Enjoy the CDU Newsletter
Published: Fri, 03/17/17
536
17th March 2017
Message Bank
The Australian Canoe Marathon is now behind us so it's now
time to think of next year which will take place in Adelaide.
Being closer to Perth may encourage more WA paddlers to take
part. We have many paddlers who should be going and with one
year to go it will give some of the ski paddlers time to get
used to a K1, however there is a race for ski paddlers in
the event who just love paddling skis.
The venue. Penrith Lakes & Regatta Course
This years championships wasn't quite as successful for WA
as last year as far as gold medals are concerned but nevertheless
all WA paddlers won medals. Josh Kippin did especially well
winning the K1 and the K2 with Brendan Rice. My race was in
the morning so I was able to watch Josh, Brendan, Luke Dooley,
Max Smith, Luke Egger, Tom Green and Tim Hyde in their races.
It was worth going to Sydney just to see them race.
Australian Marathon Champion Josh Kippin after
his race
Day One: Josh Kippin got Gold, Terry Bolland Silver, Brett
McDonald Silver, Thomas Paul Rogan Gold, Mark Lawson Bronze,
Luke Dooley Bronze, Max Smith Fourth, Tom Green & Luke
Egger Gold in the K2!
Day 2: Josh Kippin & Brendan Rice Open K2 Gold, Luke
Dooley & Max Smith U18 K2 Silver, Brett McDonald &
Mark Lawson 45+ K2 Bronze, Tom Green U16 K1 Silver, Luke Egger
U16 K1 Bronze, Tim Hyde U14 K1 Bronze.
Mark who got a 3rd place and Brett a 2nd place raced their
K1 at the same time as I was paddling so I didn't see the
excitement, but I watched their K2 race on Sunday which was
pretty exciting until they capsized at the potage and the
other two boats in their pack got away. Nevertheless they
still came third and had a great race.
Young Luke Egger was probably the most unluckiest of paddlers.
He was in the front pack coming to the portage but when he
stopped the nose of his kayak was the outside of the lead
kayak. When the lead kayak cleared the portage Luke had to
draw his kayak sideways to the pontoon resulting in a capsize.
He then had to swim to the pontoon, and empty out his kayak,
all which took time. In the meantime the other three juniors
were going 'hell for leather' leaving Luke behind. With two
laps to go Luke somehow had to make up 500 metres and unbelievably
by the next lap which was about 3.7 kms he was only two kayak
lengths behind. It was an amazing feat to catch up but at
the end he didn't have the strength to overpower the lead
kayaks which included his training partner WAs Tom Green,
nevertheless there was only a few metres in it and he came
3rd. Luke and Tom won the under 16 doubles the day before.
Luke Dooley, last years under 16 champion moved up to the
under 18s this year. Halfway through his race he looked as
if he could take out the title but the older juniors had the
edge so Luke came 3rd and WAs Max Smith 4th. In Luke's and
Max's doubles race they came second. With another year of
growth and fitness they will be a force to reckon with next
year.
Thomas Rogan took out the ski category, taking home a gold.
The course was great, no hassle's with power boats or rowers,
fairly calm conditions and there were no more than 15 paddlers
on each grid so it couldn't have been any more perfect. The
pontoons though were concrete so they were rough on the paddles
and body if you should take a scrape.
Having seen the competition over east, WA has a good chance
of taking more medals next year.
Josh open single 1st. Photo
Jane Dooley
Josh & Brendan 1st open.
Josh & Brendan 1st open
Luke Dooley Junior under 18 3rd. Photo
Jane Dooley
Max Smith Junior under 18 4th. Photo
Jane Dooley
Matthew Greed. Photo
Jane Dooley
Luke & Max under 18 doubles 2nd
Mark 55+ 3rd. Photo Jane
Dooley
Brett 45+ 2nd. Photo
Jane Dooley
Mark & Brett 45+ K2 3rd
Tom & Luke under 16 doubles 1st. Photo
Jane Dooley
Tim Hyde under 14 3rd. Photo
Jane Dooley
Tom Green under 16 K1 2nd, Luke Egger 3rd.
