The Sharks take third place in the London Regional Canoe Regatta with some excellent personal results.

The eight-paddler team took to the water at London Regatta Centre for the competition, which saw various podium finishes in the individual events. It was also many of the team’s first regional events after they started training sessions with the Sharks at Osterley Park and at Hillingdon Leisure Centre last year, under specialist sprint coach, Beata Fabriaska.

Team manager Neal Underwood said: “Third place at the London Regional Sprint Regatta is amazing. “These youngsters raced very well and gained valuable experience to take forward. “Our aim is to become the top sprint club and to achieve this we need more people to get involved. “We have great kit, great coaches and great paddlers — all we need is more of them.”

The youngest competitors were nine-year-old twins Maja and Marcel Krukowska who were paddling in their first ever competition and against 12-year-olds. Marcel took third place in the 500m and Maja came third in the 200m race. In the Lightning class, Kiara Shehan, 12, and Johan Kukkohovi, 11, took first place for the girls and boys respectively. Lightnings are junior sprint boats ideal for youngsters just starting out in sprint racing.

In The Boys D race, Joel Gunnery and Conor Shehan, representing the Sharks in their first regional sprint event, finished seventh and eighth respectively in the 200m and 500m. Adam Stewart powered to victory in the Men’s D 500m by five seconds in a time of 2:21:9 and in the 200m race with a four second margin, finishing on 53.5 seconds. Grant Underwood came second in the Men’s C 500m event with a time of 2:18.8 but was victorious in the 200m in a time of 48.7 seconds. The team also entered a K2 race for the first time with Underwood and Stewart taking victory in the 500m race in 2:14:9, an impressive 16 seconds faster than second place. However, a close 200m race left the pair in second place by 0.75 of a second in a time of 44.8 seconds.