Quaid Thompson secured double victory at the 2024 NZ Canoe Marathon National Championships at Lake Okareka on Saturday, winning both the open mens long course and short course marathon races.
Quaid, who has recently returned the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships in Croatia, showcased his skills to take home two national titles, although he was pushed all the way through to the final lap of the 24.5km long course marathon by Gene Prato.
Gene (North Shore Canoe Club) and Quaid (Poverty Bay Kayak Club) went stroke for stroke for most of the race, sharing wash rides and taking leads. But the intensity went up in the final laps as evidenced by the pace of men as they ran through the portages that showed neither was giving up without a fight. A slight misstep by Gene in the second to last portage getting back into his K1 gave Quaid a gap but that was all Quaid needed to get away and stretch out close to a 2 minute lead before crossing the finish line in a time of 1hour 53minutes 45 seconds. Multisport and endurance legend Sam Clark was 3rd across the line in the open men’s race.
Craig Simpkins and Andy Logue from North Shore Canoe Club took home the open Men K2 crown ahead of Hawke’s Bay’s Dan Driskell and Grant Morrish with Phill Exeter and Donovan Taylor (Waitemata Canoe Club) in 3rd.
Brydon Storey, who also represented Aotearoa New Zealand over in Croatia, was first junior man, and Amber Dearness was 1st Junior Women.
Lake Okareka in Rotorua was a fantastic venue for this event with golden sand beach portages making for excellent spectator viewing and intrigue. The event had paddlers from under 12years old all the way up to 77years.
A new addition to this year’s championships was short course racing held in the afternoon after the long course marathon. Short course marathon is short, sharp, action-packed 2.4-3.6km races made up of short laps and portages.
Quaid Thompson also took home the short course open men’s title, with Amber Dearness also securing the double national championship in the junior womens category.
Congratulations to all the paddlers who came along and took part in the challenge of marathon racing, and especially to our 2024 National Champions.
Thanks also to the clubs, coaches and supporters as well as event volunteers for helping to make this event happen.
