North Shore Times (New Zealand)
National medal haul for surprised Reiser
He reckons it’s only taken him 19 years to win a national canoe sprint K1 medal but North Shore kayaker Ashton Reiser has quickly got a taste for it.
The 19-year-old capped a brilliant three days at the NZCT New Zealand canoe sprint championships at Lake Karapiro over the weekend by winning silver in the K1 500m, just 1.80secs behind Mana’s Kurtis Imrie and exactly the same margin in front of Poverty Bay’s Quaid Thompson. Earlier, he’d picked up bronze in the K1 200m and nabbed a trio of team boat golds.
The results put him firmly in line for a call-up to the national high performance squad and came as a bit of a surprise to the affable Reiser after patchy earlyseason form.
‘‘I came away from Blue Lakes [selection event before Christmas] with only a bronze medal so I’m not sure where this weekend came from but I’m pretty stoked,’’ Reiser said. ‘‘I changed my race plan and really focused on my starts and that made a big difference.’’
North Shore teammate Karl McMurtie was the leading Kiwi in the K1 200m, sneaking past Imrie by just 0.06secs, with Reiser picking up bronze, although all three Kiwis trailed Japanese visitor Momotaro Matsushita, who clocked 37.59secs to win.
Reiser and McMurtrie flew home in the men’s K2 200m in 34.20secs, just 0.40secs clear of Mana’s Ethan Moore and Imrie, while they also joined forces with Tim Waller and Tuva’a Clifton to win the men’s K4 200m and K4 500m titles.
Caitlin Ryan also had a regatta to remember, with the North Shore Olympian pushing her world champion K2 teammate Lisa Carrington in the k1 500m final, with Carrington clocking 1:49.78 and Ryan 1:50.25, after leading for the first half of the race. French Olympian Sarah Guyot was third in 1:55.25. The result means Carrington will have to trial against Ryan for a world championship spot later in the year. Ryan was also third in the K1 200m, behind Carrington and Aimee Fisher, then paired with Carrington to win the K2 500m by nearly 5secs ahead of Mana’s Kayla Imrie and Danielle Watson, with Elise Legarth and Fisher (Hawke’s Bay) third. Ryan also helped her North Shore crew take out the K4 500m, alongside Briar McLeely, Rochelle Austin and Samalulu Clifton.