AOCRA NEWS SEPTEMBER 2010
This year Australia is being well represented at the
Na Wahine O Ke Kai and Molokai Hoe events in Hawaii.
The AOCRA Open Women and Open Men’s teams are two of the teams competing at this prestigious event as well as a number of other teams competing across most divisions. This edition of the newsletter will give you a little insight into most of the teams.
It takes a lot of training, sacrifice and commitment to work together as a team for common goals as well as personal achievements. AOCRA wishes all teams the very best of luck for a successful, triumphant race.
‘When you believe you can …..You can!’
Trish Johnston
AOCRA PRESIDENT
Australian Molokai Teams 2011
Crews will be selected from the National OC1/2 Titles at Coffs and the National OC6 Titles at Mooloolaba. Full details will be posted on the AOCRA website shortly.
Cheers
Mark Forbes
National Performance Director
East Coast Junior Outrigger Championships
GUBBI GUBBI 26TH 27TH September 2010
LakeKawana on the SunshineCoast.
On behalf ofthe AOCRA National body I would like to congratulate Allan and Jenny Rasmussen for their dedication that has ensured the continued success of the East Coast Junior Outrigging Championships (Gubbi Gubbi). This event is in its 5th year and provides a fantastic platform for the growth of our sport.
This year the venueis LakeKawanaand racing willbe runon the weekend of the 26th and 27th of September.
Catering for juniors ranging from Under 12s through to 19 and unders, competing in OC1 OC2s and OC6s the eventhas attractedcompetitors from Cairns to Tasmania.
I would like to thank the coaches and parents that have given up theirtime ensuring the success of this and past years' events.
At a National level AOCRA is currentlyhosting a discussion group that includesrepresentatives from New Zealand, most AustralianStates and current junior coaches. The purpose of this undertaking is to create a common theme for the growth of juniors in our sport that will in turn ensure the sports' longevity.
However there is also an underlying reason for this initiative and that is to provide people such as Allan, Jenny and all Junior coaches support in their endeavors, toacknowledge their efforts, to let them know they are not alone and to provide a formatfor National Junior Development.
Once again I would like to thank all involved and AOCRA does appreciate the amount of time, effort and money that goes into making events such as these a reality.
Cheers
Mark Forbes
AOCRA National Junior Development Officer.
AOCRA National Titles.
National OC1/OC2 Titles Coffs Harbour11-12th Dec 2010
National Sprints Gold Coast 4-5-6 February 2011
National OC6 Marathon Titles 14-15th May 2011
NationalChangeoverTitleHamiltonIsland 19th Jun 2011
AUSTRALIAN TEAMS TAKING ON THE KAIWI CHANNEL
Na Wahine O Ke Kai (Women)
Sunday 26th September 2010
Molokai Hoe (Men)
Sunday 10th October 2010
TEAM AUSTRALIA – AOCRA’S WOMENS CREW
It’s been10 months in the making but the Australian Women’s Outrigger Team are in taper mode getting ready to take on the best in Hawaii in the 2010 Na Wahine O Ke Kai. While it’s been a difficult preparation due to the distance between the paddlers, the team has high expectations when it comes to results.
Following on from the initial selections at the OC1 Nationals in December last year and then OC6 Nationals in April this year, the crew was finalised in May with members located from Townsville to Port Macquarie. Due to the distance between paddlers, much of our training has had to be on our own, under the direction of Coach Chris Kelly. After a successful showing at the Hamilton Island Cup where we won the Open women’s division ahead of Surfers Paradise, we have also come together for three training camps over the last five months. The camps have involved a lot of distance, technique and blending in order to get the right combinations.
As the inaugural Australian Women’s Team, all the girls have come together to form a strong and committed team ready to do AOCRA and its members proud. It’s time to race!
Members of the team are:
Andrea PolkinghorneKellie Reinhold
Gail Mills-ThomLeanne Curtis
Zara SmithCoral Darbishire
Sonia AdamsTania Moohin
Lian BrownKylee Muldoon
Reserve: Lauren Grant
TEAM AUSTRALIA – AOCRA’S MEN’S CREW
The National Men’s team competing at the Molokai Hoe in 2010 has a great mix of youth and experience from which to base its performance on. The old men of the sea, Mike Mills-Thom and Grant Hughes, will no doubt lend their years of international and Molokai Race experience to the newer guys in the crew. The 6 members of the crew that are based in Coffs Harbour have had a very solid preparation led by Mike who, as always, will do everything possible to ensure we are prepared for 5+ hours of racing against arguably the best crews in the world…
The majority of our paddling sessions are conducted in the early hours of the morning so the morning light and slight increase in temperatures have made our sessions just that little bit more enjoyable. Winter training is always a challenge but both the men’s and women’s team members have taken the challenge on board and trained through winter to ensure we have a good enough base to work with for one of the world’s toughest paddling races.
