1. Race day Change of format: to cater for growth, event management, safety and participation pathway development.
Tuesday racing: Midgets, Intermediates & J16
Wednesday racing: Midgets, Intermediates & J16
Thursday racing: All Senior and Junior W1 racing
Friday racing: J19 and Senior W6 and W12 Racing
Saturday racing: J19 and Senior W6 racing
The decision for the format change has been based on feedback received in our National Sprints survey, feedback from regions and members and covers the following rationale;
• Day 1 and 2 of nationals are too long. At this years event (2012) we reached absolute capacity of junior race events on the Tuesday and Wednesday.
• There is no room for error or weather – If we had fog on Day 1 like we had on Day 3 this year we would never have completed the days racing. For a major event of this size we must take every factor into account with regard to contingency planning.
• The growth in our sports numbers are taking place at junior levels. 2011 = 740 junior teams, 2012 = 812 junior teams. We anticipate further growth in 2013 of another 40 to 50 teams.
• We cannot continue to squeeze all the junior races into 2 days.
• We pride ourselves on the sport being a whanau sport and promote this as a unique point of difference. But we separate the juniors and the seniors so that they are almost 2 separate events. Many of the adults that take part on Friday and Saturday have none or little interaction with juniors.
• Volunteers are a valued commodity and long 12 hours days are not good for healthy working environments. The event should be enjoyable for everyone (including those behind the scenes). This is very important for volunteer retention and succession planning.
This change will have the following benefits:
• The number of races will be more even across the whole week.
• We will be able to manage future growth even better.
• The J19 will get to watch the senior paddlers and vice versa creating a better pathway for development.
• There will be a bigger crowd across the whole week and a more consistent atmosphere.
2. Addition of a Regional W12 Race:
1 x Men’s W12 race
1 x Women’s W12 race
Each region can enter 1 team each. Total 6 teams in each race
The team can be made up of any age paddlers (J16 upwards) from that region. The region can choose how the paddlers are selected, the region to form the fastest W12 crew that the region can muster.
No medals will be awarded for the event, A trophy will be awarded to the winning region in each race.
Rationale:
This will be a similar format to the Rio World Elite Championship- Where countries will be allowed to enter 1 x W12 team per country.
By introducing this as an event at our nationals it will enable us to gear up towards Rio.
It will also further enable regions to create identity and set goals.
3. PARA –V1 and V6 event
With the Rio Paralympics only 4 years away, we must start our para program.
As part of a ‘Para-Canoe’ plan with Canoe Racing NZ, we will be organising a series of have a go days for people to try V1 – The first of these will be in November in Hamilton
We have offered Para-V1 as an entry / category at the last 2 nationals but no one has entered. We will be encouraging this more this year as well as a Para V6 event.
4. The V1 250m Dash!
Introduced as an exhibition race on the Friday or Saturday of Nationals
Open category and J19 category
Each region can enter 2 paddlers in each category
We will split the lanes so we will have 12 paddlers compete in one race.
Straight final
1 race for men (2 paddlers per region)
1 race for women (2 paddlers per region)
1 race for J19 Men (2 paddlers per region)
1 race for J19 women (2 paddlers per region)
Rationale:
IVF may introduce the 250m as a distance into the Elite World Championship inline with the shorter Olympic Canoe Distance.
If this is to be introduced then we as a country should start sooner before other countries and trial it.
It will be an exciting addition to our event
It will be very exciting for spectators
It will give us the opportunity to trial the concept of half lanes as were used in Calgary.
A sprint over that distance will decide the fastest man and woman on the water.
PANUI 1 for Nationals will be out at the end of September and online entries will open on 1st October. Please contact
[email protected] with any queries.