Blue Lake 2 Canoe Sprint Regatta Results

2d

9 December 2013

CANOE RACING NEW ZEALAND INC

BLUE LAKE 2 CANOE SPRINT REGATTA

LAKE TIKITAPU, ROTORUA, 7-8 DECEMBER 2013

The second national canoe sprint regatta for the season was held at Lake Tikitapu, with the calmest paddling conditions you could hope for and a lot of very happy paddlers! After appalling conditions two months earlier this was welcome relief and the days ran like clockwork.

This was a national selection regatta and was well attended by 191 paddlers from 11 clubs and many young hopefuls hoping to impress the Selectors. Unfortunately Lisa Carrington was scratched due to an injury, so those hoping to square up against her in this regatta were left disappointed.

A stand-out paddler would have to be Aimee Fisher from Hawkes Bay who earlier in the year competed at the Junior World Champs in Canada and won a bronze in the K2 500m with team-mate Kim Thompson of Poverty Bay. Aimee consistently won her K1 events all weekend, and although just 18 years old she paddled in both the U23 and Open Womens divisions.

In the K2 she paddled with Kim in the Open races but had to settle for second against the more experienced crew of Jaimee Lovett and Rachel Dodwell (Eastern Bay) who took out the wins in both the 200m and the 500m. Third placed crew in both events, Kayla Imrie and Caitlyn Ryan (North Shore) are also a crew to watch and both paddlers also achieved well in their individual races.

The Open Mens races were, as usual, fast and furious. The 1000m distance was won in 3:53.84 minutes by Olympic paddler Darryl Fitzgerald (Poverty Bay), closely followed by Marty McDowell (Mana) just a second behind and fellow Olympian Ben Fouhy (North Shore) in third. In the 200m sprint Scott Bicknell of Hawkes Bay put on a huge burst of speed to win in 38.91 seconds, ahead of Marty McDowell who took another second placing in 39.3 followed by Andrew Roy (Bay of Plenty) just fractions of a second behind in 39.75.

The U18 Men saw a huge improvement in the paddling of Kurtis Imrie (Mana) who also impressed at Junior World Champs. He won both the K1 1000m five seconds ahead of second placed Toby Brooke (Wanganui), and the 200m nearly 2 seconds ahead of Taris Harker of Bay of Plenty.

Newcomer Briar McLeely (North Shore) also stamped her mark on this regatta winning both the U18 WK1 500m and 200m, just split seconds ahead of Britney Ford from Poverty Bay.

There is a lot of talent coming through in all the age groups and it was fantastic to see so many young women in the U14 age group. They are certainly going to give the men a run for their money over the next few years as they move up through the ranks and are setting a solid base for the future of New Zealand kayaking.

The next national regatta will be the Canoe Sprint Championships being held at Lake Tikitapu, Rotorua 14-16 February 2014 which will again feature age groups from U13 through to Masters.

Full results including all heats, semis and finals is attached.

BL2_2013_RESULTS.pdf

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