The National Wildwater championships were held on the Avon River Western Australia last weekend and a contingent of 4 NSW and 6 VIC paddlers made the trek over and distinguished themselves exceptionally well in some fierce competition. The weather really tuned it on with a lot of rain making both the Classic and sprint courses very exciting on big volume water.
The competition started off with the classic teams races on Saturday and our Eastern State team of Alex McIntyre (Avoca NSW), Huxley Luntungan (Avoca NSW) and Tom Elms (Canoes Plus Racing Team VIC) took the silver medal in a close race only 9 seconds behind the best team from the West of Bird, Phillips and Boldy.
The afternoon saw the individual classic race where Josh Kippin a former Junior Wildwater Champion and current Australian Marathon Champion took the open title while Tom Elms (VIC) took the bronze medal in a close tussle with Alex McIntyre (NSW) by 0.8 second.
In the open woman’s category Dita Pahl (Canoes Plus Racing Team from VIC) finished in third place.
In the open C1 category Robert Janiszewski (VIC) took the gold.
In the men’s 55 + Warren Elms (Canoes Plus Racing Team VIC) took the gold.
In the Junior men’s Under 18’s Huxley Luntungan (Avoca NSW) finished 3rd in his first ever National Wildwater Championships and in the Junior women Ella Lawson (Avoca NSW) took the gold from fellow Eastern state paddle Abigail Watson (Canoes Plus Racing Team VIC). Again this was both girls first Australian Wildwater Championships who acquitted themselves very well in the big whitewater conditions.
On Sunday the event moved to the sprints at Walyunga National Park. The morning event was the individual sprint where there was some close racing. In the open men’s Alex McIntyre (Avoca NSW) took the silver medal in a close race behind Olympian Steve Bird from WA. In the open woman’s Dita Pahl (VIC) also took the silver behind Nina Mueller, a well known multi disciplined paddler from WA.
In the open C1 category Robert Janiszewski (VIC) took the gold.
In the Junior ranks Huxley Luntungan (NSW) again took the bronze and Ella Lawson (NSW) and Abigail Watson (VIC) were respectively first and second again in the Junior women’s.
In the 55 + category again Warren Elms (VIC) took the gold.
In the afternoon the Sprint teams races were undertaken and in some exciting races the open men’s team of Alex McIntyre (NSW), Huxley Luntungan (NSW) and Tom Elms (VIC) took the gold.
In conclusion the eastern state paddlers who were ably supported by Tony Misson, Roy Farrance and Peter McIntyre performed exceptionally well against the strong Western Australian contingent of paddlers in one of the strongest turnout of Wildwater paddlers at a National championships in years. A big congratulations to all involved in the big journey west.