CURRUMBIN CREEK KICKS at the 2010 Olympic Hopes
Gabi Tobitt, Joel McKitterick, Jordan Clark, Daniel Ross, Rebecca Degnian, Kristy Mitchell, Josh Crouch and Jordan Wood return from Europe as members of Australia’s most successful Olympic Hopes Canoe/KayakTeam. The tour consisted of a week’s training and jet-lag compensation at Kienbaum in Germany followed by three days of specific preparation leading into the three day OH Regatta in Piestany, Slovakia.
Joel overcame a disrupted preparation paddling a smart race and producing the now famous Kenny Wallace "Currumbin Creek Kick" blistering finish to gain the bronze medal in his K1 1000m. Gabi fought her way to four finals K1 200m, 500m and 1000m and K2 500m with a top 6th place in the K1 1000.
Daniel and Jordan Wood featured in the K2 200m and 500m finals with a best place 7th and missed a start in the K2 1000m final by only 7/10th of a second. Jordan progressed to the K1 200m semi-final and Daniel missed advancing to the semi by 5/10th after a technical problem at the start. Both were racing K1 up in an older age group.
Jordan Clark progressed to four semi-finals in K1 200m and 1000m, K2 500m and K4 1000m events. Josh was in the K4 200m which narrowly missed a finals berth, the K1 1000m and K2 1000m semi-finals and placed 4th in his K2 500 semi needing to be 3rd to progress to the final.
Kristy was 25/100th away from qualifying for the K2 200m final, raced well to make the K2 1000m final and was 7th in the K2 500m semi-final. Rebecca paired with Kristy in the 15-16 years K2 500, made the K2 200 final paddling with Eliza in the 17 years division and was in the K4 500m.
Currumbin athletes helped Australia to an impressive 5th place ranking of the 22 competing nations. They now look forward to racing well in the coming kayak season and gaining selection on the 2011 Australian Team.
Our Olympic Hopes results top off a fantastic season for Currumbin Creek after earlier being ranked Australia’s Number 1 Sprint Club, Heleena Ethell’s selection on the Junior European Tour Team and Dane Wilkinson the Australian U23 Team, senior paddler Joel Simpson racing at two World Cup Regattas, Bernadette Wallace placing 4th in the World Championships K1 5000m and also racing in the K4, and Kenny World Champion K1 5000m and 6th in both K1 1000m and K1 500m following his Beijing Olympic Gold and Bronze medals a year earlier.
CURRUMBIN CREEK KICKS – who’s next?
John Newton
Head Coach 2010 Australia OH Team
