The team couldnt have been more elated than during todays Mens K2 1000m race the final event available to qualify boats for the Olympics. In the Olympic qualification race, the New Zealand crew of Darryl Fitzgerald and Steven Ferguson controlled the race from the start, earning a convincing win by at least five boats lengths. This tops off the New Zealand qualification campaign with all of the hoped-for 7 seats qualifying successfully and now focus is on selections. New Zealand Canoe Federation now has to nominate athletes for the boats seats for the New Zealand Olympic Committee for selections. Unfortunately the weed continued to plague the championship - so much so that the coaches, managers and athletes took to the water in kayaks to help clean up the lake. In the Oceania champs the women were first up in the K2 500. New Zealand qualified all three boats into the final with a very close race at the front. The first three places were separated by less than a second. The combination of Lisa Carrington and Erin Taylor won this close race showing their form after some hard racing during the weekend. Unfortunately Marianne Archer and Teneale Hatton finished 4th having snagged a large pile of weed on the way down the course. Rachel Dodwell and Jamiee Lovett finished 7th. The Mens K2 1000 final (Steven Ferguson and Darryl Fitzgerald already having gained the Olympic seats in previous race) was a high pressure race within a race as Steven Ferguson / Darryl Fitzgerald, Fred Teear / Ben Fouhy and Liam OLoughlin / Troy Burbidge all battled for top honours. The race was won by a small margin by Australia with the Teear/Fouhy combination being 2nd overall and first Kiwi followed closely by OLoughlin/Burbidge in 3rd and unfortunately the Fitzgerald/Ferguson combination were snagged by weed midway down the course and finished 6th. The New Zealand Olympic Committee is looking forward to recieving the nominations from Canoe Racing.
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