"They contended with 38 degree heat, travel delays and at one point someone found a snake in one of their boats. All very challenging.
"They will be looking forward to the nationals on February 23/24/25 on Lake Karapiro where they will be up against other members of the New Zealand team, as well as a number of other good paddlers who didn't make the team, all vying for national titles and club glory."
Scott said the three were likely to team up with former kayak club paddler Max Brown in the K4 open division at the nationals. Brown is currently in training with the New Zealand elite squad.
"The success of Kiwi paddlers on the world stage has not gone unnoticed and international athletes are now targeting our national championships - we are now a ry popular nation to be competing against and our Whanganui athletes are very much a part of that."
All three Whanganui High School students had been selected on race performance and a national assessment camp at Lake Karapiro last year then gained valuable insight into top level paddling when double world U23 champ Aimee Fisher repaid Scott a favour.
Fisher visited the Whanganui Kayak Club to host a two-day workshop in lare December.
"I've known Aimee for a while now and she owed my a favour so came over to Whanganui for two days. She held a couple of workshops on the water and then just hung with the kids for question/answer sessions. The kids benefited hugely from it, especially Lucas, Jack and Liam."