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Displaying items by tag: European Chammpionships

#Canoeing: Ciarán Heurteau finished 16th in his second run of the K1 at the European Championships in Slovakia and missed out on a place in the semi-final, and the possibility of claiming a place at the Olympics. Heurteau had a poor first run, missing gate seven and incurring a 50-second penalty. His second-run time of 100.52 seconds was much better, but he would have had to finish in the top 10 to progress. Elliott Davidson placed 58th and 20th in his two runs.

Published in Canoeing

About Commander Bill King, Solo Circumnavigator

William Donald Aelian King was the last surviving submarine commander in the Second World War - in charge of the British Navy's T-class Telemachus that sank a Japanese sub in the Strait of Malacca, between Malaysia and Sumatra, in 1944.

Decorated many times for his service by the end of the war, King became a trailblazing solo sailor.

At the age of 58, he was the oldest participant in The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race sailing Galway Blazer II, a junk-rigged schooner he designed himself.

After a number of abortive attempts, including an incident with "a large sea creature", he finally completed his solo circumnavigation of the globe in 1973.

Beyond his aquatic escapades, King settled with his wife Anita (who died in 1984, aged 70) at Oranmore Castle outside Galway after the war, where he later developed a pioneering organic farm and garden to help tackle his wife's asthma.

The round-the-world sailor and Galway native Bill King died on Friday, 21 September, 2012, aged 102.