OUTRIGGING
Sunset Bay paddlers made the journey to Townsville over the weekend of June 19–20 to compete in Round 3 of the North Queensland Zone Grand Prix, tackling events ranging from 500m sprints and 8km marathons to a gruelling 41km changeover marathon.
To say the club returned on cloud nine is an understatement — they came home with a carload of medals and even bigger smiles.
Coaches Scotty Macgroaty and Justin Davies made the most of the weekend’s event line-up, giving all 24+ paddlers the opportunity to compete across multiple divisions.
It’s hard to single out just one race or crew, as the standouts were many. But few could miss the beaming faces of the Senior Master Men’s crew, who hadn’t fielded a competitive team in more than five years. From Race number 1, they made their mark — taking gold in both the 500m sprint and the 8km marathon.
As conditions worsened throughout the day with rising winds and swell, Sunset Bay paddlers dug deep. The OC1 and OC2 events saw the club collect a further swag of medals across multiple age divisions.
Sunday’s feature was the iconic 41km Magnetic Island changeover marathon. Sunset Bay fielded two full crews of 10 paddlers. Unfortunately, one crew suffered a major setback after a support boat damaged their canoe during the first changeover on Magnetic Island. The vessel had to be patched up with duct tape just to return to the mainland.
The mishap fuelled the second crew’s determination, and they powered ahead to claim gold in the Golden Master Mixed division with an impressive time of 4 hours and 21 minutes, finishing 17th overall out of 30 teams.
Come and Try Days will be available soon — stay up to date with Sunset Bay on Facebook for further details.
Sunset Bay paddlers returned from the North Queensland Grand Prix in Townsville with a swag of medals, standout performances, and golden memories. Photos supplied
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