Their coach, Aaron Osborne gives us a run down on how the NZ Junior Development Team got on: "We had a day lay over before heading out to the river. Everyone made the most of it spending up large and others watched the Boxing Day test match in Federation Square. Another early start had us drive 2hrs northwest through Yarra Valley to Lake Eildon. It's a very small town with only the essentials and two sight seeing locations (Lake Eildon and Snobbs Creek Waterfall). Apparently houseboats are the ‘in' thing as the lake was scattered with them! The blazing heat was a shock to most of us but everyone settled into team life really well. Movies, cards, swimming and cook offs were at the top of the list for things to do in between trainings. Coming up with ways to avoid the heat was also a favourite pastime. Ice, freezing drink bottles, stealing the one fan for 24 people, but my personal favourite was standing in the fridge. The New Years Eve show was awesome, however it came as a storm! We were lucky not to be camping as the 40 degree heat turned to 48mm of rain in 1hour!  Crazy weather!

Competing with over 190 athletes from all states in Australia the kiwis outclassed many of their competitors in the tour comprising Australian Secondary Schools Championships, races three and four of the Southern Cup and then the Australian National Championships.

New Zealand paddlers dominated all age groups in the schools competition for K1 men with young guns Andre Sperling winning the U14 K1, with Finn Butcher 2nd in U14 K1M but 1st in U14C1.

Jessica Bailey from Wanaka showed her potential to win the schools U14 K1W event and combined with Jane Nicholas and Carey Lintott to take silver in the U18 team events.  Carey had previously placed 3^rd in the U17 K1W event at the schools. There was intense rivalry in the junior boys teams events with the young guns of Sperling, Butcher and O'Connor Stratton pipping the more senior team of Gibb, Brown and Gibson in both teams events.

Also taking on the Aussies were the two top New Zealand C2 crews, both making the podium in all their races. Following their success in Europe in 2009, and an Australian title as a target for the end of their last year of school, Ben Gibb & Bradyn Church arrived earlier in the week to win the Australian Schools title. Bryden Nicholas and Andrew Robinson (fellow junior squad coach) took out the Southern Cup Series.

Gibb and Church then produced some great paddling to win the Under 23 C2 class at nationals ahead of Nicholas & Robinson in second.

Aaron Osborne another of the junior coaches and senior men's paddler won the Southern Cup Open Mens title and took silver in the Open division at the Australian Nationals.

The heat intensified throughout the tour and so the water started to rise to the normal water level. It was a welcome change from the flat conditions caused by the New Years Eve storms (high temperature means farmers need higher water levels for irrigation).  More Australians arrived for the Australian Open Nationals. Again New Zealand picked up a bunch of medals wining most team events we entered. Stand out performances from Callum Gibb beating all the Aussie juniors (under 18) to the podium in number one spot. This followed his great performances in the Australian Secondary Schools Championships the week before where he won the U16 K1 title and was second in C1. Team mate Jane Nicholas also improved her position from the schools event moving from 2^nd in U17 K1W and C1 to produce her best paddling in the Australian nationals to take the U18 K1 women's win the day after winning the overall under 23 category in the Southern Cup.

Team management also entered in the Open Mens Teams race and even picked up a cheeky 3^rd. Everyone in the team raced extremely well at all three events and the team were great ambassadors for Canoe Slalom New Zealand! With a medal haul close to 80 medals overall in both individual and teams events this must make this one of the most successful tours ever for New Zealand's young canoe slalom paddlers. New Zealand Canoe Slalom is in good shape for the future! With too many podium finishes, to list, over the three competitions, full results can be found at www.canoe.org.au.

The tour officially ended on the 10^th Jaunary, however most of the team decided to have a training camp at the 2000 Olympic course in Penrith, Sydney where they will meet up with other NZ senior team paddlers. All NZ paddlers will be returning home late January where they will race in the New Zealand Canoe Slalom team trials held in Kawerau 23-24^th January and the NZ Open in Shannon (Palmerston North) on the 30-31^st January. Teams selected at these races will race the Oceania Championships (Sydney 19-21^st February) and World Championships and World Cups later this year. 

For more information about canoe slalom go towww.slalomnz.org.nz or follow www.aaronosborne.co.nz

Photos Credit: Ian Mercer