On the first weekend of October, AUCC migrated south to the Kawerau Adventure Hub on the banks of the Tarawera river. Excitement was in the year both due to the SICK BoaterX ramp and for actually having beds and bunk rooms (Scout Hall we love u but sometimes we like to be boujie). Saturday started off bright and early with breakfast and a briefing from trip organiser and 2019 President Joshie! All teams got decked out in their costumes with notable highlights being Noot Noot with their super cute helmet decor and Big Banana Energy...lots of yellow.
To Joshie's delight, every individual competitor including all our Novice paddlers scooted down the ramp for their time trials and BoaterX. Spicy eddies, immediate rolls, couple of swims - it was all outrageous fun and a massive upgrade from last year's plywood!
Mads Potter outdid herself in the kitchen once again preparing an ENORMOUS and delicious dinner for the hordes of hungry kayakers. Only blip was those same kayakers adjusting the freezer temperature to fridge to cool down their bevs leaving no space for the ice cream... ice cream soup for breakfast is a good start to the day right?
Our favourite freshers Dan, Andrew & Andrew felt obliged to prove themselves to absolutely no one once more and taped Nitro bottles to both hands...which didn't end particularly well. Maybe you'll learn how to drink next year guys?
Sunday was mostly team day - which meant lots of speedy rafting down the course. Speedy being used loosely... Lots of dirty tactics, a rather unbalanced team (2 Wero Raft Guides in one team?? Seems suspect to me...), another raft guide stripped off down the course to Pour Some Sugar On Me. Don't think we'll be winning Raft Racing Champs any time soon.
Prizegiving saw plenty of awesome goodies given out to the deserving champs - and a huge thanks to our sponsors for making that happen!
Much appreciated support from Kayak HQ, DayTwo, NRS, Anchor, Paddle Power, AUCC & Shadows.
Well done to everyone who participated and congratulations to all our winners! Super rad to see so many of you getting amongst - whether it was rafting, kayaking, volunteering or organising!
RESULTS:
Womens - First: Sarah Cumming and Dannielle Cripps (Equal) - Third: Nicola Buisman
Open - First: Josh Schollum and Joe Easley (Equal) - Third: Zachary Best
Novice Womens - First: Lily Woodbury - Second: Charlotte Van Dyk - Third: Lydia Tomic
Novice Open - First: Daniel Kiernan-James - Second: Andrew Wong - Third: Andrew Godfrey
Overall Team: The Wiggles (Joe Easley, Nicola Buisman, Raewyn (Dave) Selby, Alice Wheatley)
Thanks for a great year!
Lou
