Wairoa Extreme Race

The second day of the NZ extreme race series kicked off on the Wairoa River in the Bay of Plenty NZ. The race format consisted of a time trial event that would be used to seed athletes for the boatercross down the class 5 rapids top waterfall and the Rollercoaster.

The time trial starts just below McLearns Falls at the put in and races 5 minutes downstream finishing just above the Head to Head course. After the grueling 5 minute race through 10 or so tricky rapids and some long flat stretches, team Jackson Kayak paddler Mike Dawson took the top seed with a time of 5:08 ahead of Gerd Serrasolses (5:14) & Kenny Mutton, Jamie Sutton & Brendan Bailey with 5:18.

This full on stretch of narrow and tricky whitewater creates the perfect location for head to head format style racing.

The head to head race saw epic battles and a lot of lead changes on the technical and tricky course. Early round knock-outs of contenders left it open until a stacked semi-final between Jamie Sutton (NZL), Joe Morley (UK), Mike Dawson (NZL) & Brendan Bailey (NZL) saw Dawson & Morley advance into the final to race for the cash prize and the glory of winning this prestigious event. Joe took an early lead but and despite a lot of boat contact and tight racing held the lead taking home the trophy and becoming the first non-NZ paddler to win this title.

The race series combines the points from both the head to head and the time trail in addition with the Kaituna time trial the day before sees the the extreme series standings before moving on to the Citroen Extreme Race in the South Island & Buller Fest the week later.