British Canoe Trials
29th March, Lea Valley White Water Centre, Waltham Abbey
The British slam championship consists of 12 rounds each hosted at a regional White Water Centre. This was round one of the 2025 season hosted at Waltham Abbey. Each race consisted of two runs with the total time and penalties determining the winner. It was also a time trial with the fastest times qualifying from either of the runs for team GB.
I had arrived at around 9:15 and made my way to the path running along the waters edge. I was set up around 9:30 just as the first race began. It consisted of the under 23’s and Adults for both men and women. There were races before lunch then there was a one hour break and then further races in the afternoon. I stayed for the morning session approximately 2 1/2 hours and managed to photograph all of the races in that time.
The weather was good with bright sunshine coming from over my shoulder giving great lighting in most parts of the course on the contestants. However, the challenge as before, was that the pathway runs some 3 to 4 yards in from the waters edge and you have to stay on the path. This narrows the angle and also restricts the angles and makes it hard to get good shots looking up the course. Also in this intervening area there are people walking up and down all the time, teammates, coaches and organises and official press photographers are in the way of your shot. However, I do believe I got some good shots possibly not as good as on my previous visit. As the venue is free to enter with free car parking and great cafeteria and toilet facilities it makes for a pleasurable and interesting session.
