Surf Kayaking: Manx team performs well at British Championships

IoM squad achieves best results to date in Pembrokeshire

The Isle of Man showcased it's skills amongst the UK's best in surf kayaking with the some strong results during the recent 2023 British Surf Kayaking Championships.

The event - held in Wales at the weekend (30 September - 1 October) - saw four Manx competitors achieve their best results to date as between them they reached three finals and narrowly missed out on two others.

Steve Watt went on to secure fourth place in both the Grand Master Long Boat and Grand Master Short Boat categories.

Elsewhere, Richard Cregeen-Watson - who's been recovering from a back injury throughout the year which threatened to end his paddling career - took fourth spot in the Open Long Boat class and reached the semi-finals in the Waveski and Open Short Boat.

Meanwhile, Gerry Quinn got as far as the quarter-finals in the Grand Master Short Boat and the first round repechage in Open Short Boat whilst Arthur Bankes-Jones got to both the first rounds of the Open Short and Long Boat contests.

The team is also thanking the Steam Packet Company for it's assistance with travel to and from the championships along with the Isle of Man Paddlesurf Association.

Also in the last 12 months, the Isle of Man's surf kayakers have competed in the World Surf Kayaking Championships in October 2022 and secured affiliation with British Canoeing in January this year.