 Whoever was in charge of ordering the weather definitely let us down for this race, with a persistent icy rain that began just as the race was getting under way and did not let up until just after prizegiving. Nevertheless, 105 paddlers turned up on the day and braved the conditions.
Chelmsford were the overall winners, with Cambridge second and Stortford third. Cambridge won the most Dick Grieve points (based on performance of juniors Div 9 or below). The full club results are included on the end of the main results.
 A select group of Winter Series devotees, plus a few from Ealing CC and Tonbridge CC, took part in the inaugural WS race at Maidstone - a total of 76 competitors in all. The river levels had reduced since the previous week, enabling the postponed race to go ahead, but a rolling start was used because of the amount of flow.
 The race was run very efficiently by the organising team at Maidstone, and everything went off smoothly. We hope that WS "regulars" from the Eastern Region clubs enjoyed the change of scenery, and that Maidstone will have us back again next year! 
The next race will be the held at Cambridge on Sunday 3rd December. The online entry system will close on Friday 1st.
Despite the after-effects of Storm Ciarán, which put both the usual parking field and the upstream section of the river out of action, the race was able to go ahead with 136 paddlers participating.  The largest class was the Veteran Men with 14 entries - this was in addition to the new SuperVet class which attracted a further 8. Matthew Johnson & Leah Falltrick achieved an impressively speedy time of 53:15 on the 7-mile course. Although 53s faster than the course record set by Kat Wilson & Mark Wilkes in 2016, the original record still stands because on this occasion the turn was moved significantly short of Sawbridgeworth Lock to avoid works taking place there. [Edited]  The new class structure put ladies' singles races on the 7-mile course for the first time. The fastest lady was Sienna Payne in 1:02:40, but this is not being recorded as a course record for the same reason as above. [Edited]
 Class winners were: Class 1 (K2 16+ M) - Scott Leblanche & Domas Malinauskas (BAD) Class 2 (K2 16+ Mixed) - Matthew Johnson & Leah Falltrick (CLM) Class 3 (K2 16+ F) - Kerstin Queeney & Catherine Ayling (BSF/EAL) Class 5 (K1 Sen M) - Tim Gannicott-Porter (CLM) Class 6 (K1 Sen F) - Megan Kenny (EXE) Class 7 (K1 Vet M) - Richard Winstanley (BSF) Class 8 (K1 Vet F) - Kat Wilson (BSF) Class 9 (K1 u18 M) - Ali Kabeer (WOK) Class 10 (K1 u18 F) - Sienna Payne (CLM) Class 20 (K1 SuperVet M) - Ben Tubby (BSF) Class 21 (K1 SuperVet F) - Tammy Edwards (NOR) Class 22 (K2 u16) - Rebecca Perrin & James Johnson (CLM) Class 23 (K1 u16 M) - Cassian Payne (CLM) Class 24 (K1 u16 F) - May Perrin (CLM) Class 25 (C1 Adv) - Tan Shanzheng (CAM) Class 30 (Touring C2) - Adrian Pyke & Chris Howe (CAM) Class 31 (K1 u14 M) - Matteo Bose (CLM) Class 32 (K1 u14 F) - Libby Gaulton (BSF) Class 33 (C1 novice) - Petr Luksan (BSF) Class 34 (GP 16+ M) - Tim Chamberlin (CLM) Class 34 (GP 16+ F) - Deborah Wilkes (CLM) Class 38 (K1 u12 M) - Alessio Bose (CLM) Class 39 (K1 u12 F) - Lucy Myers (LBZ) The medals were presented by Richard Townsend, the Mayor of Bishops Stortford.  Chelmsford were the winners with 338 points, followed by Stortford (183) and Leighton Buzzard (125). Stortford won the most Dick Grieve points (based on performance of juniors Div 9 or below), Chelmsford second and Leighton Buzzard third. The full results are included on the end of the main results. See
The next race will be the inaugural Winter Series race at Maidstone on Sunday 19th November. The online entry system will close on Friday 17th.
 After being called off by ice the week before, the postponed race went ahead in dry and sunny conditions. Smaller than usual turnouts in some of the classes led to the organisers combining some of the starts.
 High river levels on the 15th Jan, with more rain predicted, meant that the race was postponed by a week. The last minute date change combined with cold temperatures resulting in a much lower attendance than usual. However, this did mean that the 89 loyal competitors who made their way around one, two or three loops of the river Can through Chelmsford had a greater chance to boost their series points total.
Chelmsford CC's own members naturally made up the vast majority of those taking part, and were the overall winners, both in terms of total club points and points won by novice juniors (towards the Dick Grieve Trophy). Cambridge CC finished in overall second place, ahead of Leighton Buzzard CC by just one point. However, Leighton Buzzard CC's novice juniors took second, 3 points ahead of Bishop's Stortford CC.
There was another good turnout of 135 competitors for the Cambridge Winter Series race, with the senior doubles class being, as usual, the largest with 24 boats - it was lovely to see five MC2s amongst these. The Vet MK1s were also out in typical force, but more surprisingly their number (14) was equalled by the Open K1 class.
 Ten teams took part. Chelmsford CC were the overall winners at Cambridge (236 points), with Cambridge CC second (122), followed by Norwich CC (95). In the competition for the Dick Grieve Trophy (based on the performance of novice juniors only) Chelmsford CC were again in the lead (43 points) while Bishops Stortford CC and Leighton Buzzard CC tied for second place with 32 points each. This means that with, two more races to go, four clubs (Cambridge, Stortford, Buzzard, and Norwich) all have exactly the same number of series points. There is also a tie for first place in the Dick Grieve competition between Chelmsford and Stortford (with Leighton Buzzard close behind). Even the Bob Porter Trophy (for the club with most participating u12s across the series) is currently tied between Leighton Buzzard, Bishops Stortford and Chelmsford! See
The next race will be at Chelmsford on 15th January.
Persistent rain did not deter a good number of competitors from coming to the opening race of the 2022-2023 Winter Series at Bishops Stortford - 130 competitors took part.  The senior doubles class, which has been steadily increasing in popularity over the last few years attracted 23 entries, making for a packed start line, to which the increased flow caused by the rain added an additional challenge. Leah Falltrick & Kat Wilson, who came third in this class, completed the 7-mile 6-portage course in 1:02:04 and thus beat the record of 1:09:20 for an all-female crew set by Ella Beatty & Maia Wallace-Loizou in 2015.
The other course record to fall this year was that for a C1 on the 3-mile 1-portage course. Shan Zheng Tan (4th overall in the Red class for Novice C1 & u14 Girls K1) finished in 34:33 - the previous fastest time (35:06) was achieved by Robin Dromard in 2006. Class winners were: Class 9 (Senior K2/MC2) - Sienna Payne & William Stroud (CLM) Class 8 (K1 Open) - James How (NOR) Class 7 (Vet M K1) - Rich Winstanley (BSF) Class 6 (u18 M K1) - Ali Kabeer (WOK) Class 5 (u16 M K1) - Jack Rayment (LBZ) Class 4 (16+ K1 & Adv C1) - Rachael Hampton (CLM) Class 3 (u16 K2) - Eddie Kirtland & Libby Gaulton (BSF) Class 2 (u16 F K1) - May Perrin (CLM) Class 1 (TC2) - Dora Goupil & Hadar Ben Gal (IND) Class Blue (u14 M K1) - Matteo Bose (CLM) Class Red (u14 F K1 & C1) - Johanna Milbradt (CAM) Class GP - Tim Chamberlin (CLM) Class Yellow (u12 K1) - Noah Nobbs (NOR) The Mayor of Bishops Storford, Dave Anderson, kindly attended to present the medals.  Eight teams took part. Chelmsford CC were the overall winners (271 points), with B. Stortford CC second (114), followed by Leighton Buzzard CC, Cambridge CC and Norwich CC. See
The next race will be at Cambridge on 4th December.
Hats off to Leighton Buzzard Club who managed to quickly rearrange the date of their race to 30 January after the river was frozen on the originally scheduled day. Most clubs were still able to attend, though with slightly smaller teams. A week had made all the difference and the weather was sunny and mild. 
 We hope to have more races in next season's Winter Series, starting in autumn 2022. Please add yourself to the FRA mailing list if you would like to be kept informed. All the profits from the Winter Series go to the constituent FRA clubs to support racing at the grass roots. If you have any comments about the series or suggestions for the future, please do pass them to your club's FRA committee member (if you are a member of the one of the six clubs comprising the FRA). Other clubs/paddlers are welcome to send their comments direct to the FRA Secretary.
After an early promise of some sunshine the day proved cold and rather damp. There were still some punts about to add an extra challenge to the proceedings as the race wound its way through the historic backs.  As usual almost a quarter of the competitors had come to take part in the doubles race, which this time had a sufficient number of MC2s participating to justify a separate start.  
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