Sudden surge washes away lead

Wairarapa's Chris Atkinson made a bold bid to win arguably New Zealand's most spectacular white-water kayaking event, the Citroen Extreme, held down a 400m stretch of the Kawarau River near Queenstown last weekend.
An old boy of Wairarapa College who is now studying geology at Canterbury University, Atkinson, 21, made it through to the four-man final and led for almost half of it before being held up by a sudden ''surge'' of water and dropping back to finish third.
Atkinson accepted his fate philosophically, saying the very nature of the event meant nothing could be guaranteed at any time.
''All the time you are in the kayak you can never be sure what will happen, sometimes luck goes with you, sometimes it doesn't,'' he said. Atkinson, who represented New Zealand at the 2006 junior world white-water slalom championships, said the feeling of all competitors leading into the Citroen Extreme was pretty much the same ... a mixture of nervous anxiety and excitement.
''It's scary, everyone will tell you that,'' he said. ''You know there is always the chance you will get smashed to bits against the rocks so the adrenalin rush is pretty high. It's a good feeling to make it to the finish in one piece.''
For Atkinson, this year's racing, which included four heats before the final, was mainly trouble free with only a few bumps and bruises.
Pete Simpson of Hawea took the first prize with Ben Robson (Greymouth) second, Atkinson third and Bradley Lauder (Rotorua) fourth.