Why is yellow, yellow?
I love the Tour de France. It’s one of my favourite times of the year! I am always sad when it’s over, but slightly relived at the same time. My routine is always thrown way out by hours and hours of cycling to try and watch plus the constant reminder to everyone I know “don’t tell me who wins, I haven’t watched it yet”. After all these years my father is finally fully trained to keep quite. He loves to follow Tadej and the boys too and is always a day or two ahead of me!
The yellow jersey is the most prestigious outfit in sport. There just isn’t anything else like it. It dates right back to 1919. That’s a hundred and seven years of yellow leaders’ jerseys! It came about as the Race Director, a man named Henri Desgrange wanted a way for everyone to be able to easily see who was leading his cycling race, and so the yellow jersey was born. The colour choice was inspired by the yellow paper of "L'Auto," the newspaper that founded the Tour de France. Henri Desgrange owned the paper and started the race so he had had something to write about. He needed to turn around their declining circulation and boost low sales after World War I and make some much needed gains against their rival newspaper Le Vélo. Perhaps the most genius idea in sporting history?
Eugène Christophe was the very first cyclist to wear it. Never in his wildest dreams would he have been able to see the jersey becoming the most iconic prize in cycling history. Eugène wasn’t to know that, and he didn’t like it at all. His yellow jersey was a heavy woollen jersey that had to be washed each night ready for the next day’s action. What a hassle! He complained it was itchy, too hot to ride in and people on the street made fun of him and called him a canary. Today the Maillot Jaune is a symbol of the greatest cyclist on earth.
I wanted to do the same thing at our winter kayak series. A yellow bib so everyone knows who the leading paddler is on the water. Now, we are worlds away from TDF status but the idea of being able to see who is in the overall lead has always appealed to me. So this season of winter racing marks the inaugural race for the Topsport Kayaking Pro-am Maillot Jaune.
Let’s start with the Pro Elite Men cause let’s face these guys are insanely fast!!!
To kick the series off we got started back in May at Race One on the Redcliifs Estuary. A flooded river meant we were up for a battle of the K1’s verses the multisport boats.. The course started at the Beachville Road Jetty and headed up the Heathcote to the flood gates before turning round and heading back to where we started. With the tide and wind to consider, then under stern rudder versus multisport rudder line choices were going to be make or break. Liam Lace, Freddie Teear and Liam Rogers all choose to paddle their K1s. It’s no secret that these boys have it all over the multisport paddlers when it comes to flat water. Liam, Freddie and Liam got off to an early lead. Despite having to go the long round in the shallows these boys pulled away and completed the podium. Liam took line honours with Freddie second and Liam third. Race Two was back on the river with 9kms of moving water before a 6km flat water section to finish. Freddie took a dominant win nearly a minute ahead of Ben Keys and Liam Rogers in third. Race Three mixed things up with the course now moving to 20kms on the river, a chance for the multisporters to get back in the mix.
Freddie Teear paddling the TSK Katana 650 is the Overall Race Leader.
Lead changes and different braid choices made for a very exciting race. Sam Manson with his classy river reading skills was able to use these to his advantage meaning the top four men were all within striking distance coming into the final kilometre. It was a sprint finish with Freddie pulling ahead to take a specular win after early braid choices saw him paddling alone and losing ground. Liam Lace was a few seconds back with Ben Keys rounding out the podium and Sam in fourth. Freddie Teear is firmly in yellow going into Race Four with a lead of 3 minutes and 54 seconds over Ben Keys in second with third placed Sam Manson 6minutes and 31 seconds back.
In the Women’s race it has been three from three for our current Coast to Coast champion Rebecca Kingsford. She has yellow firmly on her shoulder. Despite a very unlucky hunk of weed slowing her down considerably in Race One (and a very generous move from Sophie Shallard to unhook it) Rebecca had her first victory. Race Two saw her take another win 1 minute and 18 seconds ahead second place paddler Holly Weston. Race Three and it was Rebecca was once again out in front proving she is the one to beat on the water. Holly Weston had a great paddle to come home second once again. Rebecca now has a 5 minute and 30 second lead over Holly while Kathryn Bunckenburg is sitting in third place overall.
Rebecca Kingsford paddling her Nautique N1 leads the Overall Women.
The Open Men have seen a great battle too. Nick Waters has won all three races. He has had his work cut out for him however as Hugh Tutton continues to get closer and closer each race, just 12 seconds back at Race Three. These two paddled side by side for much of Race Three with Nick edging Hugh out over the final section of the race. Going into Race Four Nick has a 4 minute and 30 second lead. Aaron Elliot is in third place overall.
Nick Waters paddling his Ruahine Firebolt leading the Open Men.
In our Veterans race our overall leaders are sitting with Flavio Vianna and Annabel Harris. Proving consistency is key both our veteran paddlers have had top podium results. Flavio proving too hard to beat on his home course at Race One in Redcliffs with a very convincing win. Podium finishes in Race Two and Three have seen him stay ahead overall in yellow for the final race. Annabel also had a great win in Redcliifs and has maintained her podium finishes to stay the leading in the female race, lucky cause I think her bright green boat goes great with yellow!
Annabel Harris in her Flow Rockstar leads the Veteran Women.
In the Classic class Simon Woods and Karen Urbahn are both solidly in yellow for Race Four as well. The Classic Women has been light in numbers but don’t let that fool you. Karen has been consistently paddling quickly and has taken two wins and a second place from the three races. In the Classic Men there is always a lot of competition. We have a bunch of paddlers who are well into their 60’s. These guys have their own category at the Classic River Race but are stuck racing people a lot younger than them in the short races. It’s insanely impressive! Simon Woods is one of those paddlers. He took a win in Race Two and placed second in Race One. Third in Race Three he also has a firm grasp on the overall title.
Simon Woods in his Flow Rush leads the Classic Men.
The yellow jersey in the Novice race is worn by paddlers all in their first season of paddling. It just so happens to be all about Team Topsport this season!! Race One saw a huge turnout of new paddlers. It was exciting for me to welcome so many of our Grade II Course graduates to the series and even better to see everyone tick off their very first kayak race so successfully! In the women’s race Corine Pontbriand, who completed her Grade II Course in May has demonstrated what huge gains you can make if you get out regularly and paddle. She has gone from fourth place in Race One to taking line honours in Race Three and wearing the yellow jersey! Tasha Mikoz is in second place overall with Courtney Absalom in third. In the Men’s Peter Klaassen and Reuben Jones have each had a turn in yellow. Currently Reuben is in the lead but with a recent shoulder dislocation he may not be on the start line at Race Four. The current standing is Ruben Jones in an overall time of 3 hours and 16 minutes and 10 seconds. Peter is in second on 3 hours 20 minutes 56 seconds with Guy Rutherford in third at 3 hours 36 minutes 48 seconds. So many of our Topsport Novice paddlers have been paddling once a week together with the Topsport crew and the gains have been easy to see!
The stage is set for an exciting grand finale as we close the race series out on Sunday the 16th of August 2025. The race is 20kms on the Waimakariri River from Miners Bank Road to the State Highway One Bridge.
A huge thank you to everyone who has supported the series so far. It has be such exciting racing up front and so many learning opportunities and gains for our new paddlers. The races continue to attract the best bunch of people and I am looking forward to celebrating our fifth birthday next year!
Entries close on Wednesday the 12th of August 2026. We would love to see you there.
https://www.webscorer.com/register?raceid=424942
Katie Cambie - Topsport Kayaking