Port Macquarie’s Outrigger Paddlers will travel to Newcastle this weekend to begin their defence of the NSW open mixed point score title.
Eighteen paddlers from the Port Macquarie Maroro Outrigger Club will compete in the “Pasha Dasha’ Grand Prix, consisting of a sprint race and a 17km changes event from Horseshoe Beach.
After more than three months of pre-season training, coach Lincoln Beddoe said his charges were ready to race.
“This regatta has quite a unique format requiring a number of skills, including turns and changes, so our recent training has focused on executing those skills well,” Beddoe said.
“Most of our paddlers have been training fairly solidly since October, so our conditioning should be pretty good.
“I think we’re all just looking forward now to getting on the water and testing ourselves against the best crews in NSW.”
Beddoe said he was particularly looking forward to seeing the club’s new recruits perform in their first race.
“We’ve been very fortunate during the pre-season to pick up a number of enthusiastic new paddlers and they have slotted into training extremely well,” he said.
“Two of those recruits – Warren Ryan and Jason Doyle – will be making their racing debut for the club and I’m looking forward to seeing how they go.
“I’ve been very impressed by their work so far and have no doubt they will take enormous benefit from their first race experience.”
The Maroro club’s consistency in 2010/11 saw it claim the open mixed NSW point score crown ahead of clubs from Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong and the NSW South and Central coasts.
However, Port Macquarie will have to defend its title without senior coach Mick Wilson, who is expected to miss the season with an ongoing shoulder complaint.
