Nationals yield big haul for kayakers

CLOSE CALL: Poverty Bay’s Sam Ferkins (front) and Ben Bristow go stroke for stroke with the Arawa crew (Dylan Neal-Hill and Liam Walker) in the background. The two crews could hardly be separated. The Arawa pair beat the Poverty Bay duo by 0.3 of a second in the under-18 men’s K2 200 metres on the first day (Friday) of the national sprint championships at Lake Karapiro, then on Day 2 Ferkins and Bristow reversed the placings in the K2 1000m, winning by 0.02 of a second. Picture supplied

Poverty Bay Kayak Club members returned from the national sprint championships with a haul of medals and some great individual performances, but the real highlight was the strength of their team boat racing.

For a club with small numbers — not even enough to field crews in some age groups — and racing an overweight and outdated K4 kayak, they achieved some stunning wins in many of the prime races.

Under-18 men’s crew Ben Bristow, Sam Ferkins, Jordan McLarin and Sam Blackburne emphatically won the 200-metre and 500m K4 races.

Bristow and Ferkins also won gold in the K2 1000m and silver in the K2 200m. In K1 races, Ferkins was first in the 1000m, third in the 200m and second in the five kilometres. McLarin was second in the 200m, second in the 1000m and first in the 5km.

McLarin stepped up to the open grade to race the K2 1000m with Quaid Thompson, and they were just beaten for the gold, finishing 0.4 of a second back in second place.

In the open singles, Thompson won the 1000m and 5km, and was third in the 500m.

U18 women Alex Bermingham, Alicia Hoskin and Jordan Robertson had to call in Niamh Lee from Hawke’s Bay to complete their crew, and they had a great win in the K4 500m, and a good second in the K4 200m.

Bermingham and Hoskin combined for great wins over both K2 distances (200m and 500m), and Hoskin was first in the K1 500m and 5km, and second in the K1 200m. Bermingham was second in the K1 5km.

U16 women Stacey Warren-Moiser, Bo Howarth-Jarrat, Nicki Graham and Ella McBreen recovered from a near-capsize in the K4 200m to just miss out on third place, but Warren-Moiser and McBreen teamed up with Emma Brownlie and Seren Rogers to take silver in the 500m.

Warren-Moiser also earned her first national individual medal with a bronze in the K1 500m.

The u14 women also had two very clear wins, Charlotte Blackburne, Lucy McLaughlin and Genna Robertson winning the 200m with Grace Roddick, and the 500m with Manon Rogers.

McLaughlin and Robertson easily took out both their K2 distances (200m and 500m).

Robertson blitzed the field in both K1 sprint distances. McLaughlin was third in the 500m, and Blackburne was second in the K1 5km.

Manon Rogers then teamed up with newcomers Jayha Egan, Gus Falwasser-Logan and William Hall to win the u13 (tyros) mixed K4 200m.

Egan collected bronze in the K1 200m and 500m, and silver in the 100m (a distance raced only by the u13s).

Open women Britney Ford, Courtney Hoskin and Kim Thompson invited Sarah Guyot, a French visitor, to make up their crew, and they won the K4 200m and were third in the 500m.

Ford and Thompson also took bronze in the K2 200m.

Development coach Liz Thompson said it was fantastic to see all the club’s paddlers getting out in crew boats and working so well together.

“It is a real challenge, with many quick changeovers of boats, one crew out and another crew of different-sized paddlers in, often with only a 20-minute turnaround, but they just get on with it,” she said.

“Team boats are so important to the club, with some of the less confident paddlers contributing great efforts in a crew. It is also important for national selection, with only one in every seven New Zealand team spots being for individual paddlers.”