CANOEING
Paddlers with Poverty Bay Kayak Club produced a string of outstanding results at their first regatta of the summer season at Lake Tikitapu this month.
The regatta, an annual event, brought together clubs from a wide area to race in international standardised age groups.
It was an opportunity to compete alongside some of New Zealand’s top athletes based outside Gisborne, such as Lisa Carrington, Aimee Fisher, Max Brown, Danielle Mackenzie and Gisborne-raised paddlers Alicia Hoskins and Zach Ferkins.
But paddlers training on Gisborne’s Waimatā River also produced winning performances.
Quaid Thompson won the open men’s 1000m and 10-kilometre K1 races; Jacqueline Kennedy won the female under-18 500m and u16 500m and 200m; Maxwell Kennedy won the male u16 6km; Hannah Webb won the female u16 6km; Taylor Newman won the female u14 6km; and Gus Kinsella won the male u12 100m, 200m and, with a Karapiro club athlete, the 500m for K2 crews.
Other athletes also produced great results and personal-best times, following a year of reduced training due to flooding and river-borne debris.
“This is a positive step, building for the national sprint championships in April and the Asia Pacific Games in Sydney,” head coach Liz Thompson said.
“Our small team all raced really well, with some great performances in their single boats, but also some great team boat combinations. It was a great start to the season.”
In the open division, Quaid Thompson dominated the 1000m event and was second in the 500m B final.
Zach Ferkins worked hard in the open men’s K1 500 A final for a healthy ninth placing in a huge line-up of top-class paddlers.
Sam Ferkins teamed up with Alex Bermingham to get a respectable seventh in the open mixed K2.
The regatta was also a trial for the team to represent New Zealand at the Asia Pacific Games in 2024, so racing in the open and u18 divisions was fierce.
Racing up in the male u18 age group were Maxwell Kennedy and Matt McKendry, who had some close finishes in tough racing.
They also teamed up in a K4 to take second place in the 500m and 200m finals.
Jacqueline Kennedy raced up an age group to win a very fast female u18 500m final, and Hannah Webb held her own with a close third in a powerful finish.
Kennedy also raced at u16 level and won the K1 500m and 200m, and teamed up with Taylor Newman to win the K2 500m and take second place in the K2 200m.
Webb, Newman, Kennedy and Arawa club member Sophie Baxter took second place in the K4 500m.
AJ Kinsella and newbie James Hamblyn raced in the u16 age group, taking out a second in the U16 K2.
Gus Kinsella, racing in the u12 division, made all his finals and was first in the 100m and 200m, and second in the 500m.
He supported his brother AJ in the K4 to take second place, and help power the Karapiro Racing K2 to first place.
The final races of the regatta were held in heavy rain, and were part of the National Marathon Championships and Krazy Kayak Series.
Quaid Thompson, Maxwell Kennedy, Hannah Webb, Taylor Newman and Gus Kinsella took gold medals in their divisions of the marathon championships and national titles in the 10km, 6km and 2km and Krazy Kayak Series.
Maxwell Kennedy, Taylor Newman and Gus Kinsella took out the series wins as well.
AJ Kinsella got the silver medal in the u14 race and second place in the series.
James Hamblyn, paddling in an endurance race for the first time, got the bronze at u16 level.
Long-time club member Geoff
Mould finished third in the Masters 55-plus division.
Team members now get back on the water to work towards the next regatta in February and nationals in April.