WORLD'S BEST CONVERGE ON COFFS HARBOUR - FOR AOCRA NATIONAL OC1/OC2 OUTRIGGER TITLES
AOCRA, December 3: Some of the world's finest watermen and women will converge on Coffs Harbour next weekend for the Australian Outrigger Canoe Racing Association's (AOCRA) National Marathon OC1 and OC 2 Championships over 25km.
Australia's finest OC1/OC2 Outrigger and Stand Up paddlers will race out of Coffs Harbour with the OC1 paddlers vying for Australian team selection over the intensive two days of racing on December 11 and 12.
Heading the international list will be Hawaiian pair Kai and Lauren Bartlett, who are no strangers to Coffs Harbour or competitions in Australia.
Athens Olympic kayaker Lauren is often regarded as the "Queen of the Ocean" who grew up in Hawaii paddling Molokai on Saturday's and Maui on Sundays.
She broke the Molokai ski race record this year, sharing the individual honours with Australia's kayak king, five-time Olympian and Australia's greatest surf ski paddler Clint Robinson.
Joining Bartlett will be members of this year's Team Australia crew: Andrea Polkinghorne (Coffs Harbour), Coral Darbishire (Mooloolaba), Gail Mills-Thom (Coffs Harbour), Kylie Muldoon (Mackay), Kellie Reinhold (Coffs Harbour), Leanne Curtis (Mooloolaba), Lian Brown (Mackay), Sonia Adams (Mackay), Tania Moohin (Mackay), Zara Smith (Mooloolaba) and the emerging stars Lauren Grant (Port Macquarie) and Jesse Mills-Thom (Coffs Harbour).
In the men's division Kai Bartlett will get plenty of opposition from three of Australia's best, Gold Coast paddlers Travis Grant, Chris Maynard and Greg Long who will also spearhead over 600 paddlers who will contest the two-day festival of paddling, hosted by Coffs Coast Outrigging Canoe Club.
Race organiser Mark Lynch is excited with the talent the race continues to attract.
"When you have the calibre of Kai and Lauren Bartlett heading your international entries then it is easy to get excited," says Lynch.
"Kai is a three-times Molokai Open Men's OC1 Champion, multiple winner of the Hawaiian OC1 race series and Stand Up Paddling (SUP) world surfing champion.
"Lauren is a six-times Molokai Open Women's OC1 Champion, Athens Olympic kayak representative for USA and SUP surfing champion.
"We also welcome back three generations of the Napoleon family - one of Hawaii's legendary paddling families.
"Grand-father Nappy Napoleon is a multiple Molokai champion in OC1 & OC6 canoes, competed in 52 Molokai crossings (races).
"His son Aaron is the SUP world surfing champion, a multiple Molokai men's champion.
"They will be joined by exciting Hawaii's US National kayak champion Pat Dolan, who at 22 has a huge potential."
Organisers will run clinics on Friday and Saturday including Stand Up Paddling.
RACE INFORMATION
The 25km Long Course will remain a downwind race between Coffs Harbour and Woolgoolga, this race will take priority in relation to weather conditions.
The race is scheduled for the Saturday, December 12, however the program may be altered in the event of adverse weather conditions.
All age divisions will be eligible for National Medals in the Long Course (provided there are three participants or more in the division).
The Short Course will be a 12k downwind race between Sawtell and Coffs Harbour scheduled for Sunday.
All age divisions will be eligible for National Medals in the Short Course (provided there are 3 participants or more in the division).
(Please consult the Full Race Program on www.coffsoutriggers.com )
NATIONAL SELECTION EVENT
The 25km Iron event is a National Selection Event. The first 12 competitors for each gender over the line (including open/master/senior master/golden master) will qualify for the National Team training squad. AOCRA is supporting an Open Men's and Open Women's team to attend the Molokai Changeover races in Hawaii. Initially 24 paddlers (each of men and women) will be selected to train as the national squad via a selection process.