MEDAL HARVEST: Gisborne waka ama paddler and coach Vesna Radonich holds a handful of medals from this year's efforts on the water – she has won three gold and seven silver medals so far this year. Picture by Liam Clayton
PADDLERS might have looked forward to some rest once the waka ama national sprint championships in January were over.
But if they were like Gisborne paddler Vesna Radonich, they'd be looking ahead to the next competition almost straight away.
Mother-of-two Radonich, 44 near the end of this month, paddled for the Tarawera Outrigger Canoe Club in the master women's division at the sprint nationals and won silver medals in the W12 (12-seat) 500 metres, W6 500m and W6 1000m. Two other Gisborne paddlers, Simmy Taitapanui and Penny Scragg, were also in those crews.
Radonich paddled in the premier women's regional W12 500m, as well, for Te Puku o Te Ika. They won gold, finishing in 1 minute 59.07 seconds, 0.07s ahead of the runners-up from Te Uranga o Te Ra.
The following weekend, out from Tokomaru Bay, Radonich did a 15-kilometre flat-water paddle at sea, for conditioning. She followed up with shorter paddles during the week and, two weeks after the sprint nationals, she took part in the James “Bhutty” Moore-morial, an event held in memory of James “Bhutty” Moore, who died in July 2008 while paddling the Bay of Plenty coastline in rough conditions.
Radonich, paddling a sit-on-top outrigger canoe, completed the 32-kilometre downwind course from Mount Maunganui to Maketu in 3 hours 01 minute 10 seconds. She was fourth woman to finish and second in the open women's division.
On Waitangi Day, Radonich ran workshops arranged by the Hauraki Waka Ama Club at Waihi for people wanting to upskill in one-man and team paddling . . . she was helping them to paddle smarter, read the water, set goals and prepare for racing.
In the second week of February, Radonich was part of a 10-strong team of mothers from Gisborne's CrossFit 4010 who took part in the Fittest Mum competition in Auckland. This was her first crossfit competition, and she finished fourth in her division, behind another Gisborne competitor, Karyn White, who was second-equal.
The Gisborne athletes were all coached by Darryn White and half of the team came home with medals.
The next day in Auckland, Radonich ran workshops on W1 paddling.
On February 14, 15 and 16, she took part in the Takapuna Beach Cup. She joined an Australian crew, Aus Na Wahine, who were all old enough to paddle in the masters division. They competed in the open women's section of the OC6 (six-place outrigger canoe) 5km race on the first day, a Friday, and finished second.
On the Saturday, Radonich paddled in a 10-member New Zealand master women's team competing in the open women's division of the 42km change race. In this, six paddlers are in the waka and the other four are on a support boat. About every 20 minutes, two or three paddlers jump off the support boat and wait for the waka to come alongside them. The same number of paddlers get off the waka and head to the support boat, and the relief paddlers climb in while the waka continues moving. The New Zealand master women's team finished second in the open women's division.
“We did very well considering that at the start a waka landed on the back of our waka and cracked the back of the hull so that water got in,” Radonich said.
“And three-quarters of the way through the race our support boat ran out of fuel and the organisers had to be our support team for the rest of the way.”
Penny Scragg was also in the team for the 42km race.
On the Sunday, Radonich teamed up with Auckland paddler Kingi Gilbert in the master mixed division of the 24km relay, in which paddlers raced alternate 4km legs until they had done 12km each.
The sea was so rough that day that about half the registered entries pulled out before the race, Radonich said.
Canoes “broke” throughout the event, and during Gilbert's third leg theirs broke as well. It took them 20 minutes to arrange the loan of a boat that belonged to someone who had pulled out of the race. They finished the course but could not be given first place in their division because they completed it in a different type of craft from the one in which they started. Instead, they finishing second in the master mixed V1 rudderless division of the 24km relay.
The following Saturday, February 22, Radonich was in Australia for the Sydney Harbour Challenge. The 21km course took the race fleet from Manly Wharf to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, past the Opera House and back to Manly.
Radonich was in an open mixed crew called Northern Beaches.
“I trained in Manly 20 years ago; that's where I learned to paddle,” she said.
“It was like a reunion. I paddled in Sydney for about three years, and most of this team were there at the time.”
They won their division in 1:44:53.9, over three and a half minutes ahead of the second-placed crew.
The next day, Sunday, Radonich entered the Manly Wharf Bridge to Beach race on an outrigger canoe and completed the 10km course in 58:06, winning the OC1 division for women by 1:18.
Radonich shows no sign of slowing down. Paddling for Te Pou Herenga Waka Ama Club at the Auckland Regional Long Distance Championships at Okahu Bay today, she was to race in the master women's W1 12km and in the master women's W6 22km.
She is also a freelance paddling coach, and tomorrow will be running workshops in Auckland.
“During the week I like to be here (in Gisborne),” Radonich said.
She has a daughter, 14-month-old Tepiu, and a son, six-year-old Rawera, and says she could not compete or coach to the extent she does without the help of her partner, John Marks.