A Brilliant Day of Fun and Learning
We hosted the second of or Legacy Wild Water Races on Sunday 4th October 2026, following on form our amazing one in March. Learning from previous event the Legacy Programme will continue to evolve with your help and input.
Entry Level Paddling
We had a session exclusively for entry level paddlers and paddlers with less experience of Wild Water Racing, which is designed to help grow teh sport and get more people involved.
Those new to the Discipline can start in general purpose boats on the lower stretches of the course and gradually work their way up as the get more confident. It was great to see paddlers who went from the lower levels to completing the whole course. This feature will remain as part of future events. Many thanks to Shark Coach Giles Brunning for leading this activity and Imran Sulamanji for supporting him.
More Advanced Paddlers
We then had a dedicated period of time where those with more experience could practice on the course, one of the great things about Lee valley facility is the travelator that takes you from the bottom of the course to the top without having to get out of your boat. This means you can get a lot of runs in!
The British Team
The British Team joined us as part of their training weekend, meaning we had paddlers at every level taking part in the event. It is a great opportunity for youngsters and those new to the sport to be able to train along side elite athletes and see what the are aspiring to. A big thank upon to the members of the British Team and the Team coaches who were very supportive of developing paddlers. It is nice to be involved in a sport where we all belong to one family and everyone is there to help and support each other.
Canoes and Kayaks
One of the best developments in recent years has been the encouragement of people to get involved in both Canoes and Kayaks, and we were able to help with this development by providing boats and kit for paddlers. We would also like to thank Nottingham Kayak Club, for bringing a trailer load of boats for paddlers to use during the event.
The Race
As part of the development day we held a non-ranking Wild Water race, enabling people to do as many runs as they wish in as many classes as the wished, including, the increasingly popular, Topo Duos (K2s). Whilst these boats are tremendous fun, for all ages, they also provide a great opportunity for less experienced paddlers to go down the course with paddlers who have done it before.
Women’s K1
The fastest Woman on the day was Kerry Christie with a time of 32.62 seconds, just ahead of her sister Emma, whose time was 35.15. Both paddlers race for Break Out Canoe Unit.
In third place and first J18 was Hattie McNeill from Proteus Canoe Club in a time of 35.95. Elise Landsborough, from Nottingham Kayak Club, followed her with a time of 37.66, she was second J18.
Kate Kent (Proteus Canoe Club) was the first V45 down the course recording a time of 39.52, earning her 4th place.
Two under eighteens took 6th and 7th place; Ciara Maloney of Nottingham Kayak Club, (41.12) and Emily Hill from Wiltshire Youth Canoe Club (43.82).
Nottingham’s Melissa Johnson (44.52) came 8th, she was also first Wavehopper.
Three Junior 16s were next; the top J16 was Io Lepine Gay from Wiltshire Youth Canoe Club (46.32), followed by Nottingham’s Priya Henriques (46.53), then Allie Reeves from Break Out (51.47), Both Priya and Allie were paddling Wavehoppers.
Anaya Dhillon from The Sharks was top J14 in a time of 1:02.56 with fellow Shark paddler and youngster paddler of the day, Aliana Sulemanji winning the Under 10s prize, her time was 1:58.41. Both Shark paddlers were issuing General Purpose boats.
Men’s K1
Freddie Brown from Wiltshire Youth Canoe Club was the fastest paddler in a time of 27.85 seconds! Eddie MacKintosh from Manchester Canoe Club was just 1.06 seconds behind, he was also first Under 23. Third place went to Will Stevoy in a time of 30.07.
Nick Boreham from Nottingham was 4th, his time was 31.10. followed by the first Veteran, V50, Jamie Christie from Break Out (32.43).
First J18 was Nottingham‘s Malachi Grant (32.50) who was followed by another J18, Finn Lovell from Worcester Canoe Club.
In eighth place with a time of 33.94, Was Shark paddler Alistair Smorthit, racing for the first time in six years.
The First J14 was from Nottingham, Jack Maloney (34.62), with Break Out‘s Harvey Reeves (J18) coming tenth (35.75).
The First Wavehopper Paddler was Andrew Crowhurst from Kayak Northumbria, a time of 36.85, second Wavehopper was Junior 18, James Quinn from Break Out (37.66); James also did more runs than any other paddler with 9, as a non-ranking race we allowed people as many runs and they could manage and recorded the best for the results.
The came two Shark paddlers both racing in Slalom boats; Jannik Petersmann (V35), racing Wild Water for the first time took 37.85 second to complete the course; whilst Khaleel Ziauddin recorded 39.63 seconds.
Selwyn Richards (V55) from Pool Harbour Canoe Club was next with a time of 41.90.
The oldest paddler of the day was V70 Antony Cowderoy, from Shepperton Slalom Canoe Club, who had in fact rushed over from Shepperton where he raced in the Veterans event at Shepperton Division 2 slalom. His time; 44.04.
Under 14 Murphy Minns, from Nottingham finished in a time of 44.52.
Giles Brunning (V55), had spent most of the morning in the water with beginners, getting them on the course for they first time, he then raced in a GP boat for The Sharks in a time of 46.25
V60, Malcolm Blowers from Meridian Canoe Club raced in a Wavehopper, finishing in 47.16. Shark Paddler Andrew Ktenas (V45) steered his GP boat down the course in 53.48.
the first J12 down the course was Ezekiel Browne from The Sharks, his first time of white water, took several attempts in practice but eventually got all the way down in the race in 2:33.69 in a GP boat. Well done Ezikiel fantastic attitude and determination.
Women’s Canoe
First place in the canoe singles went to Kate Kent from Proteus in a time of 44.56.
In Canoe Doubles it was Emma and Kerry Christie from Break Out, their time was 44.85.