Gold medals for Mana kayakers in Rotorua
Mana Kayak Racing Club achieved excellent results across a number of age groups at the recent Blue Lake Flat Water Sprints Regatta in Rotorua.
The club, based at Onepoto in Titahi Bay, showed that the focus on technical excellence and youth development is bearing fruit, said Mana club member Joern Scherzer.
‘‘This promises to be a good season, with the national champs only about four months away,’’ he said.
The club came away with 14 gold, three silver and two bronze medals.
In the under-16 women’s division, Brooklyn Saunders won gold in the 200m race and finished second in the 500m, missing gold by just half a second.
In the under-18 women’s division, Danielle Watson won her K1 200m and 500m final, with fellow club members Tess Allen and Gemma Woolcock coming second and third in the 500m race.
Watson and Allen then combined to win the the K2 200m and 500m races.
In the under-18 men’s division, meanwhile, Ethan Moore dominated the 200m race to win gold and came third in the 1000m race.
In the open division, Kurtis Imrie won all three open single events, the K1 200m, 500m and 1000m.
In the K2 200m, he partnered Ethan Moore to take gold and joined Max Brown in the K2 1000 to win again.
To round a successful regatta for Mana Kayak Racing Club, Joern Scherzer won both the K1 200m and 1000m in the masters division, with fellow club member Glen Muirhead coming second in the 1000m race.
The duo then combined to claim victory in the K2 1000m.
The Blue Lake Regatta also featured canoe racing, an emerging boat class in New Zea- land, with Scherzer competing.
In a canoe, the paddler kneels on one knee with the other leg forward and foot flat on the floorboard inside the boat, and paddles a single-bladed paddle on one side only. In a kayak, the paddler is seated in the direction of travel, and uses a doublebladed paddle.
* Interested in giving paddling a go? Mana Kayak Racing Club has sessions suitable for beginners every Saturday and Sunday morning at 8am. Email joern.scherzer@gmail.com for more information.