The Topsport Kayaking Pro-Am Winter Series

Three years in and this race series is certainly heating up the winter training. Thank you so much to the few hundred paddlers who have join us over the past three years. Race Two on Sunday saw our biggest field compete in this event so far. It was a very rewarding feeling walking away knowing so many paddlers had been out on the river racing and leaning new skills. It has been a lot of hard work behind the scenes learning how to run the event smoothly. From the timing and registration through to river safety, our team have been fine running it all to make sure we can deliver a safe and professionally run event. I am really proud of what we have achieved in getting this off the ground, from sitting around in the office talking about it to making it a reality was a pretty big job. It was all worth it this year to see the event so well supported, and having Sam step in as Race Director was the icing on the cake for me.

Introducing the Pro-Am Pro Male Field

Huh? Race Three in the Topsport Kayaking Pro-Am Winter Series will see the introduction of the Pro-Am Pro Male Category. Why? Well to put it simply the old guys aren’t going any slower! In Race Two this year we saw six male paddlers in the top ten from the Vet and Classic Categories. It’s no secret we love racing at Topsport and whilst our goal with these races is to support our new paddlers and introduce them to the world of river paddling, we also want to see a hard competitive race for our experienced paddlers. The introduction of this category will give all the top men an opportunity to start in the first wave with a clean river and plenty of competition! How will it work? This class is limited to just 20 paddlers. Anyone can enter the Pro-Am Pro Male Category however it will be at the Race Directors discretion if you are accepted or not. The idea of this class is to have our fastest male paddlers from across the category’s line up together. If you are not accepted into this category you will remain in your age category. No one is forced into this class. If you want to remain in your age category that is just fine.

No girls? Yes that’s right this field is only for the men. I (Kate) have made this decision purely on a numbers basis. To put it simply we do not have a big enough field of women competing across the Open, Vet and Classic classes in this event to see the addition of an extra class. If the new male class is a success and we stick with it, a female class will be introduced when numbers across these categories increase. 

For full details on this race series see www.topsportracing.co.nz