Promising return to racing for Banbury Canoe Club at Reading

There were some promising results from the small Banbury & District Canoe Club team that travelled to Reading at the weekend.

It was the first marathon race in 14 months and, although run under restricted conditions, competitors had travelled from all over the country, desperate to start racing again.

There were no signs of race-rustiness from Chris Hills and Lee Dean, who fought hard to take the top spot in the Division 6 K2 race, while the ever-consistent husband and wife pair of Simon and Chris Petersen were third competing in Division 7 K2.

Their son Joe was 4th in the highly competitive Division 1 K1 class, which looked promising for international selections later this year.

Not making the podium but still promoted due to their speed were juniors Joseph Ellis (to Division 5) and Ryan Taylor who, in his first ever race, was promoted straight up into Division 8.