Kiwis Fight Hard in 2010 Oceania Slalom Kayak Championships
Monday, 22 February 2010
slalomchamps10_smThere was just 2 seconds between the winner and runner up in a spectacular afternoon's racing at the 2010 Oceania Slalom Kayak Championships over the challenging 2000 Olympic course.


Italian Daniel Molmenti has won the 2010 Oceania Championships. Molmenti charged 2 seconds ahead of Czech Republics Vavrinec Hradilek in a spectacular afternoons racing.  Triple Olympic Champions Hochschorner brothers were no match for their fellow countrymen Skantar and Skantar who charged to victory under the challenging 2000 Olympic course. Yesterday in the ladies K1 Austrian Corinna Kuhnle paddled clear ahead of Czech Republics Katerina Kudejova with Australian Sarah Grant coming home with bronze. France's Edern Le Ruvet provided the upset of the competition winning ahead of a large international field in the C1 Mens. Young gun Jessica Fox won the C1 ladies.

The Kiwis had another hard weekend at the river, with none qualifying for the top ten finals.  slalomchamps10
Luuka Jones finished best of the kiwi girls in 21st and Louise Jull 23rd. Shaun Travers finished up 25th and Shaun Higgins rounded up the semi final in 30th. With Byden Nicholas partner unable to paddle due to illness he combined with Shaun Higgins to finish a very respectable 13th and narrowly miss out on the finals. Ben Gibb and Bradyn Church finishing a disappointing 16th. The developing class of Ladies C1 Louise Jull showed some promise finishing 9th and Ella Nicholas our Cook Island New Zealander was 7th. Aaron Osborne had an early mistake and picked up penalties, he pushed too hard for that top 10 finish and ended up a disappointing 35th.

The Junior team will now return back to New Zealand to prepare for their Junior World Championships. They will also be trying to get ahead at school so they can go on their long Junior Worlds campaign. Aaron Osborne and Mike Dawson will stay on in Australia for another 5 weeks to finish their aerobic training block in preparation for the World Championships later this year in Slovenia.

Photo credit: Ian Mercer