The good doctor, Tim Brabants, had a dose of medicine of the finest kind, when he won the first of the three GB Canoe sprint Olympic selection races, at Holme Pierrepont on Saturday.
Tim Brabants in action at Nottingham last Saturday
For those watching, the collective breaths held would surely have filled an airship of the ‘Z’ variety, as the race went right to the wire. Cue the oxygen tent. The current Olympic champion in the Men’s single kayak class, Brabants grabbed the win from Paul Wycherley of the Wey kayak club, by three hundredths of a second. What an advert for canoe sprint racing. It doesn’t get much better than this.
These best of British racers, drawn in adjacent lanes, exchanged the lead twice before coming into the last quarter of the race. It was all nip and tuck. Wycherley upped the wattage and went eyeball to eyeball with Brabants with 150 metres to go. But Brabants was not for the taking, not today. He wound up his stroke rate and regained the lead as they hit the red buoys of the last 100m. Wycherley too, does not have the word ‘capitulation’ in his vocabulary. Gnawing back at Brabants’ small advantage, the Wey man worked his way back into contention only to be undone only by the smallest of margins as the finish line came just a little too soon for him. The race was almost a carbon copy of the 2007 World Championships final where Brabants won a spell-binding race ahead of Canadian Adam Van Koeverden in the same type of compulsive fashion.
In his evisceration of the race afterwards, Brabants said ‘that was hard, but it was good to blow the cobwebs away. He (Wycherley) went out with 250 metres to go, but I decided to wait to 200 because I wanted to finish the race ‘. – just a hint of irony there – ‘ It was close, but the right side of close.’
Said Eric Farrell, Tim’s coach, ‘What a great race, both athletes raced really well. The first race of the season is always the hardest. In race practice it’s never the same. It’s nice to get this first one out of the way, I thought he (Tim) raced really well and to plan. He has his race pace back now and with 5 weeks now to prepare for the first World Cup where we will have to step up again to take on the rest of the World.’
The post operative reports shows that the doc is ‘back in the house’ and in rude health.
In the women’s racing, Lani Belcher teamed up with Angela Hannah in K2 to take the win over the 500m distance which has put them in box seat for team selection for the European qualifier next month. Meanwhile, golden girl Rachel Cawthorn (Wey) showed that she was back to her awesome best with a cracking win in the K1 500m. Fellow GB team mate, Jess Walker (Royal) took the race by the scruff of the neck, early doors. Cawthorn’s trademark is her blistering finish. She didn’t disappoint and warmed the hearts and voices of the collective crowd on this cold and blustery day.
Rachel Cawthorn took wins in womens K1 500m and 200m events
She overtook Walker with 100m to go and the crown was hers along with a new course record (1.55.06) to boot. Louisa Sawers (Elm) and Lani Belcher (Elm) took second and third places with a late push for the line.
Cawthorn then went on to a double top with a win in the K1 200m event while Richard Jefferies maintained his dominance over this distance in the canoe class.
The crowd was also treated to appearances from World Championship silver medallists, Ed McKeever (K1) , Liam Heath and Jonny Schofield (K2). Bite any one of these athletes and you will find the word ‘consistency’ written through them. With regular appearances on World and European podiums in the last two years, they consolidated their claim on the Olympic nomination slots with comfortable wins in their respective events with McKeever taking the course record as well.
Team selections for World Cup 1 are finalised today as sights turn now to World Cup 1 in Poznan, 16-20 May, where the contest for more Olympic places continues and global battles rejoin.
So, GB fan club, wherever you are, dig out your vuvuzelas, airhorns, flags, banners and hats and head over to Poland, this year could be really special for canoe sprint.
Results
MK1 1000m WK1 500m
1. T Brabants 3.35.52 1. R Cawthorn 1.55.06
2 P Wycherley 3.35..55 2. L Sawers 1.55.63
3. N Fleming 3.42.54 3. L Belcher 1.56
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