Dearlove starts at back of pack

Reuben Dearlove will start with an 11 minute, 30 second handicap in today’s canoeing time trial final, setting off as the last paddler in a field of up to 20 people. Andre Tutaka-George and Josh Burrell, Dearlove’s closest rivals, will have almost two minutes head start on Dearlove in the final.

The times given in the handicap are based on the differentials recorded over the races leading to this week.

”Don’t think about it in terms of how many times you have been in front or behind someone in a race as it depends on the difference to the winner of the race,“ Cook Islands Canoeing Association’s Gail Townsend said.

”All differentials have been calculated and outliers removed. Remaining differentials are averaged and a multiplier of 0.7 applied. For people who had not done the required number of races, I have still calculated their differentials but then applied a time penalty.“ Paddlers competing in today’s final are asked to be ready by 4.40pm at the latest in order to make registration.

Anyone not included in the list who is wishing to race is asked to get in touch with Townsend before lunch today to have a time allocated.