WAIS head coach Ramon Andersson reports on the start of a busy summer for the WAIS kayaking squad.
With the 2012 Olympians only recently returning to training following an extended post Olympic break, the first National Grand Prix regatta of the 2012/12 season at the West Lakes course in Adelaide provided an opportunity for the sports future stars to shine.
The regatta provided a good early season indication of who could fight their way into the senior national team for next year’s senior World Championships in Germany and inaugural U23 World Championships in Canada.
WAIS athletes did not disappoint with many standout performers. Brodie Holmes (Sorrento) showed that he could be a real contender in the K1 200m with a relatively comfortable win from the sport’s up and coming star Lachie Tame (NSWIS). Todd Brewer (Doubleview) was fourth home and first U23 paddler home in an impressive display in difficult choppy conditions. Holmes combined with Tame to comfortably take out the K2 200m with Brewer combining with SASIs Glenn Rypp to be the first U23 crew home in third place.
In the 1000m events Daniel Bowker (Doubleview) paddled a solid race to finish fourth with Todd Brewer showing he has endurance as well as speed coming home in sixth. Bowker then combined with Lachie Tame to comfortably win the K2 1000m, with Brendan Rice (Carine) teaming up with up and coming Western Australian paddler David Graham to finish sixth.
The K4 1000m event provided somewhat of an upset with the U23 crew of Rice, Brewer, Rypp and young gun Billy Bain from QAS winning in impressive fashion against the crew of Bowker, Holmes, Tame and Graham.
The event was a selection regatta for the Australian Youth Olympic Festival U19 team and Shannon Reynolds (Wembley) was the standout performer amongst the junior women. Showing some true grit despite suffering from the flu, Reynolds was able to win both the K1 200m and 500m as well as the K4 500m. A second placing in the K2 500m with Coco Howcroft (Qld) ensured Reynolds finished on top of the points ranking and will now race athletes from China, Brazil, Japan, Hungary and New Zealand at the AYOF from January 16 – 18 at the Sydney International Regatta Centre.
In the senior Women’s events, Jaymee Lee Martin (Willeton) had a solid regatta with fourth and fifth place results in the K1 500m and 200m respectively. She teamed up with another new Western Australian paddler Phoebe George to finish an impressive second in both the 200m and 500m events. These results showed that Jaymee Lee is on track to be a contender for the U23 National team.
