Rachael Dodwell (Eastern Bay) dominated the women’s K1 200m, beating Kayla Imrie by 1.13secs, although Imrie cleaned up in the K1 500m, with Rebecca Cole (North Shore) second and Ann Cairns third.
Dodwell was fourth, although she’s recently changes coaches, with athletics sprint coach Fraser Cameron now writing her programme.
“Last season didn’t go quite to plan so I just needed a change,” Dodwell said. “It’s been quite a drastic change and for now, we’ve just worked on the first half of my race. That worked in the 200m but now we just need to work on the back end to get that 500m sorted. There wasn’t a big contingent of open women here this weekend but it’s a good place to draw a line in the sand with my own programme.”
Among the younger age groups, North Shore collected plenty of silverware, as well as blooding a number of new paddlers into the sport.
North Shore secretary Diana Austin explained that a recent move to employ 18-year-old coach Jamie Slessor-White had seen the junior ranks take off.
"We’ve got 18 first-time paddlers at this competition out of the 40 that came down," Foster said. "It’s been a huge transformation so it’s just a matter of keeping ahead of it now and making sure we’ve got the resources and systems in place to support it." | 
|
The next event on the national calendar is the second Blue Lakes regatta in early December.