The captain of Runcorn Canoe Club and his teenage daughter have paddled to bronze medals at the National Championships.

The double celebration came over the weekend at Reading where Graham Illidge triumphed in the Men's Masters event.

His daughter Jenny, a 14-year-old student at The Heath College, came out on top in the Junior Ladies' event.

She had gone to the meeting having already captured the equivalent title at North West level.

Chelsea Brookes won the Under 10s Lightning event with fellow club member Amy Wignall a close second. Together they won the K2 event.

Meanwhile, Martin Layng managed to come sixth in the Junior Men's K2 event.

This performance was good enough to earn him selection for the British youth team which is to compete in Denmark next month - in the gruelling two-day Gudena Marathon event.

Sadly, it was a bit of a disastrous weekend for Jamie Mayers, Runcorn's senior international canoeist and reigning Halton sports person of the year. Just about everything that could go wrong went wrong for him.

Fortunately, this was not a selection event for the World Championships in September.

As a member of the fastest British crew at the last two World Cup events, Jamie is hoping for selection. His chance comes next weekend at the selection race at Southampton.

Runcorn Canoe Club has had remarkable success the last three seasons.

The Clifton club now have equipment for beginners to use thanks to generous support from Sport England and local firms Fibre Force Composites and Alcoa.