Jones opens Euro campaign with first top 20 finish

by Jamie Troughton | 29th June 2009

Tauranga Olympian Luuka Jones produced the best performance of her kayaking career in the first whitewater slalom World Cup of the year.

Jones recorded a stunning first run in the brand new Stade D'Eaux Vives whitewater centre in Pau, Southern France over the weekend to qualify for the semifinals in 10th spot.

Her 109.25sec combined time included a 2sec penalty for a touch, and while she had two more touches in the semifinals to eventually finish 19th, Jones was delighted with her efforts.

"I can't believe it - this has never happened to me," a jubilant Jones said.

Her previous best at a world cup was 28th last year, before she became the first New Zealand female whitewater kayaker to attend an Olympics.

Former Otumoetai College student Jones, who is in the kayak squad at the Waiariki Institute of Technology in Rotorua, has spent the past six months training on the Kaituna River and that work has been paying off.

Her fellow Tauranga paddler Mike Dawson didn't fare so well, however, in his first slalom event after a month of competing in various extreme races across Europe and the United States.

The 22-year-old captured a creeking title at the Teva Mountain Games in Colorado and finished second at the European Teva Games in Italy, but found the Pau slalom course tricky in comparison.

Dawson picked up three touch penalties to finish his first two runs in 101.67secs, his 46th placing well outside the top-20 who made the semifinal.

The New Zealand junior team also competed at the World Cup, with both Tauranga Girls' College paddler Jane Nicholas (40th, K1 women) and Tauranga Boys' Callum Gibb (63rd, K1 men) missing gates and picking up touches.

The junior team has a training camp with a French coach this week before heading to Augsberg in Germany for the third world cup of the series, with manager Sue Clarke happy with how her troops are progressing.

"It was a huge step up for them but they represented themselves well and benefited hugely from the experience," Clarke said. "It is tough to race in your first world cup as a junior with all the hype of TV cameras and lining up by Olympic stars."

The senior paddlers, meanwhile, face a gruelling 24hr drive to the next world cup of the year in the Slovakian city of Bratislava this weekend.