WAIS athletes excelled in GP2 at the Sydney International Regatta in Penrith over the weekend. In a very strong regatta with competitors from eight countries including full strength teams from Great Britain and New Zealand, racing was very intense.
WAIS paddler Alana Nicholls (City Beach) excelled in her first national competition in almost two years comfortably winning the K1 200m from New Zealand’s Lisa Carrington.
The closest Australian was Olympian Hannah Davis just over a length behind in third. Nicholls was also third in the K1 500m behind the powerful New Zealand duo of Carrington and Teneale Hatton and a length clear of the next best Australian, former West Australian paddler Hailey McGinty. Nicholls also partnered with former WAIS athlete Rachel Simper to record a second placing in the K2 500m.
WAIS sprint duo Jesse Phillips (Rivervale) and Steve Bird (Mt Pleasant) carried on their winning ways in the K2 200m byclearing out from the field and establishing a handy buffer that withstood the fast finishing crew of Chris Alagich (Qld) and David Hinc (SA).
Race footage and a post race interview can be found at the following link . Bird and Phillips were also third and second Australian crew in the K2 500m.
Canadian born WAIS canoeist Ferenc Szekszardi (Karrinyup) recorded victories in the C1 1000m, C2 500m and C2 200m.
The rest of the WAIS squad also paddled well and a summary of the events and results can be found here .
