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We are a competitive sports club and have a high reputation for
providing members for the British Marathon, Sprint and Olympic teams.
At the same time we are known for our work with children and have
trained some very successful Junior World Champions.
Elmbridge has sent paddlers and coaches to the Olympic Games since
the club began. Elmbridge provided four out of the five kayak paddlers
who represented Britain at the Sydney Olympics and are very proud
that Tim Brabants, who won Britain's first ever sprint kayak medal
there, a bronze in the 1000m, started his canoeing at Elmbridge
as a ten year old.
Elmbridge’s real strength is producing marathon canoeists.
Internationally, Ivan Lawler is Britain’s most successful
canoeist ever, having won his sixth World Championship title in
Gyor in Hungary in 1999. He was subsequently made an OBE in the
New Year’s Honours list in 1999. At the same championships
Anna Hemmings won the women's K1 title, the first British woman
to do so. Anna has since won two more K1 titles and a K2 title with
Helen Gilby, an Elmbridge team mate. Ben Brown was Junior World
Champion in 2003.
Nationally, despite elite performers often being out of the country
on National Squad duty, the club is equally successful. The year
2000 was the club’s most successful yet, when all three national
club trophies were won. The Spanish House, for the top club at the
National Marathon Championships, the Hasler Trophy for the winner
of the national Hasler event and the sprint club trophy, the MacGregor
Paddle. This treble was repeated in 2001. Since then Elmbridge has
been undefeated in the Hasler trophy and only lost the MacGregor
Paddle in 2004.
It follows, therefore, that racing is an important feature of the
club and we encourage all members to participate in as many different
events as possible.
Flatwater canoeists race sprint and marathon distances in many different
venues.
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