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Standing on the podium in China and receiving their medals was an unforgettable experience for the two Kiwi kayakers. Vaughan and Garth were challenged near the start by several other paddlers.
Vaughan Reed still remembers almost every paddle stroke of his final K2 Marathon race in China last month.
The 47-year-old Stanmore Bay resident teamed up with Auckland’s Garth Spencer to represent New Zealand in the Masters category in K2 for ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships and it proved to be a winning combination.
The marathon consists of a 19km paddle – five laps of a course as well as sprinting while carrying the kayak across a pontoon (known as ‘portage’) between each lap.
The pair had a few setbacks at the start and Vaughan says they were already on the back foot a bit after looking across at the 20 other crews. “There were some big boys in the lineup and we thought it would be tough,” he says.
After the poor start, which included strong challenges from competitors, they slowly worked their way up and Vaughan says they could hear the crowd was behind them as they closed the gap.
“The feedback was that it was the most exciting race, as it was so close, right up to the sprint finish,” he says.
Vaughan and Garth came in first in their age group (45-49) and third overall in Masters in a time of 1 hour 22 minutes.
The title of world champion is a first for Vaughan, who has been paddling for 14 years and started competing when he did the Coast to Coast multisport event in 2006.
He says while he still does multisport events, kayaking is his main focus and passion.
He trains hard, putting in a solid six months of work for the world marathon championships, paddling up to six days a week, twice a day, on the Weiti River and Lake Pupuke.
He and Garth qualified for the world champs at the Nationals in Gisborne last April – the first time they had raced together.
“Garth’s been the guy who always beats me, so it was good to have him on my side this time,” Vaughan says. “From the first time we jumped in the boat together we connected as a racing pair.”
