Rafting: Bay of Plenty grab second at rafting champs

Bay of Plenty secured a credible second place at this year's pre-world rafting champs held near Rotorua.

Going into the final day of the three day event, Bay of Plenty team, Ghost Chips were leading from professional team and current world champs Japan's Team Teikei.

The nine crews (eight men and one women) competed in the third and final section of the event (Down River) on the Rangitaiki River just south of Rotorua yesterday.

There was only nine points separating the two lead teams in the Down River, a race of strength and stamina, on the Rangitaiki River.

However, Team Teikei got away to a flyer of a start and never looked back. Ghost Chips used every ounce of local knowledge to pull the team back but were ruing a couple of crucial errors during the race to end just over a minute behind the Japanese team.

The three day action packed event saw plenty of drama, day one had seen Team Teikei take maximum points in the sprints on the Kaituna River north of Rotorua, with the Czech Republic's Bestie Czech grabbing second and Ghost Chips third. The home team limped home in the first section after one of the crew members snapped a paddle at the start.

However, the crew made up of captain and Rotorua local Bernd Sommer, Sam and Jamie Sutton, Benjamin Gibb, Brad Lauder and Paul Roozendaal came back in the second section of the head to head to beat the Czech team and narrowly lose to Japan in the final.

Day two saw the teams competing on the Tarawera River in Kawerau in the slalom. Ghost Chips not known for their slalom skills nailed the event over taking Team Teikei, to head into the third and final day hopeful of an upset.

Three other Bay of Plenty crews entered the event, although OPC finished last in the open mens, the crew who had to replace a paddler due to illness on the final day, were just under a minute behind the pace of the Aussie crew, Team Doric Sydney.

In the Masters Men section Aotearoa Paddlers consisting of Nick Chater, Maika Nutu, Donald Johnson, Dai Edwards, Martin Helleur and Jon Snook over came strong competition from the South Island crew BTA, to book themselves into next year's world champs, which will be held at the same venues as this year's event. It will be the first time in the world championship history, New Zealand have hosted the event.

The two Kiwi crews will be joined by Rotorua women's crew Okere Ladies made up of captain Kelly Wood, Denise Martin, Alana Whiteman, Annie Cairns, Nikki Whitehead and Olympian Luuka Jones, who also qualified.

About 50 crews from all over the world will travel to New Zealand in November, next year - 30 men's and 20 women's teams for the event.

Results from the Down River on the Rangitaiki

Open Men:

1) Team Teikei (JAP) 44..04.45 400 points

2) Ghost Chips (NZL) 45.11.65 352 points

3) Bestie Czech (CZE) 45.41.47 316 points

4) Team Cairns (AUS) 46.15.17 288 points

5) Team Doric Sydney (AUS) 46.17.08 276 points

6) OCP (NZL) 47.06.90 264 points

Masters Men:

1) Aotearoa Paddlers 45.40.09 400 points

2) BTA 45.55.38 352 points

Open Women:

1) Okere Ladies 48.01.45

Final overall picture after day 3 with combined points from Sprint and Head 2 Head on the Kaituna on Friday, Saturday's Slalom at Kawerau and today's Down River:

Open Men:

1) Team Teikei Japan (JAP) 964 points

2) Ghost Chips (NZL) 907 points

3) Bestie Czech (CZE) 799 points

4) Team Doric Sydney (AUS) 708 points

5) Team Cairns (AUS) 702 points

6) OCP (NZL) 660 points

Masters Men:

1) Aotearoa Paddlers 988 points

2) BTA 892 points

Open Women:

1) Okere Ladies 1000 points