Last week we saw the Surf Life Saving Australia Aussies take place on the Sunshine Coast. We had a large number of NSW kayak athletes attend, producing some great results and demonstrating the strength of NSW paddlers against the rest of Australia. In the history of the sport, nearly all of Australia’s Canoe Sprint, Olympic and World Championship medallists have been involved in Surf Life Saving – in actual fact 100% of the Australian 2016 Rio Olympic Kayak Team athletes were all active SLSA club members. They were racing for Australia on the ultimate sporting stage in Rio and still active members of their Surf Clubs.
Flat conditions on the Sunshine Coast were well suited for our kayak athletes to excel. From the NSW institute of sport (NSWIS) kayak group that attended, we won 5 of the 6 individual ski races (U17 female – Natalia Drobot; U19 female – Sascha Taurins; Open female – Jemma Smith; u19 male – Fletcher Armstrong; Open male – Jackson Collins), as well as picking up a large number of podium medals in the u17 male, u19 male, Open female, mixed double ski, female ski relay, and a large number of swim events.
All the athletes are back in Narrabeen, ready to prepare for the 2021 National Kayak champs – to be held in Adelaide at the end of May.