Kayaking: Aussies add class factor

Hawke's Bay kayaker Scott Bicknell (left) and Tauranga's Andrew Roy training this week ahead of the New Zealand canoe sprint championship in Rotorua. Photo/Jaime Troughton/Dscribe Media Services

New Zealand's best kayaking talent will be given a major test on home waters this week, with a pair of world-class Australians taking part in the canoe sprint national championship.

Olympic gold medallist Ken Wallace and world surf ski champion Lachlan Tame will again compete on Rotorua's Lake Tikitapu, adding class to an already brimming male line-up, after racing at the event last year.

Reigning New Zealand K1 200m champion Scott Bicknell (Hawke's Bay), Tauranga's Andrew Roy and Marty McDowell (Mana) will be the main challengers to the Australian duo in the shorter distances, with Bicknell relishing the chance to measure his progress over the past 12 months.

"Without starting gates, the best way of finding out how much we've improved is to go head-to-head with these guys and to do it in our own country makes it event more special," Bicknell said.

"The Kiwi paddlers are pretty grateful to Kenny and Lachie for coming over and we aim to repay them by sending them home knowing they've had some fierce racing."

The championship, which features 257 paddlers from 13 clubs, will also see Bicknell pairing up with Roy to race in the K2 boat.

They've raced Wallace - the 2008 Olympic K1 500m champion - and Tame twice already, coming within 0.16secs of the Aussies last season, while the Kiwis are also fresh from K2 victory in last month's New South Wales championship.

"Scott and I have only been paddling together in the K2 for just over a year now and to have come so close to the Aussies in our first year was a good confidence boost," said Roy, who will also race the under-23 division.

"Training has been going really well and we're continually refining things, so now we're just keen to put it all together in a race."

While Roy and Bicknell will focus on the 200m distance, Tame and Wallace will also step up to the 1000m, where McDowell, London Olympian Darryl Fitzgerald and Christchurch's Zac Quickenden will be among the local contenders, with added incentive provided by a possible New Zealand K4 boat attending European regattas later in the year.

Most of the leading paddlers have also dabbled in surf lifesaving over summer, including Tame, who has won the last three Australian ski race titles. He's looking forward to reacquainting himself with the scenic splendour of Lake Tikitapu.

"I'm pretty excited to race there again - it was a really amazing place last year and I hope New Zealand can turn on some warm weather again for the Aussie boys," he said.

The women's division will feature an enticing clash in the K1 500m between Olympic champion Lisa Carrington and world marathon champion Teneale Hatton, with both paddlers set to race for the first time this season.

In their absence, Hawke's Bay 19-year-old Aimee Fisher has impressed, winning the K1 200m-500m double at the last selection event in December.