Kayaking: Carrington sees off Aussies in K1 200m at Karapiro

Lisa Carrington is delighted to see the form of her New Zealand teammates. Photo / NZME.

Lisa Carrington eased to her seventh straight K1 200m title on the final day of the Canoe Racing New Zealand national championships at Lake Karapiro yesterday.

The 25-year-old comfortably saw off the challenges of Australians Alana Nicholls and Jo Brigden-Jones, finishing in 40.17secs, with just 0.02 secs separating the two Australians who clocked 41.22 and 41.24 respectively.

Aimee Fisher (Hawkes Bay) and Caitlin Ryan (North Shore) capped successful weekends by rounding out the top-five, after winning the K2 500m title, and Carrington was delighted to see the form of her New Zealand teammates.

"It's fantastic to see how much Aimee and Caitlin have improved in the last year and even in the last few months," Carrington said.

"It was important for them to do well here because it's a selection event and they stepped up to the plate and paddled awesome. I'm really proud of them."

A strong tail-wind and lowered lake level caused havoc in the morning session, with weed issues plaguing a number of paddlers, before conditions glassed off for the afternoon.

Olympic and world champion Carrington avoided the weed issues and enjoyed a busy event, winning titles in the K2 200m (with fellow Eastern Bay paddler Jaimee Lovett) and the K4 200m with a composite crew of Brigden-Jones, Nicholls and another Australian, Naomi Flood. "I've just finished a really tough block of training in the last three months and it's really important to keep those race skills up.

"Ultimately, 500m and 200m are my events and I have to keep that in mind and have to keep practising that - it's good to do the full cycle of training, especially now with having a bit of a break before getting ready for the world cups."

The stiff tail-wind helped Scott Bicknell (Bay of Plenty) clock his fastest-ever time in the K1 200m men's race - a slick 35.56 - and record his third-consecutive national title. He also combined with Mana's William Wilkins to win the K2 200m title.

"It wasn't so much about winning, it was about showing improvement and showing that I was worth investing in on the international stage and I was pretty satisfied with how I went based on that," Bicknell said.

"I've been given the word to pull my head in and commit to one discipline, rather than dabbling in too many, so I'm concentrating on 200m."

Poverty Bay's Darryl Fitzgerald was nearly 2 seconds adrift of Bicknell in 37.41 in the individual race, while he also combined with his brother Jarrod to grab silver in the K2 200m.

Mana pair Marty McDowell and Kurtis Imrie, who won the K2 1000m crown on Saturday, showed their versatility by grabbing silver in the shorter race.