Local kayakers win gold at state championships!
Canoeing WA State Flatwater Championships were held at ChampionLakes on Saturday 19 February and three local paddlers, who are members of the Champion Lakes Boating Club, won gold medals. Samantha Thomason, 16 years old, from Armadale and who attends KelmscottSenior High School won gold in the K1 200m, K2 200m and K2 500m classes. Samantha is a very dedicated paddler and trains 6 mornings a week. Daniel Bowen and Jack Cappendell, both 10 years old and from Darling Downs, paddled together to take out the under 12 doubles 200m and 500m titles. Individually Samantha, Jack and Daniel won either bronze or silver in all their other classes. Jack and Daniel have only been paddling since October but have really taken to the sport. They have made rapid progress under the expert eye of their coach, ex-ArmadaleSenior High School student, Taitiana Brown, who trains the boys twice a week. Jack and Daniel are best friends, live next door and are very similar in ability! The friendly rivalry between them spurs them on to keep improving their performance. However, when they are paddling as a double this all disappears as they work together. Their classes are all Olympic events, so who knows what the future will hold!
