GP1 Perth sprints

3 keen FCC paddlers travelled to Perth for the first national sprint race of the season. Races were held at Champion Lakes December 2 - 4. Angus Campbell, James Campbell and myself (Jennifer Stevens) produced some good results for the start of the 2012 season.
I personally really enjoyed the experience of travelling to Perth. The conditions for racing were super hot and super windy but it was still great fun despite jokes being made at the start line about it being a surf carnival not flatwater sprint racing! Quite astonishing to see white caps on first site of the course. The wind seemed to ease a little into the afternoon but the hot temperatures remained.

I thoroughly enjoyed the 200m event as per usual and was very happy to take home a 4th place in the 200m final after progressing through heats and semi finals. Angus and James both paddled extremely well, both making semis and finals in their events as well and I think we all learnt a great deal from the racing experience. Most interesting thing was using the automatic starting gates which for those who are not familiar with, they are gates that line up all the boats on the start line evenly. These are often used overseas in major competitions but are newly introduced in Australia. Unfortunately the ones used in Perth had some malfunctions and one of the lanes I was in had a gate that was slightly above the level of the water, which meant having to lift the nose of my boat and launch it up onto the bars of the gate. If you hit the front of the gate it shoves you back the other direction, so it was both funny and frustrating being pushed backwards from the start line a couple of times before I managed to stay on it. Luckily in following races the gates in some lanes stopped being used, even if this meant a rather haphazard method of lining up boats, it was nice not to have to jump my way into the gate! After the starter has yelled the command "Ready, Set, Go!" the gates plummett under the water allowing paddlers to start their break for the finishing line. It was good experience to use them as it is likely athletes will be using this or a similar starting system at upcoming national events in the new year. Hopefully they will work more effectively next time though!

I travelled with a junior squad from Victoria this time and really enjoyed spending time with school kids. It provided many laughs and new challenges such as boiling 36 eggs for some very hungry kids! Luckily we had a huge camp kitchen with gigantic pots to use, otherwise it might have been a bit of a struggle to cater for everyone. It was lovely to get a chance to visit the City of Perth as well and see their very few buildings in comparison to Melbourne! All the same a beautiful view over the water of the sun setting while we all did handstands on the grass.

All in all, I had a great time even if it is a long way away across the other side of Australia and takes a bit to organise freighting boats over to Perth.

I am looking forward to the next event soon. Particularly as it is the lead up to the Olympic Games in 2012 and competition will be very close and exciting coming into the selection events to have the honour of wearing Green and Gold for Australia.

Victoria will be hosting the next national level sprint race in Ballarat at Lake Wendouree which for the first time in a very long time has water!! It would be great to see lots of Fairfield Canoe Club members with family and friends come to compete and/or cheer and support for fellow members who will be competing at the event in our home State! A great race to support, the event will be January 27 to 29. Would be lovely to see the team get together and have a go at the races ranging from 200m, 500m, 1000m and 5000m. A 10000m event will also be contested and TK1 and TK2 events are an option also so it appears there will be something for everyone even the masters can have a race!
So please come and join in. Hope to see many of you there. Don't forget entries close January 16, and more details can be found at http://regattas.canoe.org.au/

See you on the river soon.
Merry Christmas! Jennifer.

Results

Angus -
5th - 1000m B Final,  5th - 500m B Final,  Semifinals 200m
James -
8th K1 500m B Final,  Semi-Finals in 200m and 1000m

Angus and James in K2

8th - 1000m, 200m A Final, 6th - 500m A Final

Jennifer -
A Finalist WK1 500m
4th place WK1 200m A Final
4th place WK1 5000m.