Dawson leads strong Kiwi team

Mike Dawson spearheads a strong New Zealand team competing at this weekend's World Cup canoe slalom event in Italy. PHOTO/Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media 020616xx10 Kayaking

Olympic-bound K1 paddler Mike Dawson leads an eight-strong Kiwi team lining up for the first World Cup canoe slalom event of the season this weekend.

The experienced New Zealand contingent will line up on a channel in the Dora Baltea River in Ivrea, northwestern Italy.

It's one of the few natural whitewater courses on the world circuit and the heavy rapids, fed by early summer snow melt from Mont Blanc, have the New Zealand crew excited.

"It's definitely a lot bigger than the other competition venues, which makes it unique," Dawson said.

"It's fast and powerful and it's going to be a lot of fun to race here.

"I used to race extreme events on this river, back in the day, so it's pretty cool to come here with a slalom buzz."

Dawson, who qualified for Rio at last year's world championships, will be joined in the men's K1 ranks by young guns Callum Gilbert and Finn Butcher, who both made break-
through World Cup semifinals last season.

Tauranga 20-year-old Gilbert finished 35th in Slovakia last year, while Alexandra's Butcher was 35th in Spain.

With Olympian Luuka Jones sitting out the first World Cup of the season, Jane Nicholas and Anna Higgens will race the women's K1, with Nicholas doubling up to race the C1 division as well.

The final members of the team are 18-year-old Patrick Washer and fellow Tauranga C1 paddler Ben Gibb.

Like the rest of the team, Gibb is entirely comfortable on natural courses, having grown up paddling creeks around the Bay of Plenty.

"I spent a lot of time in Okere Falls this season, ironing out the basics of my paddling and getting as much whitewater as I could," Gibb said.

"I've also spent the last two weeks before the World Cup series training with Mike in Prague, so it's given me a really good buildup heading into the Northern Hemisphere end of the season."

Dawson, meanwhile, will skip the second World Cup of the season in Spain, where Jones and C1 paddler Kelly Travers will make their season debuts, with the entire New Zealand team lining up for World Cup 3 in France.

This weekend's racing will feature more than 250 paddlers from 36 nations.