Blue Lake 2 Canoe Sprint Regatta: Lake Tikitapu, Rotorua

Blue Lake 2 Canoe Sprint Regatta: Lake Tikitapu, Rotorua, 7-8 December 2013

Featuring Lisa Carrington, Olympic gold medalist

This weekend will see kayak sprint paddlers from around New Zealand converge on Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake) in Rotorua for the second national canoe sprint regatta of the season. This event is also a national selection regatta so will be attended by the current national squad athletes as well as young hopefuls from around the country.

New Zealand’s golden girl Lisa Carrington who won gold in the K1 200m canoe sprint event at the 2012 London Olympics, will be racing her favoured event on Sunday at 9.30am and the 500m on Saturday at 11.50am. She has had a stellar year so far winning the World Championship K1 200m title in Duisburg, Germany in September along with a bronze in the K1 500m and gold medals in the same events at the World Cups.

Fellow Olympians Darryl Fitzgerald and Ben Fouhy will both also be racing K1 events and team events, with some different K2 and K4 combinations.

Some of our young up-and-comers will be fired up after the recent Junior World Championships held in Canada in August. Aimee Fisher and Kim Thompson, daughter of Olympian Alan Thompson, gained the first New Zealand medal ever in this competition – a bronze in the K2 500m. They will be paddling this combination during the weekend so will be the junior duo to watch.

With another seven A-finals reached at the Junior World Championships there is certainly some talent amongst the U18 and U23 age groups and there are sure to be some quick races to watch!

The field is very full with competitors of all ages geared up for some exciting racing. With 196 kayakers paddling 75 events and a total of 155 races in just two days the programme is pretty full and starts at 8.00am each day.

Full race draws, programme and all race information can be viewed on our website under Oceania/NZ Canoe Sprint Champs. http://canoeracing.org.nz/home-1/events

ENDS

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