Max Brown and Kurtis Imrie | Image Credit: Georgia Schofield
Tokyo-bound paddlers Max Brown and Kurtis Imrie enjoyed a day of perfect preparation in their Olympic quest by starring
as the headline performers on day one of the NZCT New Zealand Canoe Sprint Championships at a sun-drenched Lake
Karapiro.
Brown and Imrie – who are selected for the K2 1000m in Japan – secured gold and silver in a titanic tussle in the open
men’s K1 1000m A Final before the pair united in their specialist event to clinch gold and crown a successful day.
The open men’s K1 1000m promised to be one of the races of the regatta and it more than lived up to expectations with a
classic three-way battle.
Max Brown made his trademark aggressive start off the start line but by midway little could separate the Whanganui
paddler, Kurtis Imrie and Quaid Thompson, the 2019 national champion, as the trio seized control of the race.
However, drawing from his rich endurance reserves, Brown slowly edged clear of the opposition in the final 250m and
despite a late burst of acceleration from Imrie, Brown stood firm to win by 0.62 in a time of 3:33.96. Thompson of the
Poverty Bay club also produced a good performance to take bronze in 3:35.48 with 35-year-old veteran Fred Teear (Arawa)
back in fourth (3:39.42).
“I’ve a bit emotional, I’ve only ever won gold medals in team boats at nationals, so it is quite special for me to win
my first individual title,” adds Brown. “I always feel like I add lots of value in the crew boats, but it is cool to win
the single.
“The race went perfectly. The sun was directly in my eyes and I couldn’t see anything the whole race. I had to go purely
off feeling and pacing, which is something I’ve been trying to do more. I tend to go out too hard, so I’ve been looking
to be more consistent. I got to 200m to go, and thought; I am going to win this. It was lovely.”
Brown and Imrie later combined to bring the curtain down on the day one action with an outstanding performance in the K2
1000m final.
The duo were challenged for the first half of the race by CRNZ training partners Ben Duffy and Hamish Legarth but simply
proved too strong in the second half of the race to accelerate to victory in a slick 3:19.15. Legarth and Duffy, who had
defeated Brown and Imrie at Blue Lake 2 in December, produced a quality display but had to settle for silver (3:27:45).
What should not go unrecognised was the quality performance delivered by two-time World Championship para-canoeist
medallist Scott Martlew, who alongside Ben McCallum secured a brilliant bronze in 3:34.14.
Imrie was delighted with his and Brown’s all-round efforts today, which puts them in prime position in the countdown to
the Tokyo Olympics.
“I’m pretty happy with how the day has gone,” he explains. “Max got me (in the K1 1000m) but I’m over the moon for him.
Looking at my (K1) race I probably executed my best race in a long time. The K2 was a quality field, so I’m pretty happy
come away with it. We have good fitness going into the Games, so we can’t ask for anything better.
Aimee Fisher claimed her first national individual title for four years with a dominant display in the open women’s K1
500m final. The Hawkes Bay paddler and three-time World Championships representative quickly opened up a gap on the
field and stopped the clock in 1:49.62 to secure gold.Aimee Fisher | Image Credit: Georgia Schofield
Behind, a field of young, promising largely U23 paddlers was led by Lucy Matehaere (Otago) who secured silver in 2:01.08
– 0.77 clear of the fast-finishing Emma Kemp (Mana), who grabbed bronze.
“It was a really good race,” said Fisher. “We were missing a couple of key players (with Lisa Carrington, Caitlin Ryan
and other elite women taking part in the K4 Olympic Trials this week) but I just went out there with the goal of wanting
to paddle beautifully. I’ve been working really hard on a few technical elements. I was trying to chase art out on the
water and light up my lane and I felt like I managed to do that today.”
The action continues tomorrow at Lake Karapiro from 11am. The highlight of Saturday will be a keenly contested battle in
the open’s men’s K1 500m.