Royal Family takes Worthington trophy

The combined strength and talent of Australian Crown Beach Kings and Belles oe vaka crew was just too hot to handle, and the crew took out yesterdays Bob Worthington Memorial Trophy for the mixed Round Raro Relay in a time of 2:54:52.

The crew who paddled under the fitting name of the Crown Beach Royal Family were far ahead of the rest of the pack right from the start of the race. Their closest rivals in the open division Rogz for Dogs, also from Australia, crossed the line 23 minutes after the Royal Family in a time of 3:17:34.

The finishing Royal Family crew was all female save for steerer Travis Grant who directed the crew into the Avarua harbour and across the line.

The team was so relaxed that spectators guessed they could have gone another round around Rarotonga and probably beat some of the crews at the back of the pack.

The win tops off a stellar performance by the Australians this week.

After sharing hugs and obligatory team photos the crew sucked down a couple of nu before heading back to the bar for a well earned cold one or three.

In the open mixed division third place was taken out by yet another Aussie crew, the Patterson Lakes team who finished in 2:24:27.

In the masters mixed round Raro division New Zealand team Manuz and Jemimaz took the glory finishing the round island race in 3:02:55 placing second overall in the race with overall 3rd place getter and second placed master team Aotearoa Natives finishing in 3:04:18.