The dominance of Tauranga kayakers and canoeists in domestic competitions has been vindicated with the selection of the New Zealand teams for the ICF Junior and U23 World Canoe Slalom Championships to be held in Slovakia from July 17-21.
Half of the 16 paddlers attending are from Tauranga, as is coach Martin Hammer, who is originally from the Czech Republic.
The junior (U18) team fly into Munich this Friday then drive to Solkan, Slovenia, for a few days of training followed by competition in the first of the Junior World Series races.
Their next destination was to have been the Czech Republic but plans have altered following terrible flooding in Prague, so they are now heading to Ljubljana, Slovenia, and training at the course at Tacen.
From there they travel to Krakow, Poland, to train and compete in the second of the Junior World Series races. This will be followed by a short trip back across the border into Slovakia and Liptovsky Mikulas for the main event in July.
The U23 group is using the senior World Cup 2 on the Augsburg course in Munich, home of the 1972 Olympics, on June 28 and 29 as their build-up. They will also meet up with senior team members, Tauranga's Mike Dawson, Luuka Jones and Cook Islands rep paddler Ella Nicholas, who competed at the 2012 London Olympics.
There is no shortage of class and talent among the Tauranga paddlers who are heading off to Europe.
In 2013, Callum Gilbert was second in the Open NZ K1 (kayak) Men's Nationals, won both the C1 (canoe) and K1 at the Secondary Schools Nationals, and was ninth at the Youth Olympic Festival.
Dan Munro and Luke Robinson are the National Junior C2 champions, while Haylee Dangen is the Junior Oceania K1 Women's champion and is ranked second in the world in the U18 K1.
Anna Higgins is the National U23 K1 Women's champion and Patrick Washer is the U16 K1 Secondary Schools champion.
They will meet up with other Tauranga paddlers Shaun Higgins, who is ranked second in the NZ Senior C1 Men, and Ben Gibb, who is ranked No1 in the NZ Senior C1 Men.
New Zealand teams
NZ Junior team:
Matthew Arnott - Alexandra; Marcus Norbury - Alexandra; Finn Butcher - Alexandra; Callum Gilbert - Tauranga; Luke Robinson - Tauranga; Daniel Munro - Tauranga; Tommy McDowell - Nelson; Jess Bailey - Wanaka; Haylee Dangen - Tauranga; Deahna Shearer - Alexandra.
NZ U23 team:
Patrick Washer - Tauranga; Robin Pieper - Alexandra; Ben Gibb - Tauranga; Malcolm Gibson - Gore; Shaun Higgins - Tauranga; Anna Higgins - Tauranga; Aaron Osborne (coach)- Rotorua; Martin Hammer - Tauranga -based Czech coach; Pavel Foukal - Czech coach; Dale Butcher, Wendy Robertson - managers.