OUTRIGGER GOLD NO EASY PICKINGS FOR THIS KELLY GANG

OUTRIGGER CANOE, May 13: Race favourites Surfers Paradise won't have things all their own way in what is shaping as "anyone's race" in tomorrow's open women's Australian Outrigger Canoe Racing Association (AOCRA) OC6 National Championships at Mooloolaba.

The Surfers Paradise girls were third in last year's Molokai Challenge race in Hawaii but team captain Jasmin Kelly believes her crew face a "hard slog" as they chase the Australian championship gold medal over the 18 kilometre course.

"I think it's going to be a very open affair with no real stand out crews; there is a bit of an unknown factor in the women's race," says the Coolangatta Gold Ironwoman and former Australian single ski champion Kelly, who is also one of Australia's most respected Outrigger paddlers.

"Some of the girls have just come off a break after the Australian Surf Lifesaving Championships and tomorrow will be the first time we've been in the boat together this season.

"But they are all pretty fit and we're looking forward to what will be the start of a busy few months preparing for the Gold Coast Cup and Hamilton Island in the lead up to the Cook Island event in November."

Kelly, also a former Mooloolaba crew member who has been at Surfers Paradise for the past five years, knows she can expect a fierce challenge from her old club, as well as Northcliffe, Brisbane and the crews from Townsville and Mackay.

But she also has the confidence in her crew to be there when the gold medal chase is on.

Surfers Paradise will once again be spearheaded by Kelly's two Molokai team paddlers from last year, kayak and surf ski paddlers Bernadette Wallace and Rachel Simper, who will be joined by specialist outrigger pair Carolyn Mansfield and Natalie Anderson and open team rookie, former junior paddler, Lisa Roberts.

Mansfield and Anderson are both in great form and recently won the OC2 changeover relay event at Molokai.

"Carolyn and Natalie will be pushing us girls along that's for sure and keeping us honest," said Kelly.

Meanwhile Mooloolaba's Senior Masters men's crew, steered by the incomparable Danny Sheard have emerged as one of the crews to watch in tomorrow's men's race over 22km.

The bulk of the crew have also just returned from the Molokai OC2 relay where they finished second in the open men's division.

The OC6 crew of Sheard, Ron Grabbe, Tony Harding, Trevor Wendt, Andrew Jones and Mark Forbes will be looking for a top eight finish and will push the open men's crews for every placing.

It was Forbes who teamed with fellow Mooloolaba paddlers Phil Thistlewood, Warren Cuffe and Chris Grant to take silver in the OC2 race, which also featured Grabbe, Harding, Wendt and Jones.

"We may be a Senior Masters crew but we are certainly race fit and experienced and with Danny steering it gives us enormous confidence," said Forbes.

"Many of our crew have been paddling together on and off for years and you probably can't buy the experience we've got in our boat.

"Don't be surprised if we give some of those open crews a run for their money."

Outrigger Australia Canoe Club from Currumbin Creek on the Gold Coast will field three crews in the open division as they chase the gold medal along with Northcliffe, NSW State Champions Cronulla and the Sunset Bay club from Mackay.