10km Champs Rotorua

The rest of the country was experiencing torrential rain and gale force winds, but Rotorua, remarkably, held back the rain just long enough to get prizegiving out of the way. 69 paddlers ignored the severe weather warnings around the country, and will be pleased they did with plenty of sun peaking through the clouds, and the wind not too gusty.

Lake Okareka was reasonably sheltered close in, so the course was shortened to give the 10k-ers a 6 loop race and the 5k-ers 3 loops. The start was split for 10km men, then 10km women followed by 5km men and 5 km women (U16 and U14 age groups).

There were a couple of casualties on the turns but on the whole the racing was close and competitive.

2012 champs-rebecca (1280x850).jpg

Rebecca Cole, Waitara

In the Open mens race the lead group broke off early and held on for the duration of the race and gave the boys from Arawa a clean sweep. In a last push for the line Steven Armstrong (42.12) finished ahead of James Feathery (42.15) and Ryan Quickenden (42.23). Andrea Bunn (46.09) showed her class in the womens event finishing ahead of Rachel Dodwell by almost 2 minutes. Andrea used this race as a bit of a warm-up before heading off to ICF Canoe Marathon Champs in Rome this week to race Masters women, along with team mates Glenn Muirhead, Adam Fraser and Paul Randall.

The Masters men were a pretty tight pack most of the way with Adam Tate, Poverty Bay (45.37) pulling ahead in the last lap to win by 18 seconds ahead of second placed Brian Scott (45.55) and third placed Malte Hagener (46.22).

Poverty Bay and Eastern Bays Clubs continued to show that their junior programmes are working well taking many of the placing in the under 14 and under 16 age groups. The girls team from Waitara also showed they are up there with the best with Bronwyn Larsen winning the U16 girls and Rebecca Cole the U19 women.

Congratulations to the Kayak Krazy 10km winners:

Open Men: 1st Sam Newlands, 2nd Ryan Welch

Masters Men: 1st Ben Bennett, 2nd Brendon Metcalfe

U19 Men: 1st Toby Brooke

Open Women: 1st Andrea Bunn

Masters Women: 1st Robyn Scott

U19 Women: 1st Rebecca Cole, 2nd Sarah Wilson, 3rd Jerusa Lambert-Fahy

TOP 3 RESULTS or click for FULL RESULTS

U14	Men 5km		U14	Women 5km
1st	Quaid Thompson, Poverty Bay	22.41	1st	Britney Ford, Poverty Bay	24.17
2nd	Alex Bristow, Poverty Bay	24:15	2nd	Courtney Hoskins, Poverty Bay	25.09
3rd	Tom Cole, Waitara	27.44	3rd	Alicia Hoskins, Poverty Bay	28.01
U16	Men 5km		U16	Women 5km
1st	Tim Waller, Eastern Bay	22.56	1st	Bronwyn Larsen, Waitara	26.37
2nd	Finn Roberts, Hawkes Bay	23.13	2nd	Talia Madritsch, Eastern Bay	29.28
3rd	Campbell Reid, Eastern Bay	23.16	3rd	Kaitlin Wiley, Eastern Bay	30.31
U19	Men 10km		U19	Women 10km
1st	Toby Brooke, Wanganui	44.45	1st	Rebecca Cole, Waitara	46.22
2nd	Henry Ellingham, Poverty Bay	45.16	2nd	Kim Thompson, Poverty Bay	49.25
3rd	Taris Harker, BOP	45.42	3rd	Jessica Blair, Karapiro	49.27
Open	Men 10km		Open	Women 10km
1st	Steven Armstrong, Arawa	42.12	1st	Andrea Bunn, Waitara	46.09
2nd	James Feathery, Arawa	42.15	2nd	Rachael Dodwell, North Shore	48.37
3rd	Ryan Quickenden, Arawa	42.23
Masters	Men 10km		Masters	Women 10km
1st	Adam Tate, Povety Bay	45.37	1st	Robyn Scott, Wanganui	56.58
2nd	Brian Scott, Wanganui	45.55
3rd	Malte Hagener, Wanganui	46.22