WA athletes have enjoyed a successful campaign at GP2 in Penrith with a number of athletes hitting form at the Sydney International Regatta Centre.
The rise of sprint paddler Jaime Roberts continued with the 26 year-old partnering Rio Olympian Alyce Burnett to win the K2 500m title over Alyssa Bull and Brianna Massie.
Roberts also tasted victory in the K4 500m, teaming with Burnett, Bull and Cat McArthur for line honours, before taking second place in the K2 200m – this time with WA training partner Shannon Reynolds.
Reynolds at 22 years of age – similarly enjoyed a strong campaign, with her eighth place finish in the K1 200m enough to earn her an invitation to the national training camp currently being staged on the Gold Coast, where she is joined by Roberts.
On the men’s side of things, the return to competition of Mark Stowe was one of the highlights of the campaign as he achieved a career best second place finish in the men’s K1 200m as he returned from a lengthy injury lay-off.
WAIS coach Ramon Andersson was full of praise for the 23 year-old Carlisle resident who missed much of 2016 through a condition known as thoracic outlet syndrome which affects the nerve and blood supply to the arm.
Stowe has only been able to train symptom free over the past 10 weeks and his progress at GP2 in Penrith was a cause for optimism for his WAIS coach.
“It was a great result for Mark to have shown so much resilience and positivity over the last 15 months, which could well have been a career threatening injuring,” Andersson said.
“The fact that he has come back and only been narrowly defeated on return is a testament to the professional approach he has applied to working through this injury.”
There was also encouraging signs for emerging U23 paddler Sam McTigue who earned a third place finish (2nd Australian crew) in the men’s K2 200m competing with South Australian Jared Lee.
“The pair led for most of the race and were only overtaken in the last 30m, whilst he also recorded his best ever result in K1 200m at this level with an eighth placed effort,” Andersson said of McTigue’s campaign.
Attention now turns to the March (5th – 9th) National Championships which will be held at the Sydney International Regatta Centre.
