The 2024 Paddle Australia Canoe Sprint Championships was held at Sydney International Regatta Centre from 6 – 10 March 2024. The 2024 Paddle Australia Canoe Sprint Championships was used to select all teams (Olympic Senior, U23, Junior and Asia Pacific).
The 2024 National Sprint Championships was a very successful one for Manly Warringah Kayak Club, a great credit to all the athletes who competed and gave it their best.
Everyone achieved PB’s in multiple events, many won multiple medals, many made it to A and B finals, seven athletes made the Asia-Pacific team and Michael Dunbar qualified for the Australia Junior World Team.
Wednesday
The day began with the WK4 500 Open events which saw the New Zealand crew with legend Lisa Carrington competing. It was exciting to watch.
Michael Dunbar with Julian from Avoca won their first medal and first for the club, a silver in the MK2 500 U18. Subsequently they won gold in MK2 200 18 and bronze in the MK2 1000 18. This is an amazing achievement for a crew who has only trained for less than 5 months.
Also on Wednesday Tess and Hayley stormed into 1st position winning their first gold medal of the regatta in the WK2 500 16. They repeated their winning performance on the last day in the WK2 1000 16. They came 2nd in the MK2 200 16, only 0.66 seconds behind the winners. Well done girls, 2 golds and a silver is a tremendous achievement.
Michael Dunbar/Julian (Avoca) SILVER MK2 500 18
Tess Lever/Hayley Dunbar GOLD WK1 500 18
Thursday
Another warm and successful day for the Manly Warringah athletes. The tail wind started to pick up in the afternoon which saw some fast 500 times.
Our 100% MWKC under 18 boys K4 crew of Joel, Michael, Jacob and Paris came 4th in the 500m sprint (0.37 seconds behind bronze). The under 18 girls of Chelsea, Tess, Hayley and Priya, another 100% MWKC, also finished 4th (0.25 secs behind bronze) in the 500 sprint. These were exciting and thrilling races to win. Well done team MWKC!
Congratulations Tess and Michael for individual medals in the K1 500 in their age groups. The composite 16 boys crew of Archer, Mate, Max and Christian (Makai) won the nationals under 16 boys age group K4 title. They repeated the win in the State vs State K4 500 event.
Dark clouds and thunder started to roll which resulted in the rest of the races being postponed.
Tess Lever BRONZE WK1 500 16
Michael Dunbar BRONZE MK1 500 18
Mate Eles/Max Mako BRONZE MK2 500 16
Christian (Makai)/Max Mako/Mate Eles/Archer Thornthwaite (composite) GOLD WK4 500 16
Amelie Dooney/ Eden/Harper/ Luana (composite) SILVER WK4 500 16
Photo: JGR Images
Photo: JGR Images
Friday
The 200 day. Races were fast and short. More medals were won. Another individual medal for Michael in K1 200 under 18 boys – well done.
Tess Lever/Hayley Dunbar SILVER WK2 200 16
Mate Eles/Max Mako BRONZE MK2 200 16
Michael Dunbar SILVER MK1 200 18
Chelsea Sutton/Michael Dunbar SILVER MXK2 200 18
Saturday
We were joined by our master athletes President Peter Grimes, previous Head Coach Brett Worth and Anthony Farrugia. It was a change of role with the kids cheering on the masters/coaches. The under 16 boys K1 200 event was exciting to watch with less than a second separating the first 5 athletes. Congratulations Mate for bronze in the K1 200 under 16. Chelsea with her partner did an incredible race in the 1000 to win Gold. MWKC medalled in 17 events!
