Jason Anderson from Wanganui loses his grip after slipping in the very muddy portage section at the Wairau Rowing club today. Jason won the under 19 section.
Deep, slippery mud, from days of heavy rain on the banks of the Wairau River, made the portage section of the NZ Kayak Marathon Champs hard going.
The open men had to negotiate the quagmire 5 times before Ben Keys from the Arawa Canoe club pulled away from Sam Newlands (BOP) and local paddler Paul Bourgeois, for the win.
How does this photo make you feel on a 6 degree day in Blenheim?
Local triathlete and Airforce Sargeant Greg O’Connor is packing up and heading to Queensland. Greg has scored a great job as Assistant Triathlon Coach at the Queensland Academy of Sport.
The Academy is based at Griffith University in Brisbane and Greg will be responsible for the under 23 squad of around 11 athletes.
Greg and his wife Tracey are well known in the Marlborough sporting scene. Greg has competed at 4 world champs as a NZ age group triathlete rep and Tracey has been heavily involved in the local hockey scene.
Greg and I did numerous training sessions together, most recently in preparation for the Triathlon World champs on the Gold Coast in Sept 09. These were usually only key sessions, as training together all the time would have meant a painful death for both of us. Ten days out from the race we did a swim, bike, run session that was fairly typical of the suffering. It involved;
2km of swimming
90 minutes on the bike, including 3x 20 minutes intervals, one hard, one very hard and one vomit extremely hard.
6x 1km run intervals at the Woodbourne Airfield. 1km race pace, 1km easy.
…all in a howling norwester. Needless to say we arrived in Oz in good shape.
Anyway, good luck guys, and congratulations.
Race distances range from 28km for the open divisions down to 3.5km for the intermediate school age children.
For more details please refer to the marathon rules and entry form on the CRNZ website under marathon.
On Weds night at 7pm, Robin Judkins will be presenting The Weatherbomb Tour, a 45-minute DVD showing the drama of this year’s Speight’s Coast to Coast race. The presentation will be open to all, with a $5 charge to cover costs. Sponsor’s products and juice will be provided.
As ever with Judkins, you are guranteed a laugh and an interesting presentation.
The venue is the Marlborough Room, Heartland Hotel, Cnr Alfred & Henry Streets, Blenheim
Regular Du competitor Des Church finishing in the rain
Rain hasn’t been common in Marlborough this year. In fact, I doubt it has rained on a single sports event in the province – until this weekend. However it didn’t deter the hardy bunch of Duathletes who turned up this morning to contest round two of the Cycle World Winter Series.
The transition area had to moved to higher ground, which shortened the run legs and lengthened the bike slightly. The ever improving Rachel Monk showed everybody a clean muddy pair of heels as she took out the overall in 1.19.01. Go Rachel!!
The next event is on 13 June. Get training.
Nathan Fa’avae wins the Portage Kayak race with an extra arm strapped to the front of his surf ski.
The Nelson trio of Nathan Fa’avae, Andrew Martin and Richard Ussher dished out a lesson in endurance paddling and kayak carrying today in the Marlborough Sounds. Paddling an Epic surf ski in near perfect conditions Fa’avae headed the other two in a fast time of 2.27.43.
Here’s a link to Welly Paddlers race report.
The Portage Kayak Race (so named because if involves about 5 km of portaging (kayak carrying) as well the 27 km of kayaking, is on this coming Saturday, 15th May. It is one of the club’s long standing iconic events and is always a fun and challenging day out. In past years paddlers and officials have been treated to whale sightings, majestic scenery, some “interesting” weather conditons and mid-course snacks served on a silver platter. What will 2010 hold?
There is strong interest from Paddlers in Wellington and Nelson this year so we are anticipating a good size field with some close racing from those who are out to show off their skills and fitness and as always, and the usual camraderie and fun challenges for those who are perhaps a little more recreational and want to take in more of that awesome scenery.
Again we have sponsorship support from Topsport Kayaking in Chch and our local club supporter Medal Winning St Clair Wines. The Prize Giving will be held again at Le Cafe in Picton after the last paddler finishes.
The entry form is available here, and entries will be accepted on the day.
It’s also a good opportunity to be boated around some of the bays in the inner Queen Charlotte Sound if you would like to help out as a timekeeper/marshal. Please let Andrea know andreakoorey@hotmail.com or 5787195 if you would like a morning in The Sounds on the 15th May.
Steve Smith went along to Richard Andreson’s fundraiser on 7 May…
300 people attended the fund raising dinner for mountain biker Richard Anderson . He’s on a mission to compete in the World Champs from August 31 to September 5 at Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada. Everyone was kept entertained by live music from local youth performers and a large screen which featured pictures of his various races and extensive video coverage. Most in attendance suppressed a gasp at the photos of the injured rider being choppered on a back board from an event presumably on a day when things had not gone as planned.
Multisport legend Richard Ussher was the celebrity speaker and kept the crowd’s attention with stories such as those involving the need for forged parental signatures to pursue a skiing career to more recent races involving 36km of paddling in an inflatable canoe that was so badly punctured the occupants were sitting below the water line. But it was the story involving his recent race at Xterra that drew the most admiration from anyone who has ever ridden a bike. Having been well placed he suffered the worst of gear failure with the seat on his bike actually breaking off and, with no thought of giving up, finished the last 6km of an already tough race without being able to sit down. His speech concluded with his expressing admiration for Anderson who is widely acknowledged as being single minded in his determination to achieve in the sport of mountain biking and his final motivational words were along the lines of making your dreams your goals and then pursuing them – but pursuing them hard.
Master of Ceremonies Aaron Davis was in charge of the auction of everything ranging from wine and accommodation to a week’s labour by a local carpenter. This item attracted special attention from the female section of the audience when it was suggested that for extra money the work would be performed bare chested. Whilst not the most expensive item of the evening the one that got the biggest cheer was Anderson’s race jersey which sold for $500. The evening was an outstanding success and raised over $15,000.
Multisport News
