James ‘Mog’ Morris

It is with great regret that we have to report the death of a very popular paddler, James Morris.

James ‘Mog’ Morris was introduced to canoeing through school. Despite a paucity of white water, Suffolk was a hotbed of keen young things determined to make the grade in slalom and Mog was at the forefront, his drive to succeed quickly took him to the Premier Division where he achieved 3 top 10 finishes and a highest ranking of 21st. He took a leave of absence to train full time for team selection and when that was unsuccessful he switched to WWR kayak racing, aiming to make the team for the 1985 World Championships. In the mid ‘80s the Lowenbrau 500 rapid racing was introduced in Great Britain, this format of WWR eventually evolved into today’s WWR sprint events. The short duration, largely rough water courses suited paddlers coming from slalom background, Mog finished 3rd in the 1985 series and was ranked 15th for the 86/87 year.

To develop his skills in WWR Mog went on a number of independent training trips, travelling by van and camping. One Easter time trip to Switzerland it turned snowy, so Mog took to sleeping in a large concrete pipe until he spied an enclosed grit bin nearby, an upgrade offering more sheltered accommodation and a comfortable re-shapeable gravel bed. In 1987 Mog made the B team competing in the French Championships at Axat. In the autumn of 1987 he switched from kayak to C2 and made the senior team for the first time in 1988 competing at the Savage that year. Over the 88/89 season Mog won the British WWR National Championships. In 1989 he returned to the USA where his C2 proved to be the best British crew boat at that year’s WWR World Championships finishing 13th. After 1989 he stepped back from competing internationally but raced WWR C1 for a couple of years where his highest ranking was 4th for the 90/91 season.

From the outset Mog’s life paddling was full of adventure; outside his slalom and white water racing competitions throughout Great Britain there were white water trips to the Alps, surfing trips to Cornwall and Expeditions to Pakistan; Gilgit in ‘86 & Chitral in ‘90.

Mog returned to the WWR team in the ‘90s as C2 coach, guiding the doubles to a team bronze in the 1995 worlds. He continued in the role of WWR C2 class coach until 2000, largely replacing his competition paddling with cycle time trials. He did however continue to enter local races until the mid noughties, in particular the Essex Winter Series marathons. Additionally he organised the “Andy Bundy” race in Santon Downham for many years. In 2019 Mog returned to competition for the slalom reunion event at Lee Valley White Water Centre.

Mog had a fantastic memory and really enjoyed chatting. The reunion event was ideal, him easily recognising friends not seen for decades and recalling details of their boats that the other paddlers themselves had long forgotten.

Mog was an incredible raconteur with an encyclopaedic memory of dates, places and “what happened”.

Mog was a much loved brother, uncle and latterly great uncle. Caring and of generous spirit, a man of principle, yet he would be reticent in sharing his values in anything other than a matter of fact manner.

To many friends Mog was apparently happily single, Mog was introduced to Trish around fifteen years ago, both of their lives changed. It was wonderful to see the joy that the relationship bought Mog, they were very happy together until separated by his passing.

James’ funeral will take place at 12 noon on Wednesday 12th March at the Seven Hills crematorium near Felixstowe and will be followed by a celebration of his life at a nearby pub.