Chelmsford were victorious for yet another year in the Essex Winter Marathon Series but only by five points from Barking & Dagenham in second. Bishops Stortford were third with 44 points.

The club trophy is always hotly contested each season but Chelmsford managed to win four of the six races to secure top place overall.

At the final race at Leaside on the Lee Navigation, Steve and Keith Moule secured victory in Senior K2 by four seconds.

Sue Edwards/Karen Wilcox took the ladies trophy in the same class, having overtaken Hannah Stechman/Lisa Suttle while they were assisting fellow member Mike Head when he capsized.

Mike went on to 10th position in the Veteran K1's, while Carl Foody was unlucky to capsize before the start but finished sixth, followed by James Byam-Shaw (8th), and Graham Howe finished in 11th place.

In Senior K1 Tom Head decided he needed a different boat for marathon after finishing 11th.

Jamie Chatterton racing K1 for the first time was satisfied with completing in 14th place.

Joanne Edwards worked hard to come third in U18 K1 and Di Edwards had a fight on her hands in the last half mile in Veteran Ladies K1.

Having been in the lead for the whole race she was caught by her namesake from Leaside who took victory by one second on the line. Sue Cole was third in the same class.

The series position in Senior Touring GP depended on the event and a battle between Pete Lynch and Mark Boyd ended with Pete taking first by a good margin, and giving him the series trophy.

Dave Groves secured second in Veteran GP and was third in the series.

In U16 K1, Tracey Wilcox came fourth, as did Chris Howe in the U14 K1, followed by Alex Richards in fifth.

Chelmsford's Under 14 girls were also well up the ranks with Lindsey Wilcox and Laura Richards having their usual tussle and finishing third and fourth respectively.

Katie Curtis won the U14 Girls GP despite capsizing, while Ben Fox, David Linnell and Eddie Curtis finished second, third and fourth in Boys GP.

Although there was a French team visiting this event, their Canadian crews raced the kayaks, to the relief of the Chelmsford Canadian crews.

Paul Anderson came first in the C1 and was also second in the Series.

In the Marathon C2's Roger Edwards/Ron Dains eventually pulled ahead of Malcolm Burrell/Jo Fisher after removing a plastic bag from under their boat! Dave Clarke/Dave Jeffery were not too far behind in third.

These positions proved to be the same over the series event.

The Touring Canadians had a tight race with Bill Cozens/Richard Wallis finishing just ahead of Ann and Martin Hornsby.

Alan and Joan Suttle came fifth on this occasion but came second in the series, and just failing to regain the trophy.

Chelmsford were also fortunate to have other members win the series individual trophies.

Although not paddling at Leaside, Lisa Gobell came second in the series in U18 K1, while Di Edwards won Veteran Ladies with Mo Moule second and Sue Cole third overall.

Tracey Wilcox took second place in U16 K1 and Chris Howe third in U14 K1.

Ladies Veteran Touring GP went to Chris Brown and Anne Bayliss was second in the Other GP's.

Lindsey Wilcox took overall third in the U14 K1 and David Linnell was third in the U14 GP with Katie Curtis first in the girl's class.

With the Winter Series completed, Chelmsford paddlers can now concentrate on the forthcoming races on the Kennett and Avon canal and the Thames and the various Hasler events and Sprint Regattas throughout the next few months.

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