Wanganui kayakers Max Brown and Aiden Nossiter have completed their campaign on Penrith's Nepean River outside of the medals this week.
The 17-year-olds were competing for New Zealand at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival. Making the final of the Canoe/Kayak Sprint K2 1000m, the pair finished sixth with a timeof three minutes, 43.80 seconds.
Their countrymen Jarrod Fitzgerald (17, Gisborne) and Zac Quickenden (18, Christchurch) took silver, while the Australian crew were the clear gold medal winners with a time of 3:25.02.
In the K1 1000m, Nossiter again made the final and finished seventh with a time of 3:54.98.
Quickenden took bronze. His Wanganui coach, Brian Scott, said gold medallist Bill Bain (Australia) was the world marathon champion in 2011 and his time of 3:39.45 would have been good enough to win an open senior event.
Brown had finished with the ninth fastest time of the semifinals but in a stacked field could not advance to the final.
Nossiter also combined with Mana's Kurtis Imrie in the K2 200m, but the team did not progress past the heats.
Scott said this was a level of competition where rivals in the under-20 bracket dominated, with Brown and Nossiter needing to continue their development.
