm, and then just as the days racing completed - the sun came out!
 
The portage area was at the start/finish end of the course so all the action, and there certainly was some, took place at one end of the course and the paddlers progress at the distant far end was watched on large screens, which surprisingly continued to work for most of the weekend despite the near constant rain.
 
Saturday saw our paddlers off to a good start with Albert Hicks in the Junior men's K1 in the leading group and some fast portaging.  A family group of swans swimming across his bow as he came into the last portage hindered his progress enough to see him trail out of the portage but achieve a creditable 4th only 22 seconds off first place.   This was followed with by a gutsy performance by Amy Ward who was working well in a final group of four and showing the opposition that despite what she thought, she can run!  ( perhaps that was because she was not  wearing her pink wellies whilst portaging.... ) the final group of three broke up and a Silver medal was collected by Amy, just 15 seconds down on the leader.  A very creditable performance.
 
A strong Women's K1 race saw Jenny Illage amongst the pack with the lead dominated by the Italian paddler who simply was in a league of her own and paddled away from all the others!. Jenny took an unfortunate swim leaving the portage when someone clipped her paddle and after a difficult re-entry on to a slippery landing stage with no hand holds finished 13th.
 
The final race of the day was Senior Men's K1 which saw 32 entries and world class standards.  There was the normal explosive start with Tim in the mix working the washes and dealing with a large group changing group which  finally broke up after some furious portaging on lap 5. At stages it looked as if we may see a further medal however in the final stages  things changed again and it  was not to be with Tim finishing a creditable 10th in this high quality field.
 
Sunday was a fantastic day - apart from the weather which was still wet, but more so, however it was also a little less gusty. The racing was however exciting and our paddlers showed some real quality in their performances.
 
Early on George Barnicoat and Louis Allen set the pace and showed the others that its just a quick to run a portage with the boat on your shoulder as by your side -  as long as you know what you are doing!   Even a dropped paddle on one portage was not enough to upset our pair as we saw Louis paddle on the ground being neatly scooped up by Georges foot as he ran past only to give it back to his partner as they got back in!  The rain was heavy and the landing stages by now very slippery but the boys raced on their strength obvious, despite some explosive attempts by others to drop them......Gold was their reward in the final rush to the line, but it was hardly ever in question to those watching.
 
JWK2 saw our girls of Sam Rees Clarke and Nicole Williams only just off the pace in a fast start with the three Danish crews working well together. Swift portaging and constant pressure saw them maintain their position in the second group and through the last portage they absolutely 'nailed it' on  to the finish line and  leaving the others trailing in their wake.....sadly no medal but a superb paddle to 4th place.
 
Next was the turn of Fay Lamph and Lizzie Broughton in the Senior Women K2  - we were hoping that they would fair well against a strong Italian and Danish boats. The field was not huge but had quality paddlers and the two French boats were an unknown quality.  Fast portaging and swift runs saw our girls quickly in control with the Italians dropping out soon on.  With little over half the race gone Fay and Lizzie decided to test the ability of the Danish boat and stormed away leaving them scrabbling over the back wash and slipping slowly back.....our crew just powered on and seemed to get faster and faster taking over a minute out during the next lap and steaming through  to  gold, two minutes 29 seconds clear...a quality paddle which saw them prepared to take the lead, commit themselves and hold on to it from early on.
 
The final race of the Men's Senior K2 saw an impressive start of over 19 boats with Ben Farrell and Jon Simmons quickly establishing their position after a very fast start. The plan was to work with, and then up the field, a strategy which is not with out  its dangers , but after  a huge front group formed ( at one stage 14 boats) our lads slowly started their come back from some way down, until they were back with the leaders  through the portage.  The Spanish boat was having none of it and was now pulling away, in front in a class of its own.  Holding position and looking good our paddlers  suffered a  misplaced boat coming into the pontoon and  slip on the last portage which saw the others get a vital few meters and despite chasing hard they were unable to catch back up, coming 4th and only missing 3rd by some 6 seconds, down 1.17 on the creditable winners, Spain.
 
Immediately following racing a quick pack up and boat load saw the team return to the airport - still raining -  for our return flight arriving late Sunday evening.
 
The team represented us well and deserve congratulations all round.
 
Stan Missen
Team Manger Copenhagen