The 2018 Wildwater National Championships were held on the Goulburn River, Victoria. The event ran from the 8 th to the 9 th January 2018. The Goulburn River site is a manmade site situated about 5km downstream of the Eildon pondage dam. The site is generally used for irrigation flow during the summer months which allowed for ideal Wildwater conditions.
With 120 entries in the sprint events and 60 entries in the classic events, it was great to see such a high level of participation from paddlers at the event. A large portion of the numbers came from the increase in participation from the 12 to 16 age groups, with a number of these paddlers demonstrating they are on the verge of meeting selection standards for the National team. It was
good to see the increase development of the paddlers within Wildwater.
The sprint race was run from the Blue Gums Caravan Park and finished at bend at the end of the rapid. The aim of this race is for paddlers to choose the fastest line down the rapid to cross the finish line the fastest. The course for the sprint event was approximately 300 metres from start to finish. Most athletes found the fastest line through the main wave was on the left hand side of the wave. However the most spectacular line was through the middle of the wave.
The classic race is an endurance event which took the paddlers from the top of the course through 3km of rapids down to the same finish line as the sprint race.
Catch some action on Youtube with videos produced by Charlie Collin.
Congratulations to all athletes in their achievements, efforts and triumphs throughout the races, and good luck with the final selection race in Eildon.
We would like thank Chris Wharton, Russell Bassett, Lyne Strmecki and Laura Montalto for their efforts in ensuring the event ran smoothly. As well thank you to all the volunteers who helped
throughout the event.
For a full list of results from Wildwater Schools and Nationals please see below.
Nationals
Schools
