Roberts Makes Strong Start to Representative Bid

Published On: 7 March 2019

Jamie Roberts’ attempts to secure a berth on the 2019 Australian National Team has begun strongly with the 28 year-old competing in two finals at the Canoe Sprint Championships in Perth on Thursday.

Wet and humid conditions set a gloomy backdrop as Champion Lakes saw its first senior finals contested with the women racing in the K1 500 and K1 200 disciplines.

The Gold Coast based paddler, who is aiming to lock down a spot in the national K4 500 boat, paddled in both finals, fetching fifth and third place finishes in the 500 and 200 finals respectively.

The K1 500 final played out as expected, with Queenslanders Alyce Burnett and Aly Bull going head to head for line honours. The former secured the national title in a time of 1:49.16mins which was enough to edge out Bull who crossed in 1:49.99mins.

Roberts took fifth place in 1:52.87mins to finish ahead of the highly rated and rapidly emerging talent of Ella Beere (1:53.26mins) who some observers regard as a potential selection bolter given her strong domestic form and young age.


In the K1 200 final, Roberts again edged the young NSW flier in winning a bronze medal in 41.06secs. The title was won by Burnett ahead of NSW’s Jo Brigden-Jones.

Yale Stenepreis who was recently confirmed on the U23 national team for 2019 enjoyed a solid paddle to take sixth place in 41.65secs.

Roberts will partner Burnett, Bull and Brigden-Jones in the specialist K4 500 final on Saturday, with the quartet expected to finish ahead of the highly talented young crew of Beere, Steinepreis, Brianna Massie and WA’s Shannon Reynolds.

Reynolds produced a great effort on Thursday to take seventh place in the K1 500 final, whilst she and Beere have also progressed to the semi-finals of the K2 500 event, where Roberts is racing with Brigden-Jones. The senior team members progressed straight to Friday’s final with a heat win.

Further results and details can be followed at the competition regatta link.