Mate Eles BRONZE Mk1 200 16
Michael/Julian GOLD MK2 200 18
Michael/Julian BRONZE MK2 1000 18
Tess/Hayley GOLD WK2 1000 16
Chelsea Sutton/Tarren Elliott GOLD WK2 1000 18
Anthony Farrugia BRONZE MK1 200 45+
Viliam Mako GOLD MK1 200 55+
Tim Newton SILVER MK1 200 55+
Brett Worth BRONZE MK1 200 55+
Peter Grimes GOLD MK1 200 65+
Viliam/Tim GOLD MK2 200 45+
Brett/Andras SILVER MK2 200 45+
Andras Eles BRONZE MK1 1000 45+
Tim Newton GOLD MK1 1000 55+
Viliam Mako SILVER MK1 1000 55+
Brett Worth BRONZE MK1 1000 55+
Peter Grimes GOLD MK1 1000 55+
Photo: JGR Images
Sunday
It was great to see some of our Olympians volunteer to hold the boats at the start. Well done Tess, Amelie and Michael for individual medals in the K1 1000. The State vs State K4 races were thrilling to watch with seven of our kids competing in various crew boats. The under 16 State vs State was a debut event, both boys and girls’ races were won by NSW which included MWKC competitors.
Tess Lever GOLD WK1 1000 16
Amelie Dooney SILVER WK1 1000 16
Michael Dunbar SILVER MK1 1000 18
Viliam/Tim GOLD MK2 500 45+
Peter/Andras BRONZE MK2 500 45+
Andras Eles BRONZE MK1 500 45+
Viliam Mako GOLD MK1 500 55+
Tim Newton SILVER MK1 500 55+
Peter Grimes GOLD MK1 500 65+
Viliam/Tim/Andras/Anthony GOLD MK4 500 45+
Other Highlights
Congratulations to Paris and Anthony for competing in their first National Kayak Sprint Championships.
Well done Archer, Chloe, Priya and Ries for competing for the first time in team boat with crews that they’ve never had the opportunity to train with. Thank you Ries for helping out the under 18 boys VIC State K4.
Asia-Pacific Team
Congratulations to the following athletes who qualified to represent Australia at the Asia-Pacific Cup that will be held at SIRC from 6-10 May.
Archer Thornthwaite, Amelie Dooney, Chelsea Sutton, Hayley Dunbar, Mate Eles, Michael Dunbar and Tess Lever.
World Junior Team
Congratulations Michael.
PA National Performance Pathways Lead (Sprint) Kenny Wallace OAM OLY and members of the Paris 2024 Olympic team were on hand to announce the Junior and U23 World Championships teams and athletes selected in the Asia Pacific Cup team.
The Junior and U23 Australian team will compete at the 2024 ICF Junior and U23 Canoe Sprint World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria from 17-21 July 2024.
The Asia Pacific Cup will be raced at Sydney International Regatta Centre from 9-11 May 2024.
MWKC finished top of the medals count and top of the point score. A huge thank you to the Committee and Members for continuing to support the Phoenix program, coaches for your passion and dedication, athletes for your commitment and for giving it your best and to parents for your support. Special thank you to volunteers Phil Bellamy and Parastoo Haeri. We are stronger together.
About the Manly Warringah Kayak Club
Manly Warringah Kayak Club (MWKC) is situated on the beautiful Narrabeen Lake at Berry Reserve (behind Tram Shed and Ambulance Station). The club has around 240 members of all ages and abilities, from ages 6 to 86 and from paddlers struggling not to fall in to Gold Medal winning Olympians.
We are primarily a racing club and our members enjoy competing in events such as the Paddle NSW Marathon Series, Harbour Series and Sprint Series as well as ultra-marathons like the Hawkesbury Classic and Myall Classic. There are the paddlers who always have a coffee at the local cafe after a Sunday Race or Club paddle to the time-poor who squeeze in a morning or afternoon training session. Members paddle a variety of boats from stable TK1’s and ocean skis through to top of the line K1’s and C1’s.
Find out more at: www.mwkc.org.au
Report by Turia Vogel, Manly Warringah Kayak Club
Photos by JGR Images
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Photo: Under 18 Team. Photo: JGR Images
Photo: JGR Images
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Photo: JGR Images