The 2010/11 State Canoe Sprint Championships were held over the weekend at the Champion Lakes Regatta Centre in Armadale with WAIS athletes returning encouraging results.
In the men’s K1 200m Brodie Holmes (Sorrento) caused a minor upset in winning narrowly from South African international paddler Nick Stubbs with 1000m specialist Reece Baker (Marmion) producing an excellent paddle for third. The event was tightly contested with six athletes all in a line at the 150m mark before Holmes and Stubbs edged ahead. Pre race favourite Steve Bird (Mt Pleasant) finished back in fourth place.
In the K2 200m Jesse Phillips (Rivervale) and Steve Bird showed their class with a comfortable victory in a smart 33.20 seconds, just under a boat-length in front of the combination of Holmes and Luke Fletcher (SASI), who were racing together for the first time.
In the K1 500m World Championship B Finalist Nick Stubbs finished over the top of Jesse Phillips who had led for the first 450m with Brodie Holmes paddling a consistent race for third. The K2 500m saw a tight tussle between the Phillips-Bird combination and Holmes and Daniel Bowker (Kingsley), before the former pair pulled away in the closing stages to record a very respectable win in 1 min 31 sec.
The K1 1000m was a high standard affair with Reece Baker paddling a beautifully controlled race to win in a fast 3 min 34 sec, about two seconds ahead of South Africa’s Stubbs with Daniel Bowker finishing strongly to claim the bronze. The K2 1000m continued the good weekend for Holmes and Bowker with a convincing win in a personal best time of 3 min 18 sec which should give them a lot of confidence going into Nationals.
Alana Nicholls (City Beach) dominated the women’s K1 events with convincing victories in both events. Nicholls recorded a 40.54 sec win in her pet 200m event and then went on to smash her personal best by close to three seconds in the 500m, crashing through the 1 min 50 sec barrier in recording a time of 1 min 49.1 sec.
Nicholls will go into the National Championships as favourite to take the two K1 events. Nicholls also combined with Jaymee Lee Martin from the NTID group to win the K2 200m.
Libby LeCoultre also had a good weekend with a PB of 1 min 56 sec in the K1 500m and a victory in the K2 500m with partner Ivana Kanyitur from SASI.
