Masterton paddler Rimene seizes gold

The thrill of victory, the Pineula Masters celebrate their gold medal success. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

MASTERTON paddler Patrick Rimene is still on a high after returning from the International Va'a (Waka Ama) Elite and Club Sprint Championships held on Lake Kawana on the Sunshine Coast, Australia, with a gold medal to show for his efforts.

Rimene was part of the Aotearoa men's Masters 40-50-years team team at the Elite event and things started "terribly" for the 12-man crew when they were disqualified for slipping out of their lane in their heat, a situation made even more frustrating because they had set the fastest time and would have qualified for top seeding in the final.

But while Rimene's chance for a medal was gone there was still some consolation for other Kiwis in the six-man Masters 500m straight and 1500m turn races. The Tahitians were the hot favourites for the 500m but the New Zealanders came up trumps on this occasion and also did well over 1500m, placing third.

It was then on to the club worlds where Rimene paddled in his age group for the Pineula Masters crew. They had just the one training camp in the build-up but that did not stop them from making a huge impact, winning the 12-man world title, and here too it was the previously unbeaten Tahitians who were runners-up. It was the latter who went into the final with the fastest time, one second quicker than Pineula, but when the green flag went up Rimene and his team were straight into the lead.

"The idea was to put a lot of pressure on them [Tahiti] to chase us down and they weren't able to do that," Rimene said.

"The moment we crossed the finishing line all the emotions and pure excitement took over, it was an awesome feeling."

Rimene also competed in the individual 500m race, placing fifth in the final, some 3.5sec behind the winner who just happened to be the paddler he had finished second to at the New Zealand nationals when the gap between them was 0.3sec.

The semifinal of that event had produced some nervous moments for Rimene when the paddle slipped from his hand at the start but he was still quick enough to grab third place in a time which qualified him seventh for the final.

Going into the decider knowing that his end speed might see him struggle to stay with some of his rivals Rimene's plan was to start strongly and push all the way. He did that and was initially pleased with his fifth placing but, on reflection, he now wonders whether he might have placed higher had he been more conservative early on.

"I watched a replay of the race and realised that I was at front at the 300m mark. Maybe if I had seen that during the race I could have saved more energy for the push at the end, it's a lesson learnt the hard way I guess."

Not surprisingly, however, Rimene was rapt with overall results, saying his goal was to become a world champion and he had accomplished that thanks in large support to the hard slog put in during six months of preparation, the support from his whanau and the help given him by a group of sponsors, JNL, McCarthy's Transport, Harvards Logging, Ngati Kahungunu Ki Wairarapa, Te Hauora Runanga o Wairarapa and his club, Wairarapa Waka Ama Canoe Club.

"The local support I received was truly humbling and it meant so much to me, I'm just so grateful that gold medal made all the effort so worthwhile."