Two sisters from Teddington have shone at this year's National Kayaking Championships in Nottingham.

Annie and Molly Bates won a remarkable five gold medals collectively, with Annie securing top spot in her 200m, 500m and 1,000m races at Under 16 level, and Molly also claiming two gold medals in the Under 14 category.

The talented duo who attend Teddington School and are members of the Royal Kayaking Club in Teddington, paid tribute to their dad, Rob Bates, an ex rower at Oxford University who has been alongside them since the start of their journey.

Annie and Molly told Nub News: "We're so happy to have done our club proud at this year's national championships but honestly we owe everything to our dad, he is often with us on the Thames as early as 7.30am on the weekend!"

Proud mother Jane Bates added: "The two of them have worked incredibly hard every weekend and couldn't be more deserving of their success. Annie recently trained in Portugal and increased her speed by a few seconds, I am a very, very proud mum indeed."

Hosted by the British Canoeing Club, the prestigous National Championships is hosted in Nottingham annually and attracts entrants from clubs across the country including in neighbouring Kingston.

The tournament has grown to play a key role in sourcing the very best talent to represent Great Britain in the European Championships and Olympic Games.

Teddington's Royal Kayaking Club, which Annie and Molly represented at the 2023 tournament, is the oldest kayaking club in Britain founded in 1866.

To date, the historic club has around 200 members many of whom compete at a national level and also boasts previous Olympic medal winners.

For more information on the Royal Kayaking Club and how you can get involved, visit the link here.