The 2021 Triple Crown kicked off with an entirely new event – a paddleboarding orienteering event around the scenic Lake Manuwai, with paddlers having to collect tokens from locations around the lake. Although the fastest paddlers still dominated, the element of tactics plus a little bit of luck changed the order up a bit, and allowed a few folk not normally on the podium to shine.
 
Sunday and Monday were both defined by wet and windy weather, allowing for a couple of great downwinders to be run. Sunday’s event was a good ‘warm up’ downwinder, a 6km run from Aroha Island up the Kerikeri inlet to the Stone Store, with a solid NE wind pushing the fleet along.  Monday’s event took it a stage further, with a 9km run all the way up the inlet from Opito Bay, aided by some solid runners and a punchy Easterly breeze.

So a bit of a downwinding theme for the event.  After three great days of racing, 26 racers completed all three events and their combined totals set the overall results as follows. Great to see so many people at the event, and looking forward already to next year!

1 Fergus Dunlop 1st Youth Class Male
2 Matt Anderson 1st Open Class Male
3 Jordan Zagonel 2nd Open Class Male
4 Mike Pirritt 3rd Open Class Male
5 Quinn Pirritt 1st U16 Class Male
6 Derek Teensma 4th Open Class Male
7 Matt Johnstone 5th Open Class Male
7 David Cracknell 1st Masters Class Male
7 Steven Dunlop 6th Open Class Male
9 Graeme Taylor 2nd Masters Class Male
11 William Dunlop 2nd U16 Class Male
12 Karl Gaensicke 7th Open Class Male
13 andrew clapham 3rd Masters Class Male
14 Paul Davis 4th Masters Class Male
15 Angela Mckee 1st Open Class Female
16 Dion MCASEY 5th Masters Class Male
16 Scott Keon 6th Masters Class Male
16 Rosara Davis 1st U16 Class Female
19 Trudy Lile 1st Masters Class Female
20 Jason Clough 7th Masters Class Male
21 William Baker 1st Veteran Class Male
22 Jason Tudor 8th Open Class Male
23 Maxwell Dunlop 3rd U16 Class Male
24 Tamsin MCASEY 2nd U16 Class Female
25 Jane Rattanachai 2nd Open Class Female
26 Jana Godwin 1st U14 Class Female