Canoe youth at the regatta on the Rhine

7 October 2023 was set to be a great day: the first participation in a downriver race in over 10 years brought the FRVS an overwhelming result in the best of weather. At the Rolf Weinmann Memorial Race in Rheinsheim-Philippsburg, which also hosted the Baden-Württemberg championships at the same time, the FRVS team achieved a total of 5 wins as well as 2 podium places.

Jan Rohwold made the start: on his 16th birthday he had the honour of opening the competition with the first start of the day. In the strongly contested boys' youth race in the single kayak, he fought his way to a strong 3rd place over the 3.5 km stretch on the Rhine behind the competition from KC Altrip, closely followed by Nicolo Lehnert (also FRVS). Among the women, Gaby Dieckmann won in the open class of the „Amazons“ and outclassed the competition by a clear margin.

The younger ones then followed up on the 1.5 km pupils' stretch: Marcello Lehnert confidently brought home the win in the Pupils A age group (13/14 years) and relegated the competition to the lower places. Boris Santilli took a respectable 5th place in the same race. In the Pupils B age group (10–12 years) too, the FRVS was unbeatable: Emil Bauer crossed the finish line as the undisputed first; his clubmate Lucio Lehnert narrowly missed the podium and secured 4th place.

In the team events the winning streak continued: the youth crew Rohwold/Lehnert N./Lehnert M. clearly won their race, and the pupils' crew Bauer/Lehnert L./Santilli came 2nd, just 3 seconds behind the winning crew. The crowning finale was the canoe race, in which the FRVS pupils'/youth team around cox Gaby Dieckmann took a clear wire-to-wire win and gave the competition no chance.

In the team events the winning streak continued: the youth crew Rohwold/Lehnert N./Lehnert M. clearly won their race, and the pupils' crew Bauer/Lehnert L./Santilli came 2nd, just 3 seconds behind the winning crew. The crowning finale was the canoe race, in which the FRVS pupils'/youth team around cox Gaby Dieckmann took a clear wire-to-wire win and gave the competition no chance.

Coach and mentor Christiane Pape was delighted with her young crew's performance: „We had a great day, everyone was highly motivated and the mood was very good despite the at times somewhat stressful logistics caused by the tightly scheduled starts. Especially given that it was everyone's first competition and we only started training in late spring, the result is incredible – I'm really proud of the kids!“

So the foundation has been laid – a continuation next spring is in the works …