Kayak Krazy 10km Series final race and 10km Champs

The 10km Champs, and final leg of the Kayak Krazy 10km series, was raced in stunning conditions over Lake Okareka in Rotorua this weekend. The bright blue skies didn’t do much to warm up the air temperature which stayed pretty chilly due to a light southerly breeze.   However, it was certainly not breezy enough to put off the 57 paddlers who enjoyed the fabulous Rotorua day and put in some good times.

The start was broken down into a senior start and a junior start with both men and women starting together, so the experience of a “mass start” was new to some paddlers more used to sprint racing.  There was much manoeuvring around the start line and the Open men pushed forward to the front of the pack early on with Scott Bicknell (HB) fresh home from the ICF Canoe Sprint World Champs in Hungary,  in amongst  the lead pack including Ryan Welch (HB), Sam Newlands (BOP), William Wilkins (HB) and Mike Walker (NS).   This pack stayed pretty much together around the 3 laps of the course, with William Wilkins dropping back a bit in the second lap. 

The final sprint to the finish was a sight to behold as many anticipated the jet-lagged Bicknell may flag in the final push.  However the top 3 of Bicknell, Newlands and Walker came in neck-in-neck with Bicknell winning just on 2 seconds ahead.

With the Open Womens race it was clear early on that Marianne Archer (Mana) and Carla Laughton (Otago) would be sticking pretty closely together.  However Archer’s long distance experience (she’s again competing in the ICF World Marathon Champs in October) really held her in good stead and the final lap saw her push well ahead finishing a creditable 1 min 24 seconds ahead of Laughton. 

The U19 race was an interesting one, with race leaders Andrew Roy (BOP) and Cory Taylor (PB) early on deciding they were going to keep up with the open men’s pack.  In the first lap they were only around 30 seconds behind them and almost a minute ahead of Aiden Nossiter who was paddling hard to stay in the top 3.   They spread out a bit further in the second lap, and by the third  Andrew Roy was a clear winner with 1 min 15 sec his margin. 

The U19 women were led by Kim Thompson (PB) early on.  Showing her strong form this 16 year old chose to race up a grade to complete the 10km and proved she can foot-it with the older girls no problem, winning 54 seconds ahead of Cara Ryan (BOP).   

The Masters field was fairly well spread out with Glen Muirhead (Mana), also part of the NZ World Marathon team, dominating early on and winning a clear 2 min 22 ahead of second-placed Brian Scott (Wang).   The Masters Women’s winner Imelda Marnane (Karapiro) was unchallenged and is hoping for some competition next year!

Junior 5km

Our junior competitors (U15 and U17) raced a shorter distance of 5km.  The U15s enjoyed a competitive race with Quaid Thompson (PB) and Campbell Reid (BOP) battling out the final lap, Thompson pulling well ahead to gain a 3 second lead at the end.  Britney Ford was the only U17 female competitor, but she stuck close behind the U17 pack finishing 12 seconds behind the U17 3^rd place-getter Jerusa Lambert-Fahy.

It was Rebecca Cole (Waitara) who showed what a strong young paddler she is, finishing 1 min 50 secs ahead of her nearest rival and team-mate Sarah Wilson. 

The under 17 men top 3 broke away quickly and kept amongst themselves the whole way with Ryan Wesche (EB) showing a strong finish by gaining a 7 sec lead on 2^nd-placed Sam Roy (BOP) who in turn gained 6 seconds over teammate Ben Cochrane (BOP). 

Series Results

The series winners  also had good showings in the champs placings, and scooped a great bunch of prizes thanks to prize sponsors Orca, Whittakers, Horleys and Skyline Events Rotorua.  We're keen to run this event next year and trust all clubs will get on board to both run a leg of the race, and to enter their members into other club's races.  This was a great way to get some winter paddling in and to foot-it against paddlers from other clubs.  Good stuff!

U17 Women

U19 Women

 Open Men

 Open Women

 Masters Men

 CHAMPS RESULTS

 SENIORS 10KM

 Open Men

 Open Women

 U19 Men

 U19 Women

 Masters Men

 Masters Women

 JUNIORS 5KM

U15 Women

 U15 Men

 U17 Women

 U17 Men