Day 3 NZCT Oceania & NZ Canoe Sprint Championships

Zach Ferkins edged a captivating battle to claim his maiden national open K1 200m title to highlight day three of the NZCT New Zealand & Oceania Canoe Sprint Championships & Asia Pacific Cup on Lake Karapiro.

With just 0.03 separating the three medallists, it was the Poverty Bay paddler who grabbed gold by just 0.01 from Ashton Reiser (North Shore) in a time of 37.82. Hamish Legarth (Hawkes Bay) took out bronze in 37.85 to add to the silver medal he snared on Saturday in the open men’s K1 500m.

It was the second successive nationals Reiser had missed out on gold in the K1 200m by one hundredth of a second.

All three podium finishers have been selected to compete in the World Cup in Szeged, Hungary next month and their performances along with Kurtis Imrie – the national K1 500m champion – and Max Brown the bronze medallist in the K1 500m – bodes well for the men ahead of their European assignment.

For Ferkins, who has won silver and bronze medals at previous editions of the open K1 200m, was delighted to finally climb the top step of the podium.

“I’ve been hunting for that one,” said Zach. “I’ve been close so many times, I’ve won (K1 200m) at Blue Lake (regattas) to get just one under my belt at nationals is great.

“We have a lot of banter in the men’s squad in the 200m probably because internationally it doesn’t mean as much as in the past (because it is no longer an Olympic event). I’m good at it (the K1 200m) it’s fun and you don’t have to think, it’s just head down and go.”

On his overall regatta Zach said: “On Friday I was very satisfied to win the K2 500m (alongside Kurtis Imrie) that was my favourite. I don’t really want to talk about Saturday (when Zach finished ninth in the open men’s K1 500m final) but today was really good.”

Quaid Thompson crowned a memorable regatta by winning the second best-of-three selection race in the men’s K1 1000m to secure a nomination for the 2023 World Championships.

The 25-year-old Poverty Bay paddler who triumphed in the first selection race – which doubled as the national open men’s K1 1000m final on Friday – produced a dominant three-length victory in selection race number two.

Up against Ben McCallum (Waitara) and James Munro (Otago) – the silver and bronze medallists from Friday – Quaid, paddling into a slight headwind, stopped the clock in 3:48.3 to finish clear of Ben (3:51.2) and James (3:51.6) down the 1000m distance.

An elated Quaid said: “It was good to feel good after I had a few years of different sicknesses knocking me around. I had four good months of training in Europe last year and other than the floods impacting my training a little I’ve had a good build up.

“I always had confidence, but it was reassuring to win race one which indicated what I am doing is working. The race was similar to the 1000m final in that the boys kept up with me until around 200m when I moved ahead. I then kept up the high rhythm and pushed it through to the finish.”

The Arawa quartet of Flynn McGuiness, Ben McCallum, Thomas MacGibbon and Ben Duffy were too strong for the opposition taking out the open men’s K4 500m in a time of 32.87 – 0.19 clear of the Hawke’s Bay quartet.

Lisa Carrington capped a successful NZCT New Zealand & Oceania Canoe Sprint Championships & Asia Pacific Cup by securing a convincing victory in the open women’s K1 200 final.

The three-time Olympic champion for the distance looked supreme as she powered down the 200m course in a time 40.43 to secure both the national and Oceania titles with another world-class performance.

Behind, Alicia Hoskin repeated her national silver medal from 12 months ago, clocking 43.50 to hold off the late charging Olivia Brett (Arawa) who upgraded on her fourth place from last year, recording 43.76.

Lisa said of her victory: “It was fun to just get out there with more practise on the course also good training ahead of the World Cup (in Szeged) because we leave New Zealand for Europe in a few days.

When asked if she executed how she would have hoped in the open women’s K1 200m final she said: Yes, a version of. Conditions are quite tricky, a little bit wobbly out there but it is an outdoor sport and what we have to deal with.

“The 200m is still really important and good for me and I recognise the 200m is important for the 500m.

On her overall regatta she said: “It has been good to be involved in those high quality races (in the women’s K1 500m) but also to be around the youngsters and masters paddlers, it is always really great to be among the canoe sprint community.”

Scott Martlew edged his fellow New Zealand Para international Corbin Hart by just 0.13 as the pair served up a compelling men’s K1 200m Paracanoe final.

Yesterday in the two heats of this event, Corbin narrowly took out race one only for Scott, the 2022 World Championships KL2 bronze medallist to respond with victory in race two.

Once again the duo were locked in an absorbing head to head duel but it was Martlew - the experienced 30-year-old Cantabrian – who clinched top spot by 0.13 for Hart, the 2022 World Championship KL3 fifth place finisher in a time of 43.44.

Oliver Emery – the 15-year-old of the North Shore club who only took up the sport a little over two months ago – took out the bronze in 57.90 with his club-mate Finn Murphy in fourth (1:09.99).

Martlew said: “I’m pretty satisfied with my championships, it is good race practise and competition with Corbin leading into the World Cup.

“It is cool to have the dedicated para races whereas in the past I’ve mixed in with open men’s. It is good for the sport to have para paddlers racing in our own events. We’ve had two other people in Oliver and Finn competing in the Para division this year and the hope is it might encourage other Para paddlers to come in and try it out.”

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