We have tried to incorporate at least two, six man sessions into our weekly schedule with the rest of our ten or eleven sessions made of OC1 work and gym. The Ka’iwi Channel is not to be underestimated and conditions can range from dead flat, to cracking following seas, to a shocker head wind, and, anything in between.
The six Coffs guys are joined by a contingent of three experienced Sydney paddlers who have also been putting in the hours in the early mornings and weekends. Adrian Hybner, Grant Hughes and Steve Viney will join Mike Mills-Thom, Matt O’Garey, Gordon Polkinghorne, Tony Bishop, Daniel Jenkin and Tim Blay. With three weeks until race day we have at least one more week of intense volume before focusing on a well sorted taper, incorporating some speed work and fine tuning of changes and skills. This weekend we have our final training camp with all of the crew and will be looking to get the most out of the time we have as a group before we fly out on the 5th October.
A big thank you to all of those sponsors who are supporting us in this the inaugural National Team, our partners and families who have put up with us and all of the well wishers who support the teams, both men and women. This 2010 assault is the platform for future National Teams to build from and we are all proud and excited to be a part of it.
Mahalo to you all and let’s go racing!
Matt O’Garey
CLUB CREWS – LISA CURRY’S MASTER WOMEN
The Masters team (40 +) is competing with experienced paddlers from Mooloolaba, Brisbane, Northcliffe and CoffsHarbour making up the crew.
With a mix of very experienced team members plus three Molokai rookies, the team is excited and ready to race. Training has been held mainly on the Gold Coast as an easier half way point for travelling paddlers. Teamwork is crucial in this type of race, so any session paddled together was a bonus.
Training in the early hours, in the cold, or with dolphins and whales, is part of life as a paddler, and, as we sit on the starting line at 7.30am on Sunday 26th September, our hearts will be racing with anticipation.We remember all the years and sacrifices that have been made to be where we are. The gun will fire and about 72km and 6 hours later, we will be welcomed through the finish line in true Hawaiian style.
The memories we will have as a team will come back to Australia and inspire other paddlers to make Molokai an important race on the yearly calendar.
Ronona Cuff has been a member of 3 winning Molokai crews and Lisa Curry’s teams have won 4 times, so with 7 previous Molokai channel victories and with most of the team having paddled the channel in teams and on one man canoes, the team knows what to expect. The Molokai channel is a tricky stretch of water and takes years to master. As a “master” team, we have all been around long enough to know what to do and do it well!
The expectations will be high for all three teams and it is important to maintain Australia’s high reputation as a nation of great paddlers. Every team that travels away to compete uncovers new talent and it is important to integrate paddlers from different clubs to experience what we know as ”Molokai”.
We would like to say ‘mahalo’ to Mooloolaba, Northcliffe and Surfers Paradise for the loan of canoes and equipment in preparing for this year’s race.
Team members are from the following clubs
Mooloolaba:Lisa Curry and Ronona Cuff
BRD:Erica Hamp
Northcliffe:Sue Dorries, Belinda Sullivan, Tracey Apthorpe, Penny Rossiter and Alex Gullis
CoffsHarbour: Karen O’Reilly and Denise Holmes
CLUB CREWS – SURFERS PARADISE OCC
The Surfers Paradise OCC Open Women are competing in this year’s Na Wahine O Ke Kai.
Representing the team is Jasmin Kelly, Kirsty Holmes, Cassandra Sedgman, Bobbie McGrath, Amanda Rankin, Rachel Simper,Andrea Wood, Bernadette Wallace, Paula Harvey and Linda Dow. The girls in the team boast 13 Molokai wins in the OC6 and several wins in the Solo Ski race.
The Surfers Paradise Open Women’s team was the first Australian Women’s Team to compete in the famous Na Wahine O Ke Kai in 1990. With a 4th place finish, these women started the Molokai outrigger dream for many Australian women paddlers, and went on to compete on two more occasions finishing with two 3rd places.
Surfers Paradise OCC prides itself on having nurtured a fine balance between high performance and fun. With a long history of success, the core values of FUN, FRIENDSHIP, FITNESS, and HIGH PERFORMANCE, have remained the cornerstone of a sports club that for a long time has competed above its weight division.
CLUB CREWS – MOOLOOLABA SENIOR MASTER MEN
Mooloolaba Senior Master Men are finalising their preparation for the defence of their Molokai Hoe title win. This will be the seventeenth year in a row that the Mooloolaba Men are participating in this event.
In the sixteen years of their participation Mooloolaba Men have won nine Master’s Titles and two Senior Master’s Titles.
This year’s preparation has involved a mixture of two man and six man training which has been an excellent tool in keeping our paddlers tuned and competitive both on and off the water. Each team member has been challenged to improve their performance on the water, concentrating more on their cross trainingon the two man canoes, to achieve a better result. This method has so far resulted in very competitive training and has therefore instilled confidence in each other’s ability.
