Three juniors from Ulladulla area-based Makai Paddlers recently recorded strong efforts at the Paddle Australia Canoe Marathon and SUP Championships.
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Lily Todd along with Christian and Finn Ireland, joined over 200 other athletes in Encounter Lakes, South Australia, for a successful Australian championships.
The course was multiples of a 4km loops around a man-made lake.
It was the first time the three local paddlers had raced marathon, as their main focus being sprint kayaking.
Day one was individual K1 marathon where Christian and Lily raced 12km in the male and female under 16s.
Christian won gold and Lily silver.
Finn was next, winning gold in the 8km under 14s [male] race.
Day two was the K2's races and Finn joined his brother up in the under 16s and did well to take silver.
Day three started with mixed K2 with Christian and Lily raced up in the under 18s and in a great race and won gold convincingly.
The final event was the short course (3km) race.
Christian won the under 16s, but Lily had a heartbreaking race with mistakes under fatigue dropping her from first back to fourth
She fought doggedly to come back and take the bronze medal.
Christian was latest named the winner of the Coulthard Trophy, awarded to the best performing male under 16 paddler of the championships.
This is a very prestigious Award and puts him in some very good company with previous winners.
The next racing for our paddlers is the Asia Pacific Championships where Christian Ireland and Eden Sakora will represent Australia against New Zealand, Japan and Singapore.