Multisport athlete Bailee Stratton believes the New Zealand Virtual Championships offers a great competitive opportunity to hone her surf ski skills after clocking 1:01:22 to move into third spot in a tightly-contested women’s surf ski division.

Waka ama star Tupu King will continue his transition into the world of surf ski and kayak paddling as he plans to compete at both the Heads to Harbour race – which doubles as the New Zealand Surf Ski Champs – and at the New Zealand Kayak Marathon Champs next month.

World Marathon K2 masters (M45-49) champions Garth Spencer and Vaughan Reed produced one of the performances of the weekend at the New Zealand Virtual Paddling Championships, registering a super sharp time of 50:12 in the K2 boat.

The fact that the 2021 New Zealand Virtual Paddling Championships is not just about the elite paddlers is perhaps best exemplified by the efforts of Mandy Heim.

CRNZ has spent a considerable amount of time evaluating the current risk of travel against the potential of athletes to perform or qualify an Olympic/Paralympic quota spot at the ICF World Cup 1, 2, Olympic Qualifier and Paralympic Qualifier in May.

The 2021 New Zealand Virtual Paddling Championships stepped up a notch during its first full weekend of action as Kiwi Travis Mitchell briefly took over the overall lead in the surf ski division with a time of 56:36 – only to be dislodged a few hours later by Daniel Peacocke (56:24).

Versatile Tara Smith, the early pacesetter in the women’s K1 division at the New Zealand Virtual Paddling Championships, believes the month-long event offers a great opportunity for paddlers of all standards to get involved.

Following the Government announcement that the Auckland region is currently back at an Alert Level 3 and that the rest of New Zealand is at an Alert Level 2, unfortunately means a return to paddling restrictions. A reminder of what those restrictions are see below.

The 2021 New Zealand Virtual Paddling Championships is open for business throughout the entire month of March and times can be officially logged from Monday (March 1). So to whet the appetite for the exciting new event, we give you ten good reasons why you should get involved.

Toby Brooke and Tara Smith enjoyed a memorable weekend of racing in Tasman Bay to take out the King and Queen of the Bay titles, respectively, before the following day securing the South Island Surf Ski titles.

Despite the understandable disappointment at the postponement of the 2021 NZCT New Zealand Canoe Sprint Championships, which was scheduled to have started today (Friday), the kayaking community has rallied to show great initiative and make the most of a challenging scenario.

Following the recent announcement of the postponement of the 2021 National Championship, CRNZ coach Tim Brabants puts the spotlight on peaking for specific competitions.