Canoe Club enters four teams in Scottish Canoe Polo Open Championship

The Scottish Canoe Polo Open Championship was held at Pinkston, Glasgow on 26/27th September 2026. Penrith Canoe Club had players or teams in all 4 divisions. In Div 1, the top 3 teams all had a Penrith based player playing for them, showing the breadth of opportunity and development available through the club.

Penrith A team, comprising a mix of older and youth players, who had all played for Penrith or Cumbria in national & regional leagues, had not played together as a team before, although they train together weekly. The Saturday games started well, with 3 wins in the group stage against Mullinger 3(from Ireland) 3-1, Forth Flamingoes(from Edinburgh) 9-1, and Lagan Warriors(from Ireland) 4-3, with Ben Bailey saving a penalty shot for Penrith. Then a 7-1 loss against eventual division winners Granite Dons(from Aberdeen) brought Penrith back down to earth. An early Sunday morning start against Kilcock Hellhounds, was a closely fought match, but Kilcock frustratingly managed a goal just before fulltime to win 1-0. The final group game against Avon(South England) was another well fought game, but Avon won 2-1 as Penrith unfortunately couldn’t convert a penalty in the last 10 seconds of the game. After the group games there was a playoff against the equivalent placed team in the other group. Penrith played FOA u16 team (Liverpool) in the playoff, but having played them several times in the national leagues, knew their tactics and were able to comfortably beat them 5-2, ending on a positive note, coming overall 7th out of 14 teams in Div2. “It was great to all play together at a tournament at last” said captain Noah Rankin “Great team spirit.

Penrith youth team played 8 matches over the two days, in division 3. Apart from one other youth team at the event, all matches were played against adult teams. “Thankfully Penrith rose to the challenge, pulled together and played some fantastic polo. The extra practice these young players have put in over the summer has paid off. They have really good boat speed and excellent ball to hand co-ordination. Throughout the whole weekend team spirit was amazing, with all the players just enjoying being there. Every match was played with a smile” said player/coach Craig Scott. “It was a real pleasure to watch them play and develop through the competition.”

Penrith Youth team won 2, drew 1, and lost 5 matches coming 6th out of 9 in Division 3.

“Despite winning only two games, we all had a great time, putting in an incredible effort against all of the adult teams, holding our own and playing with a smile on our faces. Another team, who were heartily defeating us, were all frowning throughout!” said youth team player Adam Marchant.

Penrith ladies A team had a weekend of mixed results with some strong wins, but also some heavy losses against the more experienced teams, finishing 6th out of 9 teams. They carried on playing hard irrespective of the score lines and nearly every player scored at least one goal. The team was made up of some upcoming youth players, supported by experienced adult players. “The team had a great weekend in spite of the weather conditions and is looking forward to the winter league of indoor competitions!” said team captain Hilary Clarke.

Penrith ladies B team had a challenging, but great weekend, in their first tournament playing as a team, finishing in 9th place in the Women's Division. Two of the youth players Alex Stables and Daisy Henderson scored fantastic goals and there was some heroic action from the youngest player, Lucy Wood. Adult players, Liz Henderson, Kirstine Bailie, Jasmine Girdlestone and Liisa Clarke provided more strength and coordination to the team, and thoroughly enjoyed the development opportunity, despite the torrential rain! “The support from the other teams in the league was amazing” said team captain Liisa Clarke.