Multisports: Brass Monkey icing on cake for kayakers

Sam Newlands (front) and Tim McLarin power through the water.

The Brass Monkey started 30 years ago when Nigel Randall, in the White Water Canoe Club, wanted to learn how to paddle a down river racer to do the Coast to Coast.

Pete Sullivan and Mike Pearce were keen to teach him. They trained him on the Avon River and then took him to the lower Waimakariri River. They invited anyone in the club who wanted to come along.

Sullivan brought the idea of making it an official race to the committee and they agreed it was a good idea.

Entry fees that first year were 50c each and this covered the prizes. Everyone got a prize - be it a chocolate fish, a gummy worm, or for the really good paddlers a ball of string.

Justin Lawson, a number of years later, turned the race into a major event, and entry numbers soared.

Entry fees were increased to turn it into an official club fundraiser to purchase kayaks and teach more people how to paddle, and sponsors were taken on board to cover the prizes.

Over almost 30 years it has turned into one of the most important kayak race series in the country.

It still helps club members (now from five local clubs) learn to paddle racing kayaks on the lower Waimakariri River.

The race is a time trial, so it's not first past the post, it's the fastest on the day in the class. Recently, 99 competitors raced on day one of the second event this winter with 111 turning out on the Sunday.

The Brass Monkey has a novice category where the racers wear a blue bib to let other competitors know to offer encouragement, and also a wide berth when passing.