On Saturday 11th January, Paddle WA sprint committee ran a junior (guppy) focused regatta alongside the usual schedule, with great success – and a lot of fun!
In case you’re wondering the winner was the black and white cow out deep 🐮
Our thanks to Paddle Australia High Performance team, Brendan Purcell and David Rhodes who travelled to WA to some insight into our program here and get a feel for a local regatta.
A strong turnout of 75 paddlers were boosted by 12 Talent identification athletes and 17 guppy paddlers aged 8-13.
Junior Focus
A junior camp was held on Thursday and Friday in the lead up to Saturday’s regatta, kindly facilitated by Bayswater Paddlesports club.
The focus was on fun, safety and skills, including team boat racing and a build a boat challenge.

Sincere thanks to junior coordinator Jade Lade, lead coach Shania Smee, Jett Loong, Orlando Fonseca and Abbey Major.
Considering that 14 of the 17 paddlers had never been in a kayak before, the form was impressive.
Junior fleet
It allowed us to showcase our fleet of nine (9) junior K4’s, of which seven (7) were on display racing at the regatta, kindly donated and/or purchased by local clubs.

These boats have been named for Malcolm McCusker, Kerry Smith (kindly donated by Kerry) and the Ken Vidler (also kindly donated)
A fun finish!
Overall, the premier event of the day was the inaugural WA Championship Pool float 50 metre sprint.

We feel it maybe an upcoming ICF ratified distance for Brisbane 2032 and a mix between sprint and kayak cross.
A full grid of 25 from guppy paddlers, WAIS athletes and the President of Paddle WA who battled it out with varying successes, what a great finish to the day.
Thank you to our Discipline committee, supporting clubs and volunteers for making this such a successful and fun event. We look forward to seeing you all again next year!