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Results - 2008 Alcatraz "Round the Rock Challenge"
On Friday afternoon 3 womens teams - Tahi Ferns (Master Women), SolutioNZ (Senior Master Women) and Va'a Ferns (Master Women) along with Rob (aka Tim) and Lara, headed down to San Francisco to compete in the 2008 Alcatraz "Round the Rock Challenge".
After finally getting our convoy on the road we hit the freeway and tried hard to stay together....although a couple of wrong turns saw Ariane take on 3 lanes of oncoming traffic and then the Tahi Ferns got lost in Oakland - a town with a reputation for being one of the toughest in San Francicso. Needless to say they met some locals and were charmed by them and their gold grilled teeth!
When we finally made it to San Fran...we met up with Lesley Brown....who was helping to organise the race and had a;so offered along with her parents and a local club member to host all 21 of us for the night. 10 of us drove across the Golden Gate bridge and paddled 2 canoes across the bay for the organisers.
A great experience, given the wind, tide and current! what a spectacular way to spend a beautiful Friday evening in San Fran...paddling next to the Gold gate bridge across the San Francisco Bay!! It doesn't get much better.
We all then piled back in the vans and headed across the Bridge to a fun restaurant called Wipe Out , we all had huge feeds, enjoyed getting to know our hosts and even managed to fit in a few wataita.
Saturday morning we all headed back to Chrissy Field where the Race was starting from. The Bay area was filled with Fog, Golden Gate Bridge was out of sight and there was not a breath of wind. The womens long course race around Alcatraz was first and Lara Steered for an all comers crew from California. Rob paddled for a Mixed crew and won!
Then the Womens Short course race was next and the 3 women's teams from Aotearoa showed great kaha by finished 1st (SolutioNZ), 2nd (Tahi Ferns) and 3rd (Va'a Ferns) out of about 25 crews! A fabulous result to top off was proved to be a once in a life time experience for everyone!
The smiles on everyone faces just made the sun shine even brighter over San Francisco on Saturday. What an day to be treasured. Even got a medal, meet some awesome people, got to see fantastic sites, and paddled our hearts out. That is what the sport is all about!
Headed back up to Sacramento Saturday afternoon...via an outlet mall of course to do a spot of shopping. All smiles and laughs and starting to focus on what is going to be a great week if the San Fran experience is anything to go by.
Thanks to Cheance, Lesley, Nicole and Nancy for organsing everything for us.
When we finally made it to San Fran...we met up with Lesley Brown....who was helping to organise the race and had a;so offered along with her parents and a local club member to host all 21 of us for the night. 10 of us drove across the Golden Gate bridge and paddled 2 canoes across the bay for the organisers.
A great experience, given the wind, tide and current! what a spectacular way to spend a beautiful Friday evening in San Fran...paddling next to the Gold gate bridge across the San Francisco Bay!! It doesn't get much better.
We all then piled back in the vans and headed across the Bridge to a fun restaurant called Wipe Out , we all had huge feeds, enjoyed getting to know our hosts and even managed to fit in a few wataita.
Saturday morning we all headed back to Chrissy Field where the Race was starting from. The Bay area was filled with Fog, Golden Gate Bridge was out of sight and there was not a breath of wind. The womens long course race around Alcatraz was first and Lara Steered for an all comers crew from California. Rob paddled for a Mixed crew and won!
Then the Womens Short course race was next and the 3 women's teams from Aotearoa showed great kaha by finished 1st (SolutioNZ), 2nd (Tahi Ferns) and 3rd (Va'a Ferns) out of about 25 crews! A fabulous result to top off was proved to be a once in a life time experience for everyone!
The smiles on everyone faces just made the sun shine even brighter over San Francisco on Saturday. What an day to be treasured. Even got a medal, meet some awesome people, got to see fantastic sites, and paddled our hearts out. That is what the sport is all about!
Headed back up to Sacramento Saturday afternoon...via an outlet mall of course to do a spot of shopping. All smiles and laughs and starting to focus on what is going to be a great week if the San Fran experience is anything to go by.
Thanks to Cheance, Lesley, Nicole and Nancy for organsing everything for us.
