kayaking the pacific islands. - Canoe & Kayak

Beijing Olympic Slalom 2008
by Andy Fuller
Luuka Jones has qualified to become the first ever New
Zealand woman to compete in Slalom kayaking at the
Olympic Games.
Following in the footsteps of Donald Johnstone, in 1992, and Owen
Hughes in 1996 Luuka will be proudly representing NZ slalom, aged only
19. She is from Tauranga but has spent the last 2 winters in Nottingham,
England for several months, in order to get training with top level
paddlers and coaches.
She qualified to race for NZ earlier in the year by being the top NZ
paddler at the Oceania champs in Australia. She won the national
champs for the first time in Kawerau and raced 2 world cup races in
Prague and Ljubljana justifying her inclusion in the NZ Olympic team.
The NZ Olympic Committee confirmed her spot on the 1 st of July to her
delight which made her the subject of quite a few news articles on TV
and radio.
Luuka’s goal is to win the 2012 Olympics in London. Realistically she
doesn’t expect to win in Beijing, but racing there will be a valuable
experience and huge step towards her goal in London.
The artificial channel built specifically for the 2008 Olympics provides
a continuous, very big whitewater course. Powering against the huge
waves and holes all the way down, there will be no opportunity to
ease off.
Luuka Jones winning the national
slalom champs at Kawerau, Easter ‘08
Luuka has been very lucky to secure some sponsorship to help her achieve
her dream. She would like to thank 1st Web Design who run her personal
website, Fulton Hogan for her shiny new Olympic kayak, MD Pool & Spas and
Cooney Lees and Morgan for all their help and DayTwo kayaking for a full set
of race gear for the Olympics.
The Olympic slalom races will be held from the 11 th to 14 th of August.
Whitewater Slalom NZ
by Andy Fuller
What is Whitewater slalom
Slaloms are held on grade 2 and 3 rapids for 150 to 300 metres. Paddlers
negotiate 18 to 25 ‘gates’ of 2 poles suspended above the river. 6 of the gates
are upstream. Races test paddling skills without experiencing dangerous
rapids. They usually take 2 minutes.
Where in NZ
The main centres for slalom in NZ are the Bay of plenty (with permanent sites
in Rotorua, Kawerau and Taupo), Napier, and Mangahao slalom course near
Palmerston North. In the South Island there are the areas around Wanaka,
Queenstown, Alexandra and Dunedin.
Besides these there are other great places for slalom. You can practise on
flatwater, testing yourself on hard gates, then progress to harder courses
on rougher water.
When
Most slalom races are held during the Summer with Nationals and the
secondary schools usually at Easter, the end of the season. However, camps
and races, held year-round, include ‘pool slaloms’ during
really cold weather.
Who
Anyone! Come along and test your skills. Most of NZ’s top kayakers are slalom
paddlers or past slalom kayakers. They include Ben Fouhy, Donald Johnstone,
Mike Walker, Mick Hopkinson, Graham Charles, Gordon Walker, Andrew
Martin, Owen Hughes, Jared Meehan.
The skills slalom gives you will make you better at river running, polo, sprint,
down river and multisport. You’ll be more confident, skilled and better able to
handle moving water. ‘Easy’ slaloms are held at Reids Farm (Taupo), Kaituna
river (Rotorua), Hawea River (Wanaka), Waipori (Dunedin) and on one of the
easier courses in Kawerau. To test your skills further there are races at the
Wairoa (Tauranga), Tarawera river (Kawerau), Mangahao river (Palmerston
Andy Fuller
focuses hard!
North), Buller river, Kawarau river (Queenstown).
For further information go to www.slalomnz.org.nz and read the newsletters
under the documents area. There’s a pool slalom coming up in Rotorua on
23 rd August followed by races in Alexandra towards the end of September.
Also, if you want some top advice, members of the DayTwo team coach at the
Kaituna river on a regular basis. (e-mail: info@daytwo.co.nz).
Andy Fuller shepherds young Kelly Travers down the slalom
course in Kawerau.
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