Six local young athletes from Herefordshire had a trip of a lifetime in June to compete in the European Junior Championships in the sport of canoe slalom in Austria and Germany. The group, who are part of Wyedean Canoe Club and regularly train on the River Wye, at Symonds Yat, were invited to take part in the British Canoeing team in recognition of their strong performance in UK rankings. Canoe Slalom is an Olympic sport and involves the timed navigation of a series of gates on a stretch of white water.

Lydia Lafford, Daniel Lafford, William Lafford, Felix Newey and Lucy Knight were all selected for British Canoeing squad in the single kayak class, with David Mitchell in the single canoe. There were two races, the first in the beautiful mountain setting of Flattach, Austria, and the second in the Bavarian city of Augsburg, Germany. The competition was tough with some of the best junior athletes coming from all over the world to take part.

At Flattach, the paddlers had to get through the qualifying rounds with often just fractions of seconds between competitors. The competition adopted the rules for senior and Olympic events, with no prior practice on the course, and only one run down the course to determine which paddlers would go through to the final. Lydia and Lucy both made it through to the finals in the ladies under 16 class, with Lucy reaching 7th place and Lydia 5th place. William and Daniel took part in the under 18’s male kayak race which was particularly competitive, with only William reaching the finals. Meanwhile Felix also reached the final in the under 16’s kayak.

David was the only Wyedean paddler to compete in canoe – adopting a kneeling position and using a single blade paddle. David battled hard in what was truly an outstanding class, and missed qualification by just one place.

After Flattach the group transferred to the rather formidable artificial course in Augsburg Germany.See the full story in this week’s edition of the Ross Gazette, or subscribe to our online edition here