Wednesday, 18 January 2012
KAWERAU will host the first major canoe event of the year on the Tarawera River this weekend.
The event is the first of the ranking and selection races for the top New Zealand canoe slalom paddlers.
After weeks of rain, the flow of water in the Tarawera River can be expected to be higher than normal, which will increase the level of challenge for
paddlers.
Olympic places are already confirmed for New Zealand’s top paddlers in Mike Dawson and Luuka Jones who will compete in Kawerau.
This will give the general public the opportunity to watch two Olympic medal hopefuls in action. It will be the first time New Zealand has both a female and male canoe slalom paddler represented at the Olympic Games.
Dawson is only the fourth Kiwi to make the Olympics in canoe slalom while Jones will appear at her second Olympic Games, after being the first female New Zealander to make the Olympics held in Beijing four years ago.
The world number three-ranked Czech paddler, Vavrinec Hradilek will also be on display as will German and 2010 World Champion Fabian Doerfler.
For many of the elite paddlers the selection races in Kawerau will be another notch on the training schedule with the ICF ranking races taking place the following weekend in Shannon.
For others, selection for the various New Zealand teams is high on the agenda and always fiercely contended. Kawerau will also host a three-day development training camp starting on Monday, which will continue the development of future New Zealand paddlers, which is starting to pay dividends for New Zealand on the world stage.
Boats will be on the water from 10am on both Saturday and Sunday at Waterhouse Street.