Chelmsford Canoe Club once again qualified for a chance to compete in the finals for the Hasler Trophy this season, one of the top four Eastern Region clubs to attend, the others being Bishop Stortford, Barking and Dagenham and Leighton Buzzard.

Unfortunately, owing to the distance involved in travelling to the venue at Stockton-on-Tees only 10 Chelmsford paddlers represented the club at this prestigious event.

This contributed to Chelmsford's drop in the final placings from previous years to 16th place out of 27 entering clubs, having a total of only 93 points at the end of the day's racing.

Kirkcaldy took the trophy this year winning 236 points, Elmbridge were a close second with 234 followed by Reading in third with 205 points overall.

However, all Chelmsford paddlers performed well in their divisional races, despite the strong blustery winds.

In Division One K1 Keith Moule led the pack for three quarters of the way using the wash of the rest for the other quarter.

On the final sprint into the line he was just beaten into fourth place by one second, the first three places being taken by other international paddlers.

In Division Three K1 Steve Moule sprinted off the start in the lead but suffered breathing problems in the first eight miles.

This caused him to drop to eighth place but he recovered sufficiently to complete the race and gain valuable club points.

James Byam-Shaw was competing in Division Six K1 after a rest from racing over the summer.

He gleaned extra knowledge by reccying the eight-mile course the previous day and finished in 17th place in 1 hour 19 minutes 57 seconds despite a wobbly start.

In Division Seven K1, Christopher Howe and Pete Moule both had good races with Christopher finishing two places up on Pete but only by 39 seconds in 12th and 14th places.

Mo Moule had 29 on her start line in Division Eight K1 but managed to keep up in the top half and less choppy conditions. She eventually finished 20th in 39 minutes 34 seconds over the four mile course.

Only two Chelmsford K2 crews competed, both having excellent races. In Division Five/Six K2 Roger Edwards/Graham Howe kept out of trouble at the start, had a good portage and sat back with a pack to the final turn where they overtook a couple of crews then had a good sprint for the line to finish in eighth place in 1 hour 11 minutes 15 seconds.

In Division Seven/Eight K2, Joanne Edwards/Cheryl Dunn negotiated the first turn just off the main pack in fifth place but were overtaken at the last turn and were unable to regain their place crossing the line in sixth position in 32 minutes 44 seconds over the four-mile course.

Chelmsford now need to go into the new season, starting at Cambridge, with an eye on next year's final at Reading.

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