Photo Jane Dooley
Thomas Rogan Ski 1st. Photo
Jane Dooley
Terry 65 K1 2nd and a little distracted. Photo
Jane Dooley
Full results here: https://regattas.canoe.org.au/?results=1139
Training & Courses
Saturday Morning
Fitness Training
7.15am for a 7.30am start
Sandy Beach Reserve, West Road,
Bassendean
*******************
Monday Night Training
Ascot Kayak Club 5.45pm
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Stories
National Marathon
Champs
Sydney is a long way to go to a race but what the hell it
was going to be good to see how I was going against the other
65 year old paddlers in Australia. In the last few months
I had increased my training so I am a little faster than I
used to be when I worked full time, but I am still slower
than a few older paddlers in WA. If I wanted to be really
competitive I need to be 4 minutes quicker over a 15km course
than I am now. Getting 4 minutes faster though is going to
be hard to achieve.
We were staying 10kms from the regatta
course at the Western Sydney University apartments which turned
out being extremely quiet and a fairly short drive. Thankfully
our drive was short because my race started at 8.12am. The
weather was near perfect at the lakes although a touch hot
25 degrees, but I was used to that. There were about 6 grids
of paddlers ahead of my grid and a couple behind so there
were going to be a lot of paddlers on the course at the same
time. The more elite paddlers were paddling in the afternoon.
The course
We collected our numbers, got our boats
out of the container, attended the briefing, which only took
two minutes and got on the water to warm up. As I entered
one lady paddling a K1 toppled over a metre from the shoreline."
I knew I should have brought my sea kayak," she said.
There were a few people there that didn't look very stable.
I made sure I wasn't one of them by using my Alchemist K1,
which is more stable than my Epic K1 that Luke was using.
The grids were called
to the start. Photo Jane Dooley
I did a lap and half of the warm up
area before being ushered towards the start line. My target
was beating Terry Poole number 705. I didn't know who he was
until I looked over and saw him on the start line. Terry was
second last year so I needed to be up with him to do any good.
Mark and Brett, were all going off before
me in their different categories and young Luke Egger &
Tom Green were in the under 16 doubles, but they were starting
behind.
Lining up. Photo Jane
Dooley
We're off. Photo Jane
Dooley
I lined up in the middle
of the pack. Not knowing any one it was hard to know who was
going to take the lead. It was a quick ready, go from the
starter and we were away. There was no-one around me so I
had clean water but the fastest two guys were over to my left
and paddling pretty strong. It didn't look good as they were
too far across and I was too far away to get on their wash.
Terry Poole eventually lost Robert Hodge so it gave me a chance
to paddle hard to catch him. It was a struggle but I managed
it sooner than I thought I would. We were about to paddle
under a bridge when two girls in a double started passing
us, although not very tidily and causing us to do a little
evasive action.
It was good not having
any wash to fight. Photo Jane Dooley
I moved inside the sprint lake behind
TP and the turn into the lake to head downstream was sharper
than it looked. The 3 turn buoys were about 250 metres away
and as we turned around them we had to avoid all the lane
buoys which were a little off putting, but not a big problem.
We were catching up with some young slower paddlers so it
was a bit like the dodgem cars for a while.
TP lead down the straight avoiding slower
boats and I just hung onto his wash. His speed was just too
fast to try to pass at this stage in the race so I buckled
down and followed. The other boats made wash hanging a little
difficult so I kept dropping back and catching up again. At
the top turn the under 16 doubles started passing us but we
could only wash hang the paddlers on our grids so we couldn't
take advantage although TP did for a short time. Tom Green
and Luke Egger were in one of the doubles and they were flying.
