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2006 A Season Review
The past season has seen the kayak squad go from strength to strength. It has been a really exciting year for all members and I am sure looking back, everyone is proud of the achievements of the whole team. It must be noted that the continued support and encouragement of the Rowing Club has aided the fantastic results over the past 12 months, for which we are truly grateful.
After a solid base of winter training, under the watchful eye of club coach, Glenn Cowdrey, the squad were ready to fire throughout the year. The sprint season started off in January in Victoria with Grand Prix 1, in sometimes-difficult conditions, with a strong showing by several paddlers outlining their intent for the approaching state and national titles.
Once back on home turf in Sydney, all of the sprinters excelled in the calm waters of Penrith. Through Grand Prix 2 and State Titles many of the squad set new and impressive personal best times, which indicated that they were ready to make a big impression at nationals.
And what a nationals it turned out to be. The Michael twins, Jake and Luke came away with gold in the 500m K2. This was a truly amazing result, where they faced some extremely tough opposition from the best that Australia and New Zealand had to offer. They backed this result up by taking a bronze in the 1000m K2 . Luke also managed to win silver in the K1 500m and a bronze in the K1 1000m. Based on these results the guys were picked to represent Australia at the World Championships, in Szeged, Hungary in August. That competition was the twins’ first competition at the World level together where they competed in the K4 1000 m and the K4 500 m as part of the Australian team.
Following the World Championships, Jake and Luke also competed at the World Cup meet in Guangzhou in China, where they won a gold medal in the K2 1000 m and a bronze in the K2 200m.
The talented twins now have their sights firmly set on qualifying for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.
Nationals was also a great regatta for Dean Blanche, who in his last year as a junior showed that he is not only a strong K1 paddler, but is an awesome crew boat paddler winning three silver medals, in the K2 1000m and K4 500m and 1000m. Based on these performances Dean was selected to race in the Australian Junior Team and travelled to Europe to race in the Netherlands and Germany. He came home with a silver medal from the K1 1000m and a bronze in the K2 1000m from the Bosban International Regatta. Dean has now joined the senior ranks and is one to watch out for over the coming years.
Steve Vermey and Glenn Cowdrey also performed strongly at Nationals. Steve is now focussed on joining the twins in the Australian Sprint team for next season, while Glenn is helping the guys achieve their goals with his expert coaching, still managing to keep his superb fitness levels up by training with the squad.
Outside of sprint racing, the kayak club have some representatives in Marathon racing. Paul Smith has been racing well all year and has won 2 marathon series races as well as taking gold in State 10km Titles in K1 and K2, winning the K2 with Stewart O’Regan. Paul also won a bronze medal at Victorian State titles. Stewart backed up winning the NSW Marathon Series in 2005 by winning it again in 2006 with 3 wins and several top finishes. Both are training hard for NSW State titles and Nationals, which will be held early next year.
The club has had a number of new members join over the winter period and it looks like St George Kayak Club is well on track to surpass the achievements of the past season and build a solid future.
Stewart O’Regan
St George Kayak Club PRO
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