Crew takes home gold glory

The star ladies from Capricorn are Julie Trueman, Stephanie Buckley, Paulette Hender-Crofts, Leslie Hoyse, Theresa Tucker and Anita Taylor.

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WHEN crews in their outrigger canoes are racing in competition they make it all look so easy, but it takes a lot of hard training to look that good on the water.

That is what the Capricorn Coast Outriggers do and their hard work paid off recently when three crews from the club achieved great results at a regatta at Airlie Beach.

Twelve kilometres is a long distance when walking never mind when paddling a canoe, but the men’s aster crew not only completed that distance, but succeeded in getting their boat home first.

For one of the crew the win was a special achievement.

Dave Morgan was competing at his first regatta and to cap off his effort it was also the first gold medal he had won.

The medal-winning Capricorn Coast Men’s Masters crew consisted of Fred Trueman, Phil Timperon, John Wellspring, Gordon Salway, John Hoyes, and David Morgan.

Not only did the crew show their ability in the endurance event, they backed up to finish runner-up in the 1km sprint.

While the masters crew had, in Morgan, one new member, the regatta turned out to be a great initiation into outrigging for three new members of the club’s master women crew.

The new paddlers were very successful, winning a bronze in the 1km sprint.

The crew of Julie Trueman, Stephanie Buckley, Paulette Hender-Crofts, Leslie Hoyse, Theresa Tucker and Anita Taylor also went well in the women’s 12km marathon.

However, in that event they were unfortunate to miss out on a medal, but only by a narrow margin.

The senior master women also got into winning ways as they battled to a silver medal in the 12km marathon and then collected the same colour in the 1km sprint.

Spokeswoman Alison Salway said it was a great result for Capricorn Coast Outriggers and well worth the challenging drive through flooded creeks to get there.

The regatta was raced in bad weather with crews and supporters sitting in pouring rain all weekend.

The outriggers season continues with the Capricorn Coast Outriggers set to travel north once again.

On March 27 to 28 the club will be at Mackay.

Travelling members are hoping for fine weather to assist them on another medal hunt.