WAIS athlete Brendon Sarson (Balcatta) had a comfortable winin the Bay2Beach race over 17km from Mosman Bay out past the North Mole and into Cottesloe Beach on the weekend.
Sarson worked conservatively in the early stages of the race and was able to break away in the harbour rounding North Mole a couple of hundred metres in front and then had the benefit of a South Wester to push him home on the runs. Daniel Bowker (Kingsley) showed great improvement in this form of race to come fourth narrowly beaten in the closing stages by ocean racing veteran Dean Beament.
This event was a perfect warm up for Sarson who raced overnight (Wed Perth time) in the World’s richest Ocean race the Dubai Shamaal over 20km.
120 paddlers from all over the world have converged on the financially troubled emirate to race in this event which is bringing together exponents of flat water and ocean racing including Olympic Champion Eirik Veraas Larsen from Norway, multiple World Marathon Champion Manuel Busto from Spain. Sarson came 14th in this event last year and will be looking to break into the top 10. Race updates can be found at http://surfski.info/
Following this event Sarson will travel south to South Africa where this time he will take part in the Southern Shamaal over 4 days from Port Elizabeth and East London. This event is primarily a 3 person team event where competitors will race a distance of approximately 240km from Saturday to Tuesday. This race can be followed at http://surfski.info.
Once this event is completed Sarson will fly direct to the first Grand Prix of the season in Adelaide arriving Thursday night with racing commencing on the Friday.
At home the remaining WAIS paddlers will contest the fourth Sprint Regatta of the season which will be held at Champion Lakes on Saturday morning. Jesse Phillips (Rivervale) will look to carry on his good form over both 200m and 1000m events. Steve Bird (Mount Pleasant) missed the last regatta through injury and will be looking to push his K2 partner as well as using the event as a warm up for the Grand Prix in Adelaide the following week.
This regatta will be the last regatta for Olympic Bronze medallist Lisa Russ (East Fremantle) who recently announcement her retirement and will bow out after a decorated career spanning 15 years that saw her win numerous state and national titles as well as World Cup medals with her career reaching its peak last year in Beijing when she brilliantly stroked the women’s K4 to a courageous bronze medal.
Lisa has been a fine ambassador to the sport and will be missed, however, we wish Lisa and her husband Duane all the best as they make their new lives up in Duane’s home town of Derby.
Russ will be pushed by Libby Le Coultre (Inglewood) who has made good improvements over the last month.
– WAIS head canoeing coach Ramon Andersson
