Weather may make Oceanias wild

They're usually the ones screaming out for more water but another terrible weekend of weather could turn things into a lottery for New Zealand's top whitewater slalom kayakers.
The Oceania championships on the Mangahao River near Palmerston North is the last selection event before New Zealand's world championship team is announced.
But after the first two races were affected in Kawerau last week and another big low bearing down on the North Island, there's increased pressure for athletes to perform.
"I came away from Kawerau with a lot of things I need to improve ahead of this weekend's racing," top Tauranga paddler Mike Dawson said. "But now I'm fired up for Palmerston North this weekend and a huge international field and testing weather conditions at Mangahao will make the Oceania title a hard one to win."
Athletes need to finish in the top-three to make the national squad, which is doubly important this year with Olympic qualification at the world champs in Slovakia in September.
The presence of a strong international lineup - including world No2 Vavrinek Hradilek (Czech Republic), seventh-ranked Mike Kurt (Switzerland) and double Olympic medallist Fabian le Fevre (France) have also increased the ICF ranking points on offer.
Kayakers from Canada, Poland, Australia, Cook Islands, Ireland and Great Britain will also contest the event.
Dawson's main Kiwi competition will come from former Tauranga paddler Johann Roozenburg and Napier-raised Aaron Osborne, while Tauranga's Luuka Jones, Otaki's Louise Jull and Te Puke's Nikki Whitehead head the women.
The women's racing will also feature all three Australians who finished in the top 10 at last year's world champs in Slovenia, including double junior world champion and Youth Olympic gold medallist Jessica Fox.
Fox, 16, holds a world ranking of fifth in the newly established C1 class and has a has a champion pedigree, with mother Myriam winning silver at the Barcelona Olympics and father Richard winning the world championships six times between 1981 and 1993.
Beijing Olympian Luuka Jones is delighted at the standard of racing she's getting at home.
"It's exciting to have so many international paddlers coming to our races this year," she said. "I'm really looking forward to the international races, especially the world champs, and I'm training really hard to be as fit and as strong as I can."