Kayla Imrie yesterday combined with Olympic champion Lisa Carrington to win the K2 500m title on the first day of the New Zealand canoe sprint championships in Rotorua.
After just three training sessions together, including two in the past week, Wellingtonian Imrie, 22, and Carrington combined seamlessly, heading off TenealeHatton and Caitlin Ryan by 2.43 seconds.
"We were training at the lake recently and she came up and asked me if I had a paddler and if I wanted to put a K2 boat in together," Imrie, who competes for the North Shore club, said. "I was kind of shocked but pretty excited at the same time. It was awesome to jump in a boat with her and to paddle with an Olympic gold medallist."
It proved a big day for Wellington paddlers, after Imrie had joined North Shore's Hatton, Ryan and Briar McLeely for a K4 500m triumph earlier in the programme.
Titahi Bay's Marty McDowell (Mana) also picked up a significant victory, winning his first K1 1000m national title after finishing third behind Australians Ken Wallace and Lachlan Tame in the final.
The 27-year-old McDowell hasn't pulled on a New Zealand representative singlet since 2008 but the six-year absence has whetted his appetite as he held off a strong finish from Olympian Darryl Fitzgerald.
"I tried to go out hard off the start and hold the same pace, trying not to die at the end," McDowell said. "The body pretty much blew with 200m to go so I was just hanging on. Having the Aussie guys here definitely picked up the pace - Kenny's ranked third in the world - so they're the benchmark of where we need to be."
McDowell is enjoying his paddling renaissance and would love another crack on the international stage.
"They say kayakers peak at 30, although it was a 37-year-old who won at the last Olympics. I think it's just experience, learning how to train and race better. Racing is probably the main one for me - I've been pretty hit and miss in the past so I've really been working on my consistency and figuring that out."
He capped a memorable afternoon by helping a combined K4 - with Poverty Bay's Darryl and Jarrod Fitzgerald and Arawa's Zac Quickenden - win the final race of the day, the K4 1000m.
Carrington will have K1 500m heats and finals today, with her trademark K1 200m tomorrow.