Mooloolaba Master men have been very fortunate over the years to have had exceptional sponsors that have been supportive since their first win back in 1994.
Marty and Maata Strecker from Xylobladz have been incredible supporters of our Molokai quests. They have sponsored Mooloolaba Men’s crew for the last sixteen years with many sets of paddles and we have just received a new batch of “state of the art “P2 paddles for this campaign. Paddles used for the Molokai Races are kept for each year and only used for Molokai training and the event. The paddles are always kept in top condition and when a new batch is received the older paddles are donated to the juniors for their use. There are not many Teams in Australia that have had support from a business as long as this.
This year all our racing gear and team attire has been supplied by Andrew and Amanda Wheatly of Paddles. For a family company that has only been operating for a few short years it is much appreciated the support they have given back to the sport and, in particular, the Juniors. So, all the Team clothing worn in the Documentary has been supplied by Paddles.
Another important aspect of a successful Molokai campaign is the Team support from the Club and the Squad and Club members. The support from these people is important to keep the quality of training at a high level.
The countdown is on three weeks to go.
Regards Ron Grabbe
CLUB CREWS – OUTRIGGER AUSTRALIA
The plan to attend this year’s Molokai Hoe was formed well over a year ago. In attempting to be competitive in this race we needed to be well planned and have ten or so very motivated paddlers who could spend as much time in the canoe as possible.Outrigger Australia (pictured above) has that handytalent pool of paddlers with plenty of experience. Guyslike Aaron Bitmead and Mike Murray both with outrigging experience and a background in SLS where they both won and placed at the national titles. Mike Waide also has aSLS background representing New Zealand at the world titles, multiple times. Last but not least, the 2 mainstays from the club Chris Maynard and Trav Grant, both exceptional steerersand paddlers. Greg Long joined the club after moving up from Cronulla, a multiple one man Aussie champ and placegetter in the one man Molokai race.One yearout fromthe race,feelers were put out to some of Australia's top ski paddling talent. Guys like Olympic kayak reps Pete Scott and Tate Smith came on board. Nick Crilly, a world and Australian ski paddling champion, was also recruited. This group of paddlers all have won at least one Hammo cup, most being multiple winnerswith Chris winning an unprecedented nine. Also allhave raced the channel inall forms over the past 15 years, paddleboard, one man, surfski and OC6, withAaron winning a paddleboard and Chris winning two Molokai Hoes, the highlights.
With four weeks to go and plenty of miles in the arms (topped off with75km changes session last weekend), we are now looking forwardto our final weeks preparation.Hopefully we can get a good result and put a race together that we can build on in the years to come.
Good luck to the other Aussies heading over.
Thanks
Mike Murray Coach Paddler Outrigger Australia
CLUB CREW – SYDNEY OCC
The Sydney Outrigger Canoe Clubis sending two crews to compete in the Molokai crossing. This is not the first time we have sent a crew; the last time was about eight years ago.
Garth Milne is the only one from that last crew going again. Everyone has been training hard, doing three six man sessions a week,one man sessions and cross training ( boot camp )style and some us even getting into the gym four or five days a week.
The camaraderie is great and everyone is exited just to be doing it with their own club and fellow paddlers.
We obviously don't expect to win but everyone will be giving it 110 % and we expect to do a respectable time.
This event will certainly be something that everyone will remember for a long time to come. We all paddled as a club, as friends, in one of the, if not the biggest outrigging challenge in the world. Atruly monumental moment in each paddler’s life.
And proud to be a member SOCCIthe oldest club in NSW.
Louis Carroll
Sydney Outrigger Canoe Club
REMINDER TO ALL MEMBERS
ALL personal injuries (big or small) and equipment damage resulting in an insurance claim BOTHneed to be reported to AOCRA via the incident reporting system on line. Some clubs and paddlers have not been completing the incident report for damage to canoes or other club gear. The insurer has been asked to forward all claims to AOCRA so we can confirm a report has been completed.Basically we need ALL injuries reported as well as any damage that needs an insurance claim.
AOCRA have available for all clubs
18 OC1s and 8 OC2s
We would like remind clubs that they can apply to use these canoes for coaching purposes as per the paperwork
Transport costs to and from the AOCRA storage shed at the Sunshine coast are clubs own responsibility, and canoes must be returned minimum of 2 weeks prior to National Sprints.
AOCRA would like to formally thank our National Team sponsors, particularly:-
- Xylobladz
- OC Paddlers & Pogue Sports
- Anaconda Kawana
- Vee Jays Tomatoes
Their support is greatly appreciated
And the organisations that support AOCRA on a continual basis:-
- Qld Department of Sport and Recreation
- Gambling Community Benefit Fund
- OAMPS Insurance Brokers
- Harvie Allison Photography
Over the phone orders can be arrangedTelephone: (07) 5413 5100