It has been a good year for The Shark Slalom Team; with many new paddlers taking part, some excellent results and promotions.

The Sharks top slalom paddler remains Grant Underwood, who won early promotion in division 1in Men’s K1 after events at Matlock, Shepperton and Wark in Northumberland; taking advantage of the paddling up rules. Grant’s commitments to racing meant he had few opportunities to race in Division 1 in 2015 and is currently ranked 138th and is a GLL supported Athlete.

Our top lady is Amelia Combes, who at the age of just 13-years-old is currently ranked at 44th in division 2 ladies’ and ranked 4th in Division 3 Ladies’ C1.  Amelia is one of a number of pupils from Drayton Manor High School that have paddles with The Sharks. A GLL Supported Athlete.

Aaron Nolan has also been one of our promotees, gaining promotion to division 2 near the end of the season, having raced at Shepperton, Nene and Harefield (which was held at Shepperton). Aaron is currently ranked joint 153rd in division 2 Men’s K1 having not been able to race in any division 2 slaloms after his promotion.

Our division 2 line up is completed by Masters paddler Neal Underwood; who is currently ranked at 120th in division 2 Mens’ K1. Neal raced at Matlock, Wark and the Nene.

James Reed was another paddler who achieved promotion this year, when he was promoted to division 3 in Men’s K1 at Kingsland Basin, East London, an event attended by many Shark paddlers. James ended the season ranked 6th in division 3, just failing to get promoted this year, hopefully he will get an early promotion in 2016.

Lianna Nolan has been a regular paddler at division 3 this year, having been promoted in 2015; she has raced at Shepperton, Harefield and the Nene. Lianna is currently ranked 11th in national division 3 Ladies’ K1

Chelsea Ludlow also raced in Ladies’ division 3 K1 at Harefield and is ranked at 67th in division 3. Ella Conroy was promoted to division 3 K1 Ladies at Kingsland Basin in May but has not raced at the higher division. Khaleel Zianddin was promoted at Harefield to Men’s division three and has yet to race in that division.

The Sharks organised a ranking divisions 3 and 4 slalom at Shepperton this year, it was scheduled to be at Harefield, but due to construction work the site was not available so we moved it to the nearest suitable location.  There were 110 competitive starts over the two days of competition and was attended by several Shark paddlers not listed above who took part in the division 4 (entry level) event: Adam Abdi Allah, Johan Kukkohovi, Joel Gunnery, Jasmine Abdi Allah, Elias Kukkohovi, Shivani Makwana.

The Club also took a trip to Kingsland Basin in East London to enter the division 4 event organised by Laburnham Boat Club and to Shepperton for an event organised by Shepperton Canoe Club; in addition to paddlers mentioned above, the following paddlers took part: Alex Brennan, James Hanmore, Eamon Brennan, Tallulah Lacey, Megan Rice, Grace Hanmore, Issey Nelson, Ellen Butcher, Caitlin Edwards, Beata Fabińska, Mimi Lacey, Maciej Karwacki and Michal Karwacki.

Several paddlers have taken the opportunity to train at the Lee Valley Olympic site on the Legacy course during the year, something that is available for paddlers who are interested.

Many thanks to the people who helped with the slalom team this year, to the paddlers who have made it a great year; best wishes for 2016; which promises to be even better.