GAINESVILLE -- The top U.S. sprint paddlers ran away from the competition in extremely hot and humid conditions on Thursday at the 2011 USA Canoe/Kayak Sprint National Championships at the Lake Lanier Olympic Center, hosted by the Lanier Canoe and Kayak Club in Gainesville.
Day one featured the 1000 meter races in each classification. Maggie Hogan (San Diego, Calif.) won the Senior Women's K-1 1000m National Championship title, with 2011 World Championships teammates Jen Burke (San Diego, Calif.), Kaitlyn McElroy (Oklahoma City, Okla.) and Emily Vinson (Gainesville, LCKC) following in sequential order. Burke and McElroy, Oklahoma City Boathouse Foundation training partners, then teamed up to win the Women's K-2 1000m National Championship.
The National Championships are open to international competitors and Carlos Garcia, a recent Cuban defector, turned the invitation into a first place finish in Senior Men's K-1 1000m. Meanwhile, Australian-American identical twins Luke and Jake Michael (Kailua, Hawaii) placed second and fourth, respectively, sandwiching hometown favorite and US National teammate Morgan House