July 2018 -

Australian Championships 2018

On the 3rd-8th March a large group of Brave Hearts paddlers traveled to sunny Queensland to compete at the Aus Champs 2018 at Kawana Waters.

it was such an amazing week racing against the best in Australia.

Below is a day by day account of our time in Queensland and our success on the water.

Day 1: State vs State.

We had a fantastic day of State racing today, and even though it was hot, all of the paddlers powered through to medals. Results: The junior crew was awesome, showing incredible strength and teamwork to take away 3 bronze medals at the end of the day, in the mixed, open and women’s categories. The Regional team earned four bronze in the mixed standard, womens, open and relay categories. Senior C crews also wore bronze bling after a successful day, in women’s, mixed, open and relay. Congratulations to all of the paddlers involved today…we look forward to the Premier crew and Aus Joeys racing tomorrow.

Day 2- Premier 500mtrs 10s events.

Wow what another incredible day of racing. We started the day with our Mixed 10s crew who came third in their heat and advanced straight to the semi final where we placed third making us the 9th fastest Mixed crew in Aus.

Next came our Women’s 10s crew; our heat put us 4th. We progressed through to the repicharge and found the strength and power needed to bring home a win with an incredible race, which was won by a boats length. Advancing through to the semi-final in which we took out fourth place ranking the team 8th fastest in Aus.

The Open 10s crew raced a fantastic heat which saw them come 5th taking them into the repicharge where they placed 3rd. Unfortunately this was as far as they could progress.

Our five juniors raced amazingly with the Joeys and I’m proud to say brought home some medals. One Gold, One Silver and One Bronze.

Day 3- Premiers 200m 10s, Joeys 200m 10s and standard, and 2km Premier women’s turn race.

Another exceptional days racing today in very wet and windy conditions. Premiers raced 200mtrs with our mixed 10s team coming 9th overall and our women’s 10s team achieving 7th overall at National level. Very fast and powerful races for both crews. Our Joeys brought home more medals today with another gold, silver and bronze to add to their collection.

Our 2km turn races were held at the end of the day but the weather wasn’t kind. Huge rain and wind made it difficult for the women’s crew but they paddled hard to finish 10th overall. So very proud to say our premiers crew resulted with 5x top ten finishes.

Tomorrow will see the Sen A, B and C crews hit the water so stay tuned…

Day 4. Senior A, Senior B and Senior C results.

It was a great start to the morning’s racing with the Senior B 500m Mixed crew going straight through to the Grand Final in awesome style. The competition was tough but they powered away earning their place to become the 5th fastest crew in Australia!

Our Senior A crew did a phenomenal job in their 500m Mixed Heat, coming second to send them through to the semi final. After giving everything they had our Senior A’s are now 8th fastest in the the country. Very exciting!

Our Senior C Women’s 500m crew powered through their heat making a very strong 3rd. Unfortunately the weather then took a turn for the worse and the organisers made the tough decision to cancel the rest of the days racing.

Overall it was a successful day and we are looking forward to our last day of racing 200m tomorrow, to wrap up our Nationals campaign.

Day 5- Senior A, B and C 200m 10s races and Mixed Senior B and Senior C 1kms sweeps races.

We won two bronze!!!!!!! Senior B Mixed 10s 200m and Senior B mixed 1km sweeps race. Never before in the history of the club have we won two medals at a national campaign. These medals not only belong to the ones who have them hanging around their neck but also to those that have raced in other events, volunteered and supported our team all season. We are so excited to be bringing these bronze medals home to our lake.

Senior A mixed crews powered through their races qualifying for their semis and resulting in 8th overall. Senior A open crew which was made up with five women had an amazing day pushing through the odds and racing against teams of 10 men. They gave it their all and made it through to the semi finals holding the position of 16th out of 22 entries.

This is the first time that Brave Hearts has ever had a full team of Senior C women. They raced in the 200m 10s boat and the 1km sweeps race. Powering home through their heat and repercharge they placed in the top ten in both events.

We’ve finished off our nationals campaign with a top ten placing in all but one event. We fly home tomorrow tired but proud of our accomplishments.

Look out for what next season brings…….

GO BRAVE HEARTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!