By JO SEARLE
In the last couple of months, Noosa Outrigger teams have travelled from South to North of the State competing in long distance events.
The Gold Coast Cup, a 42 Km marathon from Coolangatta to the Southport Spit is an exciting event with crews of nine or 10 paddlers taking turns in six-man boats. At intervals during the race, several paddlers jump out of the racing canoe to be picked up by a support boat, whilst fresh paddlers jump into their places, all the while aiming to maintain the pace.
This makes for a very exciting race and Noosa’s Master Women’s (40 years plus) crew and a Senior Master Men’s (50 years plus) crew were among 43 crews participating, from as far away as Hervey Bay, Sydney, Port Macquarie and Coffs Coast, plus a crew all the way from Singapore.
The Senior Master Men were third in their division, in a time of 3 hours 37 minutes, and the Master Women were delighted to come third in their division in 4 hours 4 minutes, a great result considering that of the ten women, four had never previously competed in a changeover race.
The Gold Coast Cup also included a 32 Km Iron Race, which did not include a change of crew. Noosa had two crews of six men facing up to compete against 30 other teams. The Master Men’s crew clinched second in their category in a time of 2 hours 38 minutes, and the Golden Master’s (60 years plus) were first in their division, in a time of 2 hours 45 minutes.
The Marathon National Titles held in Mooloolaba saw several Noosa teams race in a competitive field, with great results. In the men’s long course event over 22kms, the Noosa Golden Masters were first in their category in a time of 1 hour 39 minutes, the Master team second in their category in 1 hour 38 minutes, and two Senior Masters teams third and sixth in their category in 1 hour 40 minutes and 1 hour 45 minutes respectively. In the women’s long course 18km event, the Noosa Master Women were fifth in their category in a time of 1 hour 37 minutes.
The Great Barrier Reef Outrigger Challenge, a 42km marathon race from Palm Cove to Port Douglas, saw two men’s teams from Noosa venture north to compete.
The Senior Master’s team aka Noosa Loggerheads, had raced in this event the last two years, and while all the time questioning their sanity, headed back again treating the race as the finale to the six-man outrigger canoe season. The Master’s team, who have been the stars of the club this year improving in every race by leaps and bounds, entered well briefed and prepared, though with some trepidation but also with a lot of excitement and adrenalin. After a slow start the Master team (John Goller, Peter Williams, Michael Blumentals, Martin Courtnay, David Russell and Paul Squire) used good tactics to fairly quickly pull back the one kilometre advantage the Coconuts Outrigger Canoe Club had, to achieve line honours after 3 hours and 11 minutes of paddling. The Noosa Loggerheads (Des Mabbott, Harry Crockford, Graham Woods, Roger Arbuckle, Brad Burgess and Marco Rocco) had a much better start and were battling with Coconuts and Hekili teams at the front of the race early on. The youth of the two teams and of the Masters saw the Loggerheads arrive at the finish line in fourth position overall, though first in their category, in a time of 3 hours and 17 mins.
This race added to results of other events this year, and both teams won the divisional prizes of accommodation at Hamilton Island for the Clash of the Paddles festival held 14 and 15 June 2014.
The two teams have now returned from this event, where they competed confidently over the 16km course. Both the Master Men and Noosa Loggerheads teams clinched third in their categories, in times of 1 hour 15 minutes and 1 hour 18 minutes respectively.
This marks the end of the competitive 2013-14 calendar, but Noosa Outrigger Canoe Club continues to paddle in a non-competitive manner in the Noosa River and ocean. If you would like to find out what makes outrigger canoeing so much fun and exciting, please call Des Mabbott on 5470 2390 or 0420 935 769 or email mabbott@hku.hk.
Des says that if you enjoy competitive sport, love the ocean and enjoy team sports, then this is the sport for you.
