Results from the first Legacy Race.
The first ever ranking Legacy Wild Water Race took place at the Lee Valley on Saturday 14th March, and what a day it was. It was part of The Sharks WWR Legacy Project and started with practice and development opportunities, that report can be read here.
The evening race was under floodlights which added to the atmosphere, which was already buzzing from a day of amazing action, with several UK international paddlers participating, including World Championship medal winners. You can download the results as a PDF here.
Ladies’ K1
No surprise that current Under 23 World Champion Kerry Christie from Break Out Canoe Unit came first in a time of 34.69 seconds.
Protues’s Hattie McNeill was second and first J16, followed by club mate Elizabeth Trelawny-Vernon in third and firs paddler using a slalom boat.
Isabel Green from Hemel Hempstead was 5th and first V45, also first paddler using a Wavehopper.
6th and 7th places were taken by Leighton Buzzard paddlers; Isabelle Johansson-Ward, and Lydia Oxtoby respectively.
Priya Henriques from Nottingham Kayak Club was the second J16 and 8th over all, she was paddling a Wavehopper.
The top Shark and first under-14 was Anaya Dhillon, who was 9th over all, paddling a play-boat. Her time was 62.56 Seconds.
Io Lépine Gay (J16), and Lily Ferris (J14), from Wiltshire Youth Canoe Club came 10th and 11th.
Cathy Hudson (V40) from Leighton Buzzard was 11th and Lola Angle from Wiltshire Youth was first Under 12 and 12th overall.
Ladies’ C1
First Place was Kerry Christie from Break Out in a time of 57.75, with Helen Nightingale form Bala in second place, and first V45.
Mens’s K1
In first place was Freddie Brown, who paddles for Hamble HPC and Wiltshire Youth, his time was 28.75 seconds!
In Second place was Malachi Grant form Nottingham, he was Also first J18, his time was 35.96
In third pace was The Sharks’ Grant Underwood, with a Time of 36.09.
Finn Lovell from Worcester was in 4th place and second J18.
Neil Blackburn from Royal Leamington Spa came in fifth place as well as first V60.
Next up was Leighton Buzzard‘s under-13 paddler Leon Dixon in sixth, who was also first Wavehopper.
The Sharks’ rising start Ivijah Campbell-Bryan was 7th over all and first J16, keeping him at the top of the J16 rankings for 2026. His time was 41.69 seconds.
Second V60 and second Wavehopper was Malcolm Blowers from Meridian Canoe Club, who came 8th overall.
Anson Coop was the first J14, he is from Wiltshire Youth and was placed 9th.
Geoff Lovell (V55) from Worcester came in 10th place, he was paddling a Wavehopper.
Ewan Bates, also in a Wavehopper was 11th and second J18, he paddles for Leighton Buzzard.
In 12th places was The Sharks’s Giles Brunning (V55), the same guy who was getting all the beginners on during the day. His time was 45.81, paddling a play-boat.
Second V60 of the day was Rod Grundy, who paddles for Lee Valley, in 13th place.
Toby Larcombe from Falcon Canoe Club in Oxford was third J18 and 14th over all paddling a Wavehopper.
Meridian’s Liubomyr Shvets (J16) came 15th, Third V60 was Proteus‘s Phil Gee in 16th place, and Anthony Newland from Pangbourne in 17th position.
In 18th place was another Shark Paddler, Ian Marsh, with a time of 53.88 paddling a slalom boat.
Andrii Mykhailov (J16) from Meridian came 19th, with Falcon‘s Bjorn Bartsch-Cotta (J16) in 20th place. Tom West-Robinson (V50) from Proteus was 21st.
The First J10 paddler and the youngest racer of the day was Ezekiel Maqbool from The Sharks, his time was 68.09. He was paddling a play-boat, 22nd overall.
In 23rd place was Ethan Zhang (V45) from Chelmsford
We had three paddlers who did not finish but we must give them credit for racing, the were: Antony Cowderoy (V70) from Shepperton, Jason Hu (V45) from Lee Valley, and Matthew Tennant (V35) from Falcon.
Men’s C1
Sebastian Reeves (J18) from Lee Valley was in first place with a time of 36.97 seconds.
Second was Freddie Brown from Wiltshire Youth with Malachi Grant (J18) from Nottingham coming third.
Men’s C2
The first placed pair were Finn Lovell from Worcester and Sebastian Reeves from Lee Valley, the J18 crew took 37.94 seconds to complete the course.
Grant Underwood from The Sharks races with J14 Anson Coop from Wiltshire Youth, their time was 70.22.
Mixed C2
Winning crew was Kerry Christie from Break Out and Freddie Brown from Wiltshire Youth, the time was 38.94. worth noting even international paddlers do not always finish, so take heart all of you who tried!
Shark Grant Underwood raced with Helen Nightingale from Bala, but did not finish.
Kayak Doubles
Yes, we had a K2 race, whilst it is a lot of fun, it also serves as a way of building up confidence in less experienced paddlers, who can race with somebody more experienced, it is something we are keen to promote at our events.
Men’s
Toby Larcombe (Falcon) and Anthony Newland (Pangbourne) took the Men’s K2 crown in a time of 53.82.
Women’s
Hattie McNeill (Proteus) and Isabel Green (Hemel Hempstead) were Women’s champions prize with a time of 49.77.
Mixed
First were Lydia Oxtoby (Leighton Buzzard) and Neil Blackburn (Royal Leamington Spa) with a time of 44:06, and runners up were Grant Underwood (The Sharks) with Junior 12, Astrid Bartsch-Cotta from Falcon, their time was 53.07.
We will be back at the Lee Valley on Saturday 3rd October, please put the date in your diary now. We would like your views on the event and the day, fill in our feedback form here please.
For a report on the whole day please click here.
We will also be running the London Regional Sprint Championships on Sunday May 24th 2026, as part of the Sharks at Shepperton Slalom weekend.
Published Wednesday 18th March 2026