McCracken and Urquhart seal double gold in Belgium

A team of 18 Banbury Canoe Club members brought back 30 medals from the Sobeka Flanders Cup, Belgium – the club’s annual introduction to international racing, while back home the team came fourth at the first Hasler qualifier of the new season at Pangbourne.

McCracken and Urquhart were both double gold medallists in their K1 races, in distances ranging from 200m to 5km. They both won a further silver medal each in K1, in addition to crew boat medals.

Urquhart took bronze in the K2 500 with a Welsh partner while McCracken teamed up with a Belgian paddler for silver in the K2 200, then with Banbury team-mate George Urquhart and two Belgians for his third silver of the meeting in the K4 1000.

Joe Petersen topped the podium in K2 1000 with Welsh sprint specialist Henry Devonald. The pair were joined by Rob Jefferies and Arthur Urquhart for silver in the Men’s 1000m K4, while Petersen won silver again in K1 5km and bronze in K1 1000m.

International debutante Rosa Davison won bronze in her 2km race, with two silvers and a further bronze in crew boats. Dan Golder was another to take silver in the 5km, with club coach Alice Murphy taking bronze in the women’s 5km, and in the K2 500 with Rebecca Seika.

Seika won bronze again in K2 200 with Sophie Rooney, who took silver in the K1 event. The three women were then joined by Elena Golder for bronze in the K4 500.

Toby Hext, Michael Phillips and Harry Critchfield also made strong debuts, bringing home bronze from their K4 1000 with Geraint App Cooke from Wales.

At Pangbourne, John-Carlo Dimaculangan had a well-deserved win in division seven and now goes up to the eight-mile distance. Robin Flack continues to perform strongly in division three with another second place.

Improving Isabella Murphy won the U12 Lightning race, ahead of team-mate Lizzie Harte, with the girls joining up for a silver medal in the mixed U12 K2. Chris Hills and Ray Pearce were second in division six K2.