Whanganui’s best sprint kayakers pose with Lisa Carrington

From left: Angus Sewell, Max Brown (Olympian), Ben Tulloch, Hayley Stewart, Addison O'Leary, Lisa Carrington (Olympic and World Champion), Alexis Toy and Zoe Anderson.

Whanganui’s best sprint kayakers recently took time out for a photo opportunity with the best female kayaker in the world, Dame Lisa Carrington.

In one of New Zealand’s most successful Olympic sports, helped in part by Lisa’s dominance of the women’s division over multiple Olympic games, the small but well-performed Whanganui team once again showed the relevance of having development clubs in provisional New Zealand, with some great racing and results.

Despite having a team of only seven athletes, the Whanganui club featured in many finals and on multiple podiums at Rotorua’s Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake). The pressure cooker event, which was doubling as New Zealand age group selection racing, was the team’s first racing opportunity of the season and the team performed exceptionally well.

The team was again spearheaded by Olympian Max Brown who has recently transitioned from 1000-metre races to the shorter 500-metre races to focus on potential Olympic Games qualification. However, it was the even shorter 200-metre distance that provided his best result when teaming up with Dame Lisa. The pairing proved too strong for all challengers as they powered to an emphatic win in the open mixed K2 200 metres.

The sprint kayak team: Abby Hurley (coach), Hayley Stewart, Ben Tulloch, Alexis Toy, Ethan Ross (coach) and Zoe Anderson.

Greatest transition

One of the greatest transitions over the weekend came in the under-16-year girls’ divisions. After a third placing over 500 metres during Saturday racing, the Whanganui girls’ four-person boat (K4) of Addison O’Leary, Zoe Anderson, Hayley Stewart and Alexis Toy fought to the line to take gold in the 200-metre event.

In doing so, they defeated the stacked Canterbury and Poverty Bay boats, which on paper were clear favourites for the title. It was an incredible effort that highlighted the importance of getting some racing under your belt to realise potential.

Having already won four under 14 titles, the K4 win was icing on the cake after a great weekend of racing for Alexis Toy. Her clean sweep started on Saturday when she took out the single boat (K1) over 500 metres and then paired with Zoe Anderson in the two-person (K2) boat to win that event too.

Sunday dawned golden when she repeated the K1 title-winning effort over the 200-metre distance and again in the K2 with her dynamo teammate Zoe Anderson.

The other two members of the winning K4 also had a great weekend. Hayley Stewart made under 16 B finals in both her single boat events and teamed with Ben Tulloch in the under 16 mixed K2 to take a very commendable fifth place in the A final.

Addison O’Leary moved up to the under-18 age group in an attempt to qualify for the NZ Asia Pacific team. She made the B final in her 500-metre event, but after getting a few races under her belt progressed strongly throughout the weekend to qualify for the 200-metre A final where she was very close to a podium in a race decided by milliseconds. She laid down a clear message to the older girls that she will be a threat to them at the nationals later in the season.

Although successful in the mixed K2, Ben Tulloch had already established himself as a threat in the under-16 men’s division after two close fifths in the A final of his K1 events, putting himself squarely in contention for the possibility of selection to NZ Asia Pacific Team.

Also putting himself in the selection space was Angus Sewell, who had recently arrived back from a one-month training block on the Gold Coast, to perform remarkably well with two bronzes and three silvers in the U18 division.

Both boys will have to wait for potential NZ age group team duties to be confirmed, but regardless will be threats for national titles later in the season.

The team now moves to the next stage of their build-up to the Nationals in April of 2024.

Coaching

Brian Scott is one of the coaches for Whanganui Multisport Club, he coaches sprint kayakers and multisport athletes for the kayak leg of multisport events, such as Coast to Coast - a big range.

His coaching spans gym work sessions, swim sessions, and kayaking, with beginner sessions on Saturday mornings at 10am.

There’s a ladies’ group that has started up and is getting traction.

“My wife Robyn is involved in organising that during the day for ladies that have children at school wanting to get some fresh air and to get fit,” said Scott.

Abby Hurley coaches an after-school session on Wednesdays, as well as being a kayaker. She works for Let’s Go Whanganui, where she teaches biking skills and road safety at schools in Whanganui and district.

Aaron Cox coaches as well, both he and Scott retired undefeated in the Masters Division of Sprint Kayaking K2. Cox is keen on wild water - moving water and white water - his speciality.

“The parts of the body the coaches work on range from the feet to the upper body. Legs and hips are used to keep the boat stable and drive it forward, there is a lot of core work involved,” said Scott. “A lot of people think that paddling is about your arms, but there is a lot more leverage involved, it’s quite technical.

“The boats at the top end are very ‘tippy’, the speed that comes with their razor edge is quite high, around 20km/h.

“A lot of the sprinting is done in the 500m space now, it has been traditionally 200m, 500m and 1000m, but is governed by what’s available at the next Olympic Games,” he said.

Both Scott and Cox teach surf skills as well, in the nicer weather, at the beach on paddleboards, highlighting the name multisport club.

They have just had a team go away to win the Crazy Man event in Wellington, which is a paddle/bike/run. Cox did the paddle, Jacob Anderson did the mountain bike leg, and Brian Anderson completed the run.

Considered to be quite a new club, Whanganui Multisport Club was incorporated in 2006.