Canoe Sprint racing returns to Australian shores this Friday when West Lakes, South Australia hosts Grand Prix 1 (GP1).
The event will be staged over three days from 6 – 8 December and showcase 146 athletes from around the country, all of whom will be looking to get off to a strong start and get some
valuable racing time out on the water in the first event of the Australian summer.
Headlining GP1 will be London Olympic stars Alana Nicholls (WA), Steve Bird (WA), Jesse Phillips (WA), Jo Brigden-Jones (NSW) and Naomi Flood (NSW).
The 1000 metre events will get GP1 started on Friday before the 500, 200, paracanoe and long distance events follow across Saturday and Sunday.
The senior women’s K1 500 and K1 200 events should be hotly contested with Queensland duo Bernadette Wallace and Alyce Burnett joining Brigden-Jones, Flood and Nicholls in a
strong field.
Looking to push their senior counterparts will be a host of promising U23 and junior athletes including Mitta Mitta’s Amy Peters, Bendigo’s Rebecca Mann and Holdfast Bay paddler Catherine McArthur.
Brigden-Jones returns for her first race since injuring her shoulder in April. The 25 year old Sydney Northern Beaches kayaker is looking forward to getting back out on the water.
“You do not realise how much you miss it. I am looking forward to getting back out there with everyone,” she said.
The NSWIS kayaker has only been back in training for three months now and says she is not up to full speed but is hoping to put together a good performance in Adelaide.
“I am looking to execute my race plan and have a solid race in the K1 500. I have only just started doing starts again so not too sure about the K1 200 but hopefully I will have a good
race.”
A week long camp in the lead up to the event has the K1 200 men raring to go in what promises to be the race of the weekend.
National champion Steve Bird, fellow Western Australian duo Jesse Phillips and Brodie Holmes, Manly’s Lachlan Tame and U23 local kayaker Callum Dunn are just some of the names to keep a close eye on.
The men’s 1000m field will be slightly depleted with last year’s K4 1000 Olympic champions Tate Smith, David Smith, Murray Stewart and Jacob Clear joining 2013 AC Award winner Ken Wallace in not making the trip to Adelaide.
This presents an opportunity for a host of promising U23 athletes to steal the limelight with Tame, Gold Coast’s Jordan Wood, Western Australian Daniel Bowker and South
Australian trio Luke Haniford, Glenn Rypp and Zac Ryan all tipped to perform strongly.
– CanoeingAustralia
