Citroen Extreme Race! NZ Extreme Series wrap up

The last few weeks have kept me really busy with a lot of kayak instruction work, University work back on the cards, morning surf sessions and an incredible weekend in Queenstown. Jamie Sutton, Kenny Mutton, Ryan Lucas, Willz Martin and I boosted to Auckland Friday night and camped out in the van before flying bright and early Saturday morning down to NZ's adventure capital- Queenstown! The 3rd and final event in the NZ Extreme Race series and the prime event- Citroen Extreme Race is a must make event with very exciting rapids that make for an awesome event and unpredictable racing. Our Okere Massive crew all arrived feeling pretty tired but we were fired up for a good day of racing. Air New Zealand were extremely helpful and awesome to deal with, even though they did manage to leave 3 of our kayaks and gear in Auckland...this left me with a bikini and shorts and no warm gear for the icy Kawerau river waters. Fortunately the Southern Island is full of absolute legends and I was fortunate to have Sara- Jane Luoni, the Bailey Family and Dyl lend me a kayak and some gear for the day!
With 8 woman on the startline the womans line-up was a lot better then last year, stoked! There were also 37 in a strong mens field fighting for the overall title.
I won my first two heats quite comfortably and was feeling good for the final, I was fired up to take home the gold! I decided I would hit the 50/50 hard but fast left line for the final in an attempt to style my way down to a win...unfortunately I got pushed into the hard left eddie however and this lost me a lot of time and cost me the race as all the other chicks in the final went the safe right line. Gutted, but all good. I still took out the NZ Extreme Race Series in the Woman's field and have defended my National Title! Racing in all three events was a lot of fun and I was stoked with how it all went.
The Men's racing was a lot tighter and especially with 4 of the top ranked men racing off for the title at the Citroen Race!!!With Jamie Sutton and Kenny Mutton in the final it was wicked to watch!!! Totally Stoked for Jamie who took the gold in the end and secured his 2nd Citroen Race win and the NZ Extreme Race Mens winner!
Weekend was toped with a Simon Davidson memorial mass start race down the mighty Nevis Bluff rapids! 14 men and myself. Dylan Thompson took the win...I took the most downtime and swimmer award!!! Sick!
Epic weekend. Now waiting in Queenstown airport with Ryan, Jamie S and Ricketts for our flights back to the North!
Photo credit- Ant Longman, Cumec Magazine.