The recent 2023 PWA Canoe Sprint Championships were a roaring success, catering to young, old and everyone in between. The Championships were a good opportunity for locals to warm up for the 2023 PA Canoe Sprint Championships which will be held at Champion Lakes, WA from the 21-25th of March.
There has always been an active Masters paddling scene in WA but at the recent State championships this was taken to a whole level with many first timers coming across from Marathon, Surf and Downwind racing giving sprints a try. This was facilitated by the LiveLighter Masters training program running over 3 weeks in January and ably led by coaching local legends Ramon Andersson and Jaime Roberts who put the troops through video analysis, starts and team boat mechanics. Many thanks to Sue McDougall to facilitate through Ascot Kayak club. Best of all was the camaraderie, enjoyment and tight racing all day with 5 grids of Masters paddlers and multiple K2 grids across male and female.
To further provide inclusion 2 special categories were established this year, the “Womens Novice” division with 4 first time sprinters and they raced a K4 to 2nd and the category of “Older Opens” catering for those 30-45 paddlers who are either coming back to sprint or new to the sport. These divisions were all accommodated on the Sunday. Lots of gold medals and lots of golden smiles.
In the lead up to the 2023 PA Canoe Sprint Championships, masters competitors from across the country are encouraged to consider entering the competition to get in on all of the action!
Entries for the 2023 PA Canoe Sprint Championships will open shortly.
