Victorian Slalom Championships

A good turn out of local and some inter State slalom athletes braved a wet and chilly Sunday at the Goulburn River near Eildon in Victoria for the annual State titles.

Eildon, Victoria  -- A good turn out of local and some inter State slalom athletes braved a wet and chilly Sunday at the Goulburn River near Eildon in Victoria for the annual State titles. A testing course set by Zlatan Ibrahimbegovic, the new VIS scholarship coach who will be based in Victoria from January, awaited close to one hundred competitors with many younger paddlers swelling the ranks.

The State Championships was the third canoeing event inconsecutive weeks at the Goulburn following on from the Canoes Plus country series finals and the Victorian TID camp which was attended by 54 junior athletes.

Warwick Draper and Andrew Stamp, both AIS National Team Members and VIS scholarship holders took out the honours as expected in the K1 event finishing first and second respectively. However, some poor judgement cost Stamp severely on his first run as he pulled into the eddy before crossing the finish beam.

Kai Swoboda and Andrew Farrance were untested in the C2 event and were able to win the C2 class despite a major error on the first run. A clean second run saw the VIS pair regain their usual form and demonstrated their domination of this event.

VIS and AIS athlete Mia Farrance was the comfortable winner of the State title in the Open Ladies Kayak class however the best time of the day came from the former Victorian, Louise Natoli now of NSWIS, who showed a blistering pace on both runs. Encouraging too were the performances of the rising young athletes, Kate Lawrence from NSWIS Leanne Guinea from Victoria and Amanda Pain from NSW who are closing down the gap on the senior athletes.

In the C1 event, multi skilled Warwick Draper was once again State Champion in this canoe class ahead of local paddler, David Heard. Liam Garvey produced the best performances from within the junior ranks demonstrating the rising talent in the C1 class in Victoria.

Following the State Championship the elite athletes head for Tasmania for an AIS and State Institute National training camp while others prepare for the Age Nationals which take place at Nymboida starting on January 10th. At the end of January the Goulburn River will be the venue for the final round of the junior selection events at the annual Canoes Plus Australia Day slalom.

For full results click here.