2026 Ribadesella Ranking series – End of year Results

After a fun, competitive season that brought us around the country, the season came to a close last month. This season saw many new young up and comers along with some wily vets of the game go head to head across 9 ranking races and a number of non ranking races. Thank you to all the paddlers and parents of paddlers for travelling around the country supporting races. Also a big thank you to all the races organisers & club volunteers. The races do not happen with out everyone giving their time.

Over the ranking series we had 566 entries across the 9 races & after the final points added up the end of year divisional winners are below:

Div 1 Open:

Ben Higgins of Salmon Leap CC took the title with 71Pts of a possible 75 from best 5 races and 8 of 9 ranking races done.

Div 1 Women:

Caoilin Caffrey of Salmon Leap CC took the title with a clean sweep of 75Pts from best 5 and 7 ranking races done.

Div 2:

Malcom Banks of Salmon Leap CC took the title with 68Pts of a possible 75 from best 5 races and 6 of 9 ranking races done.

Div 3:

Matt Robinson of South East Stingers took the title with 66Pts from a possible 75 from best 5 races and 6 of 9 races done.

Div 4:

Noel O’Connell of Celbridge Paddlers CC took the title with 70 Pts from a possible 75 from best 5 races and 6 of 9 races done

Div 5 Open:

In the tightest division of the year we ended up with 2 paddlers tied on 71Pts from a possible 75 from their best 5 races. Patrick Melia of Salmon Leap CC took the title over Naoise Heneghan of Celbridge Paddlers on count back. In the case of a tie the 1st separating factor is the results when racing head to head. For 2026 Patrick took that 4:1

Div 5 Women:

Mille Brennan of Thomastown Paddlers CC took the title with 73 Pts from a possible 75 from best 5 races and 7 of 9 races done.

Div 7 Men & Div 7 Women:

Unfortunately no paddler completed the minimum 5 races required in a class for an end of year ranking.

Div 7 Boys U15:

Danny Cooper of Celbridge Paddlers CC took the title with 73 Pts form a possible 75 from best 5 races with 7 of 9 races done.

Div 7 Girls U15:

Meghan O’Donaghue of Celbridge Paddlers CC took the title with 73 Pts form a possible 75 from best 5 races with 6 of 9 races done.

K2 Long Course:

No crew can reach the required minimum of 5 races for an end of year ranking.

K2 Short Course:

The Father & Daughter crew of Brian & Alia Harris from Salmon Leap CC won the title with 69 Pts form a possible 75 from best 5 races having completed 5 races in K2 to go with 1 race in K1 for Alia and 2 for Brian

GP Men:

Fergus Cooper of Contrast CC took the title with 73 Pts form a possible 75 from best 5 races with 5 of 9 races done.

GP Women:

Katie King of Celbridge Paddlers CC took the title with a clean sweep of 75Pts form a possible 75 from best 5 races with 7 of 9 races done.

Canoe:

Unfortunately no paddler completed the minimum 5 races required in a class for an end of year ranking.

Ribadasella Club Trophy:

The Ribadasella club trophy is awarded to the club with the most entries. 10pts are awarded for each of the 566 paddlers entered in a race through the year. Congratulations to Salmon Leap Canoe Club who retain the title with 2060Pts, ahead of Celbridge Paddlers with 1390Pts, Thomastown Paddlers with 610Pts, Belfast Canoe Club with 300 Pts, Wild Water Kayak Club with 280 Pts and South East stingers with 210Pts. No other club had greater than 100Pts

Congratulations to all the winners. The end of year awards will take place at the AGM for which a date will be announced shortly. Watch this space