A welcome break in the recent unpleasant weather made for comfortable paddling on the Lea and Stort Navigation at Upper Clapton where the final race of the Winter series was hosted by Leaside Canoe Club.

Thirty-five Chelmsford paddlers helped see Chelmsford Canoe Club win the series for the sixth year in succession with many of them also gaining individual series success.

The runners-up were Barking & Dagenham with Leaside in third place.

The Juniors also put on a good show.

Alex Richards/James Howe were second in U16 K2 exactly two minutes behind the winners but won the overall series trophy while Christopher Howe and David Linnell finished first and second both in this race and the series, with David managing to hold a five second lead over his opponent from Barking & Dagenham.

In the U14 GP events Rosie Martindill took the series title for the girls and Alex Gibson and Alex Heading were placed second and third overall with Gibson finishing second on the day.

In the U14 Girls K1 Lindsey Wilcox was the highest placed Chelmsford girl in fourth position in 37.22.

Sarah Linnell had a good race into sixth in 40.35 closely followed by Laura Richards in 40.52 seconds.

Paddling over the four mile course Chelmsford touring Canadians were more depleted than usual with only Bill Cozens/Richard Wallis showing the Chelmsford flag.

They came second to their rivals from Bishop's Stortford but stayed ahead of another crew from the same club by just nine seconds and also were second in the series.

Moving up to the middle course the Marathon Canadians found conditions choppy but Burrells/Fisher were placed second in 1.03.05, keeping the same place in the series with Clarke/Jeffries third.

The K1's over the six mile course saw Mathew Dabbs have a comfortable victory by 30 seconds, including a two minute penalty for not wearing a buoyancy aid, over this nearest opponent to safety take the series trophy in Boys U16.

Lisa Gobell win the Girls U18 K1 thrashing Topolova from Leaside. Tracey Wilcox was third in 56.24, Cheryl Dunn fifth in 58.11 and Joanne Edwards sixth in 58.47.

However, Edwards took second and Wilcox third overall in the series.

Three Chelmsford Ladies paddled Veteran K1 over six miles.

Di Edwards was placed first, Mo Moule second and Sue Cole third over an interval of less than six minutes at the line.

Mo Moule took the series title with Di Edwards and Sue Cole in second and third.

The Veteran GP class series trophy was returned to Peter Letch with Phil Banks in second despite gaining third place on the day.

The shorter GP's saw a win in the Veterans race for Chris Gore who put just over three minutes between Dave Groves in second place giving the same series positions.

The senior K2s's paddled eight miles with nine crews on the start line.

Steve Moule teamed up with Anderson from Barking and Dagenham to win just two seconds ahead of Thorogood/Thorogood from Leaside.

Only 20 seconds behind them were Tom Head/Dean Williams followed by Veterans Roger Edwards/Graham Howe in fourth.

Positions were reversed in the series placings with Edwards/Howe second and Head/Williams third.

A close finish in Senior K1 saw Mark Cole cross the line one second behind Jo Surrage from Bishops Stortford giving him ninth place with Paul Cole 13th in 1.18.51.

Mike Head was the highest placed Veteran K1 in 1.06.50 to give him fourth place. James Byam-Shaw was fifth 55 seconds later and Peter Moule came sixth in 1.15.27.

Chelmsford paddlers now return to the Hasler races and the Waterside Series on the Kennett and Avon in two weeks time.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.