Leighton Buzzard’s canoe sprint team were back in Nottingham this weekend for another National sprint regatta at Holme Pierrepont. 

Over both days, Max Pickering raced in the top boys group in mixture of K1 and K2 races over 200m, 500m and 1000m, getting to the finals in each of his heats and picking up several notable places, including 2nd place in the K1 500m.  

On Sunday, Jack Rayment and Ben Stratford paired for the first time in the K2 200m and 500m distances, reaching the finals for both and coming 8th and 6th respectively. 

Both raced well individually in the 500m course with Ben qualifying for the final and coming in second place. 

Charlie Smith and Magnus Gregory from Oxford University Canoe club had a convincing win over the 1000m course cementing their place at the Under 23 European championships to be held in Racice in the Czech Republic later this month. The pairing then go on to the the World Championships in Pitesti Romania in August.

Charlie also raced in the mixed K2 over 500m for the first time with Sam Rees-Clark from Nottingham coming a close second.

Ben Stratford and Jack Rayment