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NI Kayak Squad brings home Gold, Silver and Bronze
The World Surf Kayaking Championships took place from 20-28 October in Mundaka in the North of Spain, and the Northern Ireland Squad didn’t disappoint in either the team or individual events. Indeed the squad were riding high on the crest of the waves and brought home gold, silver and bronze as well two World Champions. Kevin Quinn took the Grand Masters HP World Champion title and Chris Hobson took the Junior HP World Champion title.
In the team event, the squad which is funded by Sport Northern Ireland came second in the final. After two full days of competition Northern Ireland narrowly piped the USA to gain the all important fourth place and therefore the last of the four slots in finals day that only featured the top four teams. It was a tense time for the Northern Ireland squad as they waited to hear if they had made it through to the final, team member Jonny Bingham recalls, “Waiting for the organisers to announce the last of the results at the end of day two had everybody on tender hooks and was a fairly emotional experience”.
The squad surfed the meter and a half waves leading the event for the first six of the sixteen heats but Basque Country came back into the surfing in the seventh heat and remained so until the end, beating Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Squad members were thrilled with second place. Speaking on their great success team members, Mike Barton said: "We are delighted and I am very proud of all of our team", and Jonny Bingham added to this: "I am absolutely stoked. This is a result of years of hard work".
Missing out on first place in the team event was certainly made up for in the individual events. The junior members of the Northern Ireland Kayaking Squad dominated the Juniors Long Final ruling out the other competitors with a chance for glory with Chris Hobson taking gold, Corin King taking silver and Alan Knox taking bronze.
Speaking on this brilliant result Professor Eric Saunders OBE Chairman of Sport Northern Ireland commented: “This is an overwhelming result for Northern Ireland. To take gold, silver and bronze is an amazing achievement. I would like to congratulate these young squad members and indeed the rest of the squad on their great success at the weekend. The whole team are great ambassadors for Northern Ireland and have done us extremely proud”.
There were other individual successes for Northern Ireland with Kevin Quinn coming first in the Grand Masters Short Final, Jonny Bingham coming fourth in the Open Long Final, Richard Hobson coming fourth in the Masters Long Final, Erica Chisholm coming fourth in the Women’s Long Final, and Chris Hobson coming fourth in the Junior Short Final.
Overall it was a great weekend for the Northern Ireland Surf Kayaking Squad… |
