The club was delighted to welcome a record number of paddlers to this year’s Hasler – 281 seats, with 56 K2 entries and 169 K1s. We were particularly pleased to see a good turn out from Divs 1 & 2 from within region and outside. It was great to see many Reading paddlers giving it their all, including many new to racing. Newest of all was Sonny, who had only finished his beginners course on 18th June. Sonny completed his Div 9 K1 race in a very respectable time!
Well done to all our podium winners: Katherine Connor and Karina – 2nd Div8 K2 Matteo and Sam Boughton – 2nd Div5 K2 Amber and Luke – 1st Div4 K2 Xavier MacLeod – Div9 K1 promotion Ben Saxby – 3rd Div 7 K1 promotion Nick Gumbridge – 2nd Div6 K1 promotion Bruno – 3rd Div6 K1 promotion Matthew Mainprize – 1st Div5 K1 promotion Balazs – 1st DIv4 K1 Tyler – 2nd Div2K1 Marcell – 3rd Div2K1
There were many others who did a great race too, so well done to all. Great organisation by Karina, Evan and the team and a huge thank you to all the volunteers from the Club – it couldn’t have happened without you.
A sizeable team of Reading Canoe Club paddlers went out for a warm but breezy Falcon Hasler yesterday, 22nd June.
Congratulations to Greta & Matteo, who both earned provisional promotions with potentially more promotions to come.
Congratulations also to Trevor & Damon(2nd place in Div 6 K2), Karina & Katherine (1st place in Div 8 K2), and Nikki & Kerstin (3rd place in Div 8 K2).
Xavier & Benjamin both got 2nd places in Geoff Saunders A & B respectively, plus a winning K2 outing. Div 3 K2 saw 3 podium boats with Reading paddlers in, so well done to Conrad (with Ben), Doogal (with Ocean) and Aidan & Fergus.
On Saturday 21st June, a group of 7 paddlers took to canoes to commence with the first river clean of the year. To much of our surprise, the river around the club was pretty much clear of rubbish. Sadly, that changed the closer we came to the Fisheries. An air mat, shopping trolleys and a push chair to name but a few big items we fished out. A lot of small plastic items and bottles as well two chemical toilets all were removed by the group. The most curious item you wonder? A suitcase full of clothes!
We did it! After a number of years of Thameside races not going ahead because of covid and fast river flow, 2025 allowed us to host both Thameside 1 on 2nd March and then a fortnight later Thameside 2.
Thameside 1 saw 144 paddlers entering in 85 boats this year. Participants and supporters enjoyed a glorious day of sunshine and near perfect paddling conditions from Aldermaston Wharf back to Reading, with hot dogs in the sunshine as a reward. It was a great day for Reading to showcase what we do best; not just hosting great race days but also putting our best paddles forward on the racing front with lots of our club members out on the water.
A few of our Juniors made podium places and all deserve a shout out:
Ruth Shephard came 1st place with her Weybridge partner in the Junior Ladies K2 class.
Oli Mazur and Freddie Heard (Exeter) came 2nd in Junior Men’s K2 class, and Marcel Nagy came 2nd in Junior Men’s K1.
Well done to everyone who took part!
Thameside 2 was busier still with 188 participants joining us for the race from Reading down to a new finish point at Bisham Abbey. It was a bit of a chilly day but the rain held off. River conditions made some of the getting-in points a bit choppy, resulting in a number of swimmers, but the majority of the paddlers made it down to the finish point to enjoy a warming cup of soup and hot cross bun.
Again lots of Reading paddlers had their race face on, so big congratulations to everyone who raced and especially our Juniors who, as always, did us proud again with the following podium finishers:
Marcel Nagy took 1st place in Junior Men K1 with Tymur Rudnyev close behind him in 2nd place. In fact, Reading made up 75% of this category with Beni Nagy also in the running and narrowly missing out on making it a Reading hat trick.
Oli Mazur and Freddie Heard (Exeter) came 2nd in Junior Men’s K2, Charlotte Fulford-Perez took 1st place for Junior Ladies K1, and Annabel Hutchinson and Frankie Scrivener (Falcon) took 1st place for Junior Ladies K2.
A great success for the club with lots of positive feedback received from across the paddling community, including some (self appointed) Vikings who came all the way from Norway to paddle on the Thames with us! The only thing left to say is a great big thank you to all of the volunteers who helped out over the course of the 2 days – we couldn’t do it without you!
We’re pleased to confirm that following a course assessment paddle today, all is looking good for Thameside 1 to go ahead on Sunday 2nd March. Due to recent heavy rainfall and the river being on red boards we are implementing special measures and buoyancy aids will be compulsory for this Sunday’s event.
For safety reasons a number of additional measures will be in place; restricted entry, compulsory buoyancy aids, mobile phone to be carried.
Restricted Entry / Course Assessment Thameside 1 is a challenging 12 mile course with 12 portages. Although we take every possible action to minimise risk to paddlers, it is critical that paddlers, coaches and parents assess whether they are able to complete the course safely.
We are continually assessing the course on four key measures; flow, temperature, visibility and wind speed.
Paddlers need to assess their own competence against experience, paddling ability, equipment and support. We recommend that for juniors and inexperienced paddlers that you get guidance from your coach as to how to score yourself appropriately.
We are currently scoring the course for Thameside 1 (2nd March) as 13, paddler competence needs to be higher than 13. Please complete competence form.
All boats should be fit for purpose and fitted with sufficient buoyancy, there will be checks of paddler kit and boats prior to the start.
