The Fourth Regatta of the summer flat water kayaking season was held at Champion Lakes earlier in January with WAIS athletes providing plenty of highlights.
The 200m K1 was won in emphatic fashion by Steve Bird (Mt Pleasant) who exploded out of the blocks to open up a race winning lead with in the first 25m. In second place was Brendon Sarson (Innaloo) who also got out well and was able to hold off Brendan Rice and Daniel Bowker (Kingsley).
The K2 200m saw Bird partnered with Jesse Phillips (Rivervale) with the pair recording a comfortable win.
The 1000m races proved to be the closest of the regatta with Sarson, Phillips, Bird and Bowker all competing for line honours. Sarson eventually won the race holding off a fast finishing Bowker by 0.6 sec in second with Phillips taking out third place.
The K2 race looked like it was going to be all Phillips and Bird who opened up a commanding lead however, with victory seemingly in sight, Bowker and Sarason were able to pull them in the second half of the race to surge into the lead with 250m to go in sloppy tailwind conditions.
Phillips and Bird were not to be denied though, and showed all of the resolve expected from the experienced duo when all appeared lost, surging home in the last 100m to dead heat with Sarson and Bowker in a gripping finale.
The attention shifts for most of the WAIS squad competing in the surf ski World Cup (The Doctor) from Rottnest to Scarborough. A strong field of South African and Eastern States competitors will be racing, including Olympic Gold Medallist Ken Wallace.
Brendon Sarson will be favoured amongst the WAIS competitors and will be targeting a top five placing.
