Men blitz Hamilton Island outrigger marathon

by Lee Huber on 15 Jun 2002 In some sporting circles, they may be considered old - but in outrigger canoe paddling they're certainly fast. Today, some of the world's best master and senior master outrigger crews took advantage of perfect racing conditions today to blitz the 16km marathon at Hamilton Island.

In the Senior Master Men division (over 45 years), the first six crews over the line smashed the race record with race favourites Team Hawaii (USA) taking a less than one-second victory over Panamuna (Sunshine Coast) and Team Anuenue (Hawaii, USA).

As in the women's event, held this morning, Queensland's Sunshine Coast Club, Mooloolaba dominated the Master Men's event by steaming ahead to win both Gold and Silver ahead of a combined international team of Hawaii and New Zealand.

The four-day Coca-Cola Hamilton Island Cup, which started yesterday with a series of OC1 (one person) sprint and marathon races is Australia's largest padding event and has attracted more than 1000 paddlers from Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand and Hong Kong as well as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, and all over North Queensland.

Today's racing schedule includes a series of OC6 (six person) 500 metre sprints and 16km marathons. Tomorrow will be a day of serious sprint racing with the competitive 1000 metre sprint series. The main event, the 42km Coca-Cola Cup, will be held on Monday morning from 8.30am