Australians dominate Outrigger paddling
by Lee Huber on 16 Jun 2002
2002 Coca Cola Cup Outrigger girls Hamilton Island Photography
http://photos.hamiltonisland.com.au
Australian paddlers outperformed some international stars in the OC1 (one person) outrigger canoe 16km marathon at Hamilton Island on Friday morning.
Sydney paddler, Leigh Wilson recorded a narrow 2 second victory in a three-way sprint to the finish line over Kea Paiana and Maui Kjeldsen from Hawaii in the Open Men's division.
Sunshine Coast (Qld) paddlers dominated the Master Mens and Senior Master Mens divisions with Mick Smith and Ken Powell out-paddling their competition respectively.
The Open Women's division was a close race with nearly all competitors finishing within a two second timeframe. The event was won by Robyn Saultry from Brisbane.
Fraser Coast paddler Jane Ironside won the Master Women's category while Surfers Paradise outrigger, Pam Prescott took out the Senior Master Women's division.
The 16km OC1 marathon was contested in perfect Whitsunday conditions. The weather is ideal with temperatures of around 24 degrees, a light 10 knot breeze and seas of up to one metre.
The four-day Coca-Cola Hamilton Island Cup is Australia's largest padding event has attracted more than 1000 paddlers from Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand and Hong Kong as well as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Harvey Bay and all over North Queensland.
The schedule includes a series of OC1 (one person) sprint and marathon races today and OC6 (six person) sprints and marathons Saturday and Sunday. The main event, the 42km Coca-Cola Cup will be held on Monday morning.
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