Canoe racing: All action at Blue Lake Regatta this weekend

Bay of Plenty Sportswoman of the Year, Lisa Carrington, will be in action at the Blue Lakes 2 Regatta in Rotorua this weekend. Photo/File

New Zealand's top kayakers will go head-to-head in the second national event of the season at Lake Tikitapu this weekend.

With the NZCT Canoe Sprint National Championship being held in February, the Blue Lakes 2 regatta presents a valuable opportunity for paddlers to get on the water and test themselves against the best in the country.

The second of the Blue Lake regattas held at Lake Tikitapu caters for all age groups, and includes distances of 100m, 200m, 500m and 1000m, as well as a 5000m race at the end of the programme. Boats will include K1s, K2s and K4s.

The 200m races will be held on Saturday, 500m and 1000m Saturday afternoon and also on Sunday, with the final race being the 5km.

One person keeping a very close eye on the weekend's races will be Nathan Luce, who Canoe Racing New Zealand has recruited from the South Australian Sports Institute to be Gordon Walker's assistant as national women's coach.

The 43-year-old has a long pedigree in producing top paddlers, having been involved with multiple world and Olympic champion Adam van Koeverden in his native Canada, coached the United States national team and more recently worked with some of the top Australian paddlers.

Now he joins a New Zealand squad coming off a brilliant world championship performance in August, with Lisa Carrington winning a seventh consecutive major crown in the K1 200m, pairing with Caitlin Ryan to win the K2 500m title, adding silver in the K1 500m, then linking with Ryan, Kayla Imrie and Aimee Fisher in the bronze-winning K4 500m.

"To work with what is arguably now the top women's kayak programme in the world is one of the main things that attracted me to the role," Luce said.

"To be a part of this team moving forward will be a massive honour and I'm excited to work with such dedicated and established athletes and with a coach like Gordy, someone that I've gotten to know and have respected over many years."

The New Zealand programme has steadily built depth around Carrington's exploits, with Fisher winning the K1 200-500m double at the under-23 world championships this year and an under-23 women's K4 finishing eighth in the A final.

"Lisa has obviously ignited the gold medal standard while Caitlin, Aimee and Kayla have quickly stepped up to her level over the past couple years," Luce said.

"Not only are they physically strong and imposing but they have proven through their 2017 international campaign to be lethal in various crew combinations, which is bad news for the rest of world. They have set the bar high so now it's our job to maintain that level all the way into Tokyo."

CRNZ chief executive Mark Weatherall described Luce's appointment as a significant coup.

"We're delighted to be able to appoint Nathan as our assistant women's coach and his linking with Gordon will form a formidable partnership.

"We've just come off our most successful world championships ever and that was obviously a major enticement for Nathan, to be able to work with the talented group of female paddlers New Zealand now boasts," Weatherall said.

Luce will start his New Zealand commitments this weekend, with Carrington, Ryan and Fisher involved in the Blue Lakes 2 regatta.