SUN SHINES IN AS COFFS PADDLE FEST COMES TO FINALE

AOCRA, December 11: Sunday produced a new dawn and a new day for a fitting finale to the successful Australian Outrigger Canoe Racing Association's (AOCRA) Marathon OC1 and OC2 Championships weekend at Coffs Harbour.

 

 Gone was the rain, the clouds and the mist, replaced by brilliant sunshine and perfect conditions for the 12 kilometre paddle south to Sawtell.

There was even a little swell off the headlands to help the 300 odd paddlers make quick time down the coast.

Saturday had seen the combined OC1 and OC2 marathons with the ICF Ocean Ski Series - making the weekend one of Australia's biggest "paddlefests." 

"And it's only going to get bigger - we won't be stopping here," said local organiser and Coffs Harbour's "Mr Paddle" Mike Mills-Thom.

"With the direction from AOCRA and the inclusion of the ICF Ocean Skis this weekend will continue to grow and grow.

"Once the word spreads we will attract the best Ocean Ski paddlers in the world and it will be a truly international event.

"Having the support of the Hawaiian paddlers in the OC1s and OC2 and Stand Up boards already gives it a real pacific feel and we're going to make it even bigger."

Most competitors swapped craft with the cream of the OC1 paddlers from Saturday's major event, the 25km course from Woolgoolga to Coffs Harbour, jumping on to their Stand Up Paddle Boards - all except for newly crowned National champion, Mooloolaba's Todd Cohen.

The big fella from Mooloolaba, who has been virtually unstoppable throughout the OC1 season, teamed up with the multi-talented Amanda Ozolins to take line honours on their OC2 boat.

So talented are these two that they accounted for the all-men's teams but it wasn't such a surprise for Cohen - who admitted Saturday he had to get serious to win the National crown.

But today it was back to the fun side of the sport - which he lives for.

It capped a big weekend for the Sunshine Coasters, who dominated proceedings on Saturday with Cohen paddling past Greg Long (Outrigger Australia, Currumbin)) and noted Hawaii legend Danny Ching.

Cohen said Saturday that he had changed his attitude from fun to serious to win his first major National title but it was a lot more relaxed for today's race which provided competitors with a little more assistance coming into Sawtell.

"I knew with Amanda on board we would be pretty hard to beat - having two strong paddlers together but we enjoyed it and was a lot of fun," said Cohen.

"There was no pressure, we knew we would have a good race and it was a chance to really get out an enjoy ourselves."

 Ozolins, regarded as one of Australia's finest OC1 paddlers of all-time, said Sunday's course was a whole lot easier than Saturday. "It was good to team up with Todd and it was an enjoyable paddle - Saturday was tough," said Ozolins.

But they admitted they were tempted to look over their shoulders to their main opponents, Hawaii's high profile husband and wife combination Kai and Lauren Bartlett, who finished second.

CATS IN THE CRADLE FOR TASSIE BOYS

There was also deserved success for the Cradle Point crew from Tasmania with the combination of Scott Allwood and Leigh Payne who beat Saturday's O2 Marathon winners, Newcastle brothers Nathan and Luke Evans.

Payne has played a major part in developing the Cradle Point  club and said it was a deserved win for his younger partner Allwood.

"To win a major title is great for Scott - he's a great young paddler with a big future," said Payne, who steered the pair close to the headlines, chasing as much assistance as they could. "There was some talk of steering clear of the headlands but it wasn't too bad - in fact I kept that line for most of the race and it paid dividends."

But on the Stand Ups it was defending champion Travis Grant - regarded as one of the best SUP in the world who returned to form to win the 12km Stand Up Paddle from Coffs Jetty, beating Hawaiian Danny Ching and Sunshine Coast young gun Lincoln Dews.

REAL TRAVIS GRANT STANDS UP

Grant, who was also the defending 25km champion has struggled with sinus and a flu virus since returning from  the Cook Islands a fortnight ago and admitted he didn't push himself to finish fifth to Todd Cohen on Saturday.

But he woke up today feeling ready to go and successfully defended his SUP title from last year.

He handed out another defeat to gun Hawaiian and former Molokai winner Ching with Saturday's 25km SUP winner Lincoln Dews taking it to his older opponents to finish third.

"I wasn't prepared to push it too hard on Saturday. I have felt pretty bad since coming back from the Cook Islands so I decided to take it easier and not push it too hard. But feeling better today I decided to have a good go and I actually surprised myself when I dropped Danny and kept going to the finish line," said Grant.

NEW ZEALAND TRIPS FOR V1 PADDLERS

Meanwhile Mitch Olds (Canoe Point, Tannum Sands) and Bec Rassmussen (Mooloolaba) won today's four km V1 Class Under 19s event to secure trips to New Zealand as part of the National Junior Development Initiative.

They will join National V1 Champions in the under 16s from Saturday, Te Otimi Patara (Fraser Coast) and Deb Rassmussen (Mooloolaba) on a sponsorship trip in the form of airfares to compete in the 2012 Aotorea Aito in New Zealand.

In the 12km Ocean Ski event it was Stockton SLSC's Glen Bernard who took the honours from Tony Bowman and Gavin Kleidon from Mooloolaba.

MAJOR EVENTS TOP TENS FROM SUNDAY:

OC1 25KM (Saturday)

Todd Cohen (Mooloolaba)

Greg Long (Outrigger Australia)

Danny Ching (Hawaii)

Aaron Bitmead (Outrigger Australia)

Travis Grant (Outrigger Australia)

Phil Bagnall (Cronulla)

Chris Maynard (Outrigger Australia)

Kai Bartlett (Hawaii)

Paul Watkins (Mollymook)

Karel Tresnak (Hawaii)

MEN'S OCEAN SKI

Ben Allen

Cory Hill

Paul Green

Michael Green

Bruce Taylor

Dean Gardiner

Greg Cooper

Mark Michin

Andrew McAleenan

Adam McKane

OC1 WOMEN

Robyn Saultry (Brisbane)

Amanda Ozolins (Mooloolaba)

Lauren Bartlett (Hawaii)

Anna Matieson (Hong Kong)

Sharleen Kelly (Surfers Paradise)

Lisa {Payne (Pattison Lakes)

Lauren Grant (Pt Macquarie)

Gail Mills-Thom (Coffs Coast)

Kathryn East (Brisbane)

Zara Smith (Mooloolaba)