Canoe Slalom: Paddlers looking oarsome

Tauranga paddlers have dominated the national secondary schools canoe slalom champs at Murchison, winning the majority of individual and team events over the three day competition.

Team captain Anna Higgins (Tauranga Girls College) and Cole O'Connor Stratton (Tauranga Boys College) collected top honours, with Higgins winning gold in the under-18 C1, DR and C2 events and collecting silver in the K1.

She also won the Heather Jull trophy for top overall female paddler.

O'Connor Stratton claimed the individual prestigious K1 and C1 titles and the senior teams events in C1 and K1 and was awarded the Phil Dooney Trophy for top male paddler.

Both paddlers have been through the New Zealand development programme and more recently have been coached by Rotorua's Aaron Osborne from Rotorua, a recipient of a Bay Trust coaching scholarship.

Other senior athletes to do well from Tauranga were Hayley Dangen (Tauranga Girls), with placings in K1, C1 and C2, Andre Sperling (Otumoetai College) with a a narrow second in K1, Brogan Gordon, who was second in C1, with top honours in DR going to teammate Jake Cumming.

The future looks bright in the younger age groups, where the top under-16 paddler awards went to Callum Gilbert (Tauranga Boys College) and Kaydi O'Connor Stratton (Mt Maunganui College).

This age group was the most competitive, with 52 boys from all over New Zealand and Australia vying for titles.

Gilbert cleaned up as best New Zealander in K1, Alex Hawthorne (Tauranga Boys) won the under-16 DR, Daniel Munro (Tauranga Boys) the under-16 C1, with Patrick Washer (Tauranga Boys) second.

Another paddling star has been discovered from Tauranga Boys' with the emergence of Jack Dangen in the under-14 group.

Dangen dominated, winning K1, C1 and DR in the 16-strong field.

Tauranga Boys and Girls' Colleges won the senior teams events in K1, with Tauranga Boys sharing the trophy with Dunstan High after an unprecedented tie on 107.45s.