Daniel Bowker (Kingsley) paddled well over the weekend at the Italian National Selection Regatta in Mergozzo, Italy.
Paddling with Dean Blanch (NSWIS), Mike Knauer (SA) and Nick Dawe (NSWIS) in the K4 500m, the composite crew put up a strong show to take second place by the narrowest of margins to an Italian crew.
The Australian crew also backed up in the K4 1000m coming fourth. Paddling with Blanch in the K2 1000m, Bowker claimed a creditable third place finish behind an Italian crew and Zsolt Dallos and Glenn Wilkinson from the Australian emerging team.
The emerging team will now move on to the Mecca of paddling in Szeged, Hungary where they will face stiff opposition at the Hungarian national Championships.
In the State Marathon Championships over the weekend, Brendon Sarson (Balcatta) came third in the K1 in a sprint finish in a fast and tactical affair that saw Brendan Rice take the honours and former WAIS paddler and National Marathon representative Simon Roll on the comeback trail in second.
In the K2 event Sarson and Reece Baker (Marmion) controlled the race beautifully to sprint home over the last 1.5km to record a comfortable win from Roll and Todd Coulter.
WAIS Head Coach Ramon Andersson said, “It was great to see Brendon back up over both days but the highlight for me was seeing Reece Baker complete his first kayak race since shoulder surgery last September and pull up so well.”
Action will now move to the ocean this weekend with the second race of the Indian Ocean paddlers Winter Series over 16km at Salt on the Beach North Fremantle. Expect to see a tight tussle between Baker and Sarson.
Meanwhile Jesse Phillips (Rivervale) and Steve Bird (Mount Pleasant) have returned home from a successful trip in Europe. They are home for an intensive five week training block before heading overseas again for their final selection race for World Championships.