Tom Green and Luke Egger
keeping their competition at bay. Photo Jane Dooley
We made our way out of the sprint course
and I noticed this big canoe ahead. It turned out being a
chunky C1. I heard Brett who was coming from the other way
shout out come-on Terry. The paddler in front was called Terry
so I don't know if he thought he was being cheered on. We
rounded the 3 buoys at the top of the lake closer to the slalom
course and hit the long straight home for the first lap.
Because we were in the over 65s we didn't
have to portage which I don't agree with but I suppose we
were classed as nearly dead at 65, so it probably saves them
having the ambulance standing by.
Robert Hodge rounding the buoys before
Terry Poole and myself. Photo
Jane Dooley
We had paddled our first lap but TP
was still too strong for me to pass so we did another lap.
I was waiting for an opportunity to pass which came at the
start of the third lap when I did a better turn and managed
to get to the side of him. As soon as I started passing he
said, are you from NSW are you, do they all wash hang and
not take a turn or something like that. I just said calmly,
no I'm from WA and paddled on listening to the cheers from
the bank.
Terry Poole asked me
if I was from NSW as I had been wash hanging him! Photo Jane
Dooley
I was soon passed him
so it was his turn to wash hang me. Photo Jane Dooley
He then got on my side wash and had
a ride from the start into the sprint lake, under the bridge
and out again. This time Tom Rogan shouted come-on Terry.
Heading to the 3 buoys at the top of the lake TP put some
speed on. I thought he might be trying to squeeze me out on
the turn so I sped in front again so I was controlling the
turn. Turning around the last buoy the pack with Brett McDonald
came screaming around the corner and TP got pushed sideways,
my paddle hit the front of his kayak as he uncontrollable
speared towards me. Once they had passed we were able to settle.
I led back to the start
and the guy who sprinted off was still ahead. I thought we
might be able to catch up a little if we worked together and
although it seemed we were gaining on him he still kept his
distance. There was one thing for sure if we couldn't catch
him I was either going to come second or third.
I led around the last turn at the start
point and where all the spectators were. TP was still on my
wash, I should have said, are you from NSW do they all wash
hang. Well it was now the last lap so I tried to quicken the
pace to try to catch the leader. By now the field was spread
so we didn't get as much interference from others. I led under
the bridge negotiated the right hand tight turn into the sprint
course and then made a dash for the 3 turn buoys. On the next
straight TP surged but as we came up to the bottom set of
turn buoys I surged back into the lead and led out of the
sprint lake. TP surged again but I surged back so I could
round the 3 buoys at the top of the lake.
We were now on our way home and I could
see the leader just up front but there was no chance of us
catching him. We just needed him to capsize which was most
unlikely. We were both in acceleration mode and travelling
a good speed to the finish line. This was our last lap but
there was a little doubt in my mind when I saw the lead paddler
take another turn. Being a little confused I slackened off
a little but when TP didn't try to take the turn I knew it
was going to be a few hundred metre sprint to the finish.
We both notched it up a gear and for a moment I thought I
just might beat him. Cheers from the WA crew egged me on but
I just didn't have the strength to pass him so TP beat me
by a second. I must admit I was pretty pleased to be in that
position, as missing out by one second I thought wasn't too
bad.
At the finish line. I
just didn't have enough power to pass him so Terry P beat
me by a second, giving me the silver medal. Photo Jane Dooley
Although we were both pretty pleased
with our paddle, coming 1st and 2nd, we knew that if Robert
Hodge hadn't paddled to the start line instead of the finish
line we have been 2nd and 3rd. It pays to make sure you know
where you are going. There was no excuse as the briefings
had made it very clear where the finish line was.
Then that night we had another scare
when the official results showed another paddler had taken
out first place.We knew no other paddler was in front of us
and the fact that this paddler paddled 15kms in 1 hour 4 minutes
was quite unbelievable. A protest the next day proved that
the paddler had not done all the laps.
Full results here: https://regattas.canoe.org.au/?results=1139
Race of the Week
***************************
Rod Fry Race
2nd April
Swan Canoe Club
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