Future is bright for Kiwi canoe racing

CANOE RACING
According to Canoe Racing New Zealand's coaching director Mark Watson, the Kiwi future of the Olympic sport is looking bright.
During the weekend 177 competitors took part in the sport's New Zealand Canoe Sprint Championships at Lake Tikitapu (the Blue Lake) in Rotorua. It was the biggest turnout to date for the long-running championships, which shifted from Auckland's windswept Lake Pupuke two years ago.
Watson said it was an exciting time for the growing sport which has so far provided Olympic medallists like Ian Ferguson, Paul McDonald, Alan Thompson, Grant Bramwell and Ben Fouhy to New Zealand's sporting landscape.
"The sport's making a real effort to grow ... we've grown 10 per cent each year for the last three," Watson proudly said.
The sport had an "open" policy nowadays and there had been a swelling of numbers among both masters and junior competitors, some as young as 8. Meanwhile, the elite end is still pumping with Fouhy and Steven Ferguson having a right old tussle in the K1 men's 1000m and 5000m races on Saturday afternoon, scoring a victory each.
"The cream rises to the top but the quality of that cream is only as good as the quality of the milk so we need to grow it at the bottom. That's what's exciting about watching the racing [here]," Watson said.
"Steven and Ben are two of our top athletes. Ben won the 1000 which was a bit of a surprise since he's been away from the sport a bit, but then Steven came back to win the 500m race.
"To see that racing at the top level is great. Both are ranked in the top nine of the world, so that calibre of racing should only help them both."
There was a similar upset in the women's K1 500m race where New Zealand's top-ranked female, Erin Taylor, was beaten by the rising Lisa Carrington for the first time in a tight race.
"What's more exciting is the group behind aren't that far back," Watson said.
"The depth is getting better and better and bigger. I guess the aim for [the women] is to get to the Olympics in a K4.
"The whole high performance pathway is starting to work ... Potentially we could have 20 at next year's Olympics. Reality is different but 2012 to 2016 is really the aim of the high-performance programme."
Confirming the rise in the youth ranks, three heats were needed in the under-17 boys' grade yesterday with 27 competitors taking part.
Meanwhile, after compiling the national and earlier Blue Lake regatta results, Canoe Racing New Zealand will be holding trials next weekend at Lake Karapiro where invited athletes will be tested.
They will then select senior squads for three months of World Cups and World Championships in Europe as well as under-23 representatives, while under-19 and under-17 teams will tour Australia.
* For full results go to www.canoeracing.org.nz.