Medal success for Etienne
Viking Kayak Club's Etienne Stott had an incredible weekend, winning two medals at the European Canoe Slalom Championships in Nottingham on Saturday.
Etienne, who was named Bedford Sports Personality of the Year 2008, and his partner Tim Baillie are British Champions in the two man canoe (C2) and they picked up European Bronze medals in the individual event and then Silver medals in the dramatic team event which sees three C2 canoes on the water at the same time.
The event took place in glorious sunshine at the National Watersports Centre at Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham, on the white water course which has just undergone a 0.8m upgrade to be ready for this event.
Etienne and Tim put in solid performances in the heats on Friday and after the Semi Finals were in the third place with a clean run and time of 107.22 seconds, behind Czech and Slovak crews, but ahead of the next British crew, Richard Hounslow and Olympic Silver Medallist David Florence. More importantly both crews made the cut to get into the Final where the fastest ten race again.
In the final they knew that would have to go faster again to get onto the podium and with the competitors starting in reverse time order, they knew they had just two teams to follow them.
They pulled out another clean run and a time of 104.37 seconds, which put them in second with two crews to paddle. It was a nerve wrenching wait watching the others come down but only one more team managed to beat their score, the eventual winners, the legendary triple Olympic champion Hochschorner brothers from Slovakia, who are acknowledged as the best in the world and have dominated the sport for more than a decade! That puts Etienne and Tim's stunning performance in its true perspective.
In the team event Etienne and Tim teamed up with Hounslow and Florence plus third GB crew Dan Goddard and Colin Radmore and had to negotiate not only the constantly changing whitewater and the slalom poles, but also to choreograph their moves as they go down the course so that they don't obstruct each other. With an amazing performance they finished less than one second behind the Czech team to pick up the Silver Medal, with the Polish team third.
The GB team also won the Gold Medals in the team events for Mens kayak and Women's kayak so an excellent overall performance and a great showcase for British paddling and event organisation.
For more info go to Etienne and Tim's website at www.bailliestottc2.co.uk
The event was covered live by the BBC and can be seen on iPlayer by clicking here
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Weather for Bedford
Monday 13 February 2012
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