Kiwis take gold on first day of Rafting World Championships

Kiwis take gold on first day of Rafting World Championships

It was a good day on the white water for Kiwi crews at the 2013 IRF White Water World Rafting Championships, which kicked off today on the Tarawera River at Kawerau with the Sprint and Head to Head legs for both the Under-23 and Under-19 classes.

Stars of the day for the home fans were the New Zealand Women's Under-23 crew - a crew of mainly Waka Ama athletes formed just five days before the event - who won both the morning Sprint gold medal and the exciting afternoon Head to Head gold medal. With points for both disciplines going forward to overall results, the Kiwi girls are now in pole position for tomorrow's Slalom and Sunday's mammoth Down River on the Rangitaiki. The highest scores after the four events secure the overall title.

The winning crew was Amy Tipling (23), Dale Thomas (23), Kayla Pene (18), Lisa Podlucky (20), Toni White-Waerea (20) and Taylor Taute-Hohepa (17) and reserve Kimberley Dodd.

"A few of our team have been oversees and a couple of the girls are from out of town," explained Tipling. "We came together in the last week before the event, though we do actually know eachother through waka ama and rafting. We always thought our best chance would come from being strong but we were used to flat water and had to practice our directional changes. I was surprised how well we went together right from the start, but as we got the timing together we were able to apply our strength, which we hope we have an advantage with. We're really excited about the next two stages of the competition and stoked with our performance today."

It wasn’t the only medal-winning performance by a Kiwi crew, with the Under-19 girls taking a silver medal in the Sprint and a bronze medal in the Head to Head. All men’s and women’s crews are still in with a shout of success with two days of competition remaining for the Under-19 and Under-23 categories.

In the morning's Sprint races - Brazil took gold in the Under-19 women, with the Kiwis winning Under-23. Both the Under-19 and Under-23 New Zealand men's crews finished fourth, with Turkey winning the Under 19 Sprint gold, and Russia taking out the Under-23 Sprint title.

The Head to Head racing in the afternoon brought plenty of controversy as crews fought hard to establish an early advantage on the tight and tricky course. Through it all, Russia came through to win the Men's Under-23 title, with Turkey taking out the Under-19 Men's title and Brazil dominating the Women's Under-19. New Zealand’s men both finished fourth again in the Under-23 and Under-19 Head to Head races.

In white water rafting, there are four disciplines - the Sprint, the Head to head, the Slalom and the Down River. Each counts as an individual event, but also contributes a percentage of the overall crew score and it is this final score which determines the Overall World Champions.

Action continues in Kawerau tomorrow (Sunday) with action for both classes in the Slalom discipline. The championships continue for the weekend and into next week when the Senior and Masters racers paddle it out for top honours.

ENDS

© Scoop Media