Marathon silver medal for Banbury canoeist Robin Avery

News from Banbury & District Canoe Club
Robin Avery leading Brian Greenham at ReadingRobin Avery leading Brian Greenham at Reading
Robin Avery leading Brian Greenham at Reading

Last weekend saw only the second competitive marathon canoe racing of the year in the national championships at Reading.

Banbury & District Canoe Club sent 25 representatives to paddle, with K1 events on Saturday and K2 on Sunday.

Top performance on Saturday was Robin Avery, fresh from winning gold in the 500m sprint and silver in the 200m sprint in the masters over 64 events at the National Sprint Regatta the previous weekend.

Avery was the silver medallist in the over 69 veteran men’s event where he battled with his old rival Brian Greenham. Avery led into the finish but was just overtaken.

Other notable performances included Joe Petersen, 5th in Under 23 men, who led the early part of the race only to lose out later on as the relentless changes in pace wore him down and Dom Murphy, who gained a very creditable 6th place in the over 59 veteran men’s category.

On the Sunday in the K2 races, Siobhan Urquhart and Chris Petersen won bronze in the over 54 veteran ladies, closely followed by Irene Hills and Dawn Buzzard.

Isabella Murphy and Lizzie Harte gained a 5th place in under 14 junior ladies while Joe Petersen with his partner came 6th in the senior men’s race, having had to work their way back to the front after a collision just after the start.

With social distancing, there were no spectators and the larger entries were seeded to control the numbers.

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