Busselton young guns ready to compete at Australian National Sprint Kayaking Championships this weekend

Keen Busselton paddlers are taking to the water in Perth this weekend for the Australian National Sprint Kayaking Championships. The Geographe Bay Paddling Club will head to the Champion Lakes location over six days for the nationals, the club’s 60 members set to compete across different age divisions. Club coach Beau Lewis, a former national champion paddler himself, praised the high level of talent his team would be bringing to the competition, saying club members couldn’t wait to “give it their all”. “There’s some real talent down here and it’s great these kids are getting the opportunity to compete and get on the water in that competitive environment,” Lewis said. “They’ve competed in five sprint regattas across the season, along with the State championships and did really well, which is awesome considering some of them had only been in a kayak for a couple of weeks. We have paddling clubs in Busselton and Margaret River and are hoping to start another club up soon in Dunsborough, so hopefully we can raise a bit more awareness and get some more kids involved in the sort.” Finn Caruana, competing in the U16 male division, said he was looking forward to the event. “Experiencing high-level competition against the best paddlers in the country and the atmosphere of competing on the big stage,” he said. Sophie Dickson, who will be competing in the U14 female division said she was eagerly awaiting “meeting and competing against good paddlers from around Australia,” while teammate Jett Lewis, competing in the U12 male division, looks forward to “racing hard and hopefully winning some medals.”