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Canterbury Champs was shortened to a one day event this year due to weather and sea conditions on Saturday. Unfortunately this meant that the Masters events were canned due tolack of time, and the tube rescue and board rescue events for all age groups were also cancelled. Many athletes had to choose between events as the officials were not holdingraces. The whole event was run in a bit of a hurry and it was hard to keep up. Thanks to Mike and Malcolm who helped manage the day.

Special mention must go to Liam O'Loughlin who was 2nd= for Competitor of the Championship, with Megan Brooker and Peter Rattray placing 4th=. Congratulatiuons! 

Megan Brooker - Ironwoman Champion

Of the many highlights from the weekend, a few in particular stood out to me:the Open Mens Ironman with Taylors coming in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. The Open Mens Taplin Team, utilsing the skills and experience of Simon Davis, and the young enthusiastic Tom Mouldey, placing first. Megan Brooker winning the Open Womens ski final, beating Rochelle Creighton who came off her ski. The U16 Womens Beach Relay, winning the title quite comfortably. Harry Jones also winning the U16 Mens Beach Sprint with ease - well it looked easy anyway! Ben Phillips winning the Open Mens Board race. Pete winning the Run swim Run. The many great double ski results - awesome stuff there.

Worth mentioning: The girls canoe team managing to complete their races successfully in difficult conditions. With more training the medals should start flowing in.The boys canoe team pulling their crew together and picking up two bronze medals much to the Taylors girls crew's frustration, because they are the ones who had actually done the training! The U19 mens Taplin Team of Isaac, Tom and Sam Callon, who were cajoled into racing, and then managed to pick up bronze medals!

Not so flash: the U16 Mens Beach relay team who were the only team entered in the final, and they still managed to miss out on gold, by getting disqualified!!!!The difficult conditions which saw many upsets and errors occur and the poor people who had to go straight from one race to the next still trying to get their breath back. The Masters events being canned, left our 14 Masters very disappointed. Richard Harcourt and Ian Rae had been training hard for the event and had even trained and passed their surf awards days before the competition so that they would be allowed to race. Sorry that you weren't able to race - but at least we're organised for next season.

All in all it was a great day. Congratulations to all the participants.