Rangitīkei-based crew of river rafters win gold at World Rafting Championships in Malaysia

The New Zealand Women's Open R4 Rafting team, Emma O'Connell (left), Christina Donne-Lee, Hazel Cumpstone, Janey Harrison and Keeva Harrison, won the IRF World Rafting Championships, held in Malaysia on December 1-7.

A crew of women from Rangitīkei have been physically and metaphorically riding the wave of success in the river rafting scene, becoming world champions.

The New Zealand Open Women’s R4 rafting team competed in the International Rafting Federation World Rafting Championships in Malaysia on December 1-7.

The team was Emma O’Connell, Hazel Cumpstone, Janey Harrison, Keeva Harrison and Christina Donne-Lee.

They were coached by Mangaweka’s Paul Eames.

The championships had four disciplines: sprints, head-to-heads, slalom and downriver.

The crew won gold in the sprints and downriver events, earning enough points to win overall.

Eames said the experience was an excellent time away, topped off with a win.

“We knew that we had good river-runners, the river experience was the advantage,” he said.

The team train, and mostly work, on the Rangitīkei River.

They won the R6 Pacific Cup, held in Murchison, in March after practising only four times together.

Crew captain Janey Harrison said they had been going with the flow and, despite being competitive people, went to Malaysia for an experience.

“We surprised ourselves in that first race. To get out of the gate and win that gold in the first sprint, we thought ‘s***, once again, we could give this a nudge and do well’,” Harrison said.

“It was more grit than anything that got us there – we turned up to play.”

She said returning home as world champions felt like a big thank you to the community which supported them.

Harrison admitted the past success of the Rotorua-based New Zealand Open Women’s crew added extra motivation to perform well.

“It was pretty special ... those girls have won so many competitions over the last decade,” Harrison said.

“The pressure was a little bit on to not let them down, so we felt pretty bloody good about bringing that gold home, not gonna lie.

“They were big shoes to fill but we managed to put our feet in them.”

The Kampar River in Malaysia suited the crew, Harrison said.

“It worked in our favour because it was lower. They had a bunch of rain the week before but not much rain while we were there,” she said.

“The majority of it was technical rafting, which is what we’re used to, so it definitely worked in our favour.”

Harrison was unsure what the future held and whether the crew would stick together or try their luck in different categories.

Her daughter Keeva, 15, wanted to form an under-19 team to compete at the next world championships.

“It will be interesting to see if we keep that team or if we dismantle and go into the different categories,” Harrison said.

Fin Ocheduszko Brown is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.