Kings rule the waves

The Crown Beach Kings oe vaka crew have set the tone for Vaka Eiva 2010 with three podium finishes in Saturday’s 18km men’s Iron race.

In conditions that can only be described as brutal – 30 open men paddlers pushed their way to Avana in three metre seas and howling 25 knot winds.

The conditions proved too much for some paddlers but local boy Reuben Dearlove lead the way in his V1 canoe towards the Avana point.

Close behind him on the uphill leg was big Todd Cohen of the Crown Beach Kings who muscled his way through the 3 metre waves to overtake Dearlove and take the turnaround first.

Cohen and Dearlove then put on a spectacular show of surfing as they flew home.

Dearlove showed his surfing class in his home waters extending his lead over third place -getter Tapa Worthington of the Crown Beach Kings.

Worthington had a hard slog on the uphill run and he too showed his surfing class to get back in the field on the homeward leg to take second place and stand on the podium next to Crown Beach Kings team mates Todd Cohen and Rob Pomie.

Cohen won the race in a time of 1:36:00 followed four minutes later by Dearlove in a V1 canoe with a time of 1:40:33.

Earlier in the day and in less turbulent conditions – the master men and under 19 men were the first to battle the testing conditions.

Outrigger Australia’s Chris Maynard showed his class to blitz the field and take out the race and win the master men’s OC1 division with Team Toru’s Tonga White taking out second in the OC1 division.

Te Tupu O Te Manava paddlers Roland Maru and Tamati Iro won the under 19 men’s 12km OC1 division in a time of 1:27:57 and 2:01:11 respectively.

Saturday’s race has highlighted that the local clubs and the Australian Crown Beach Kings are the teams to watch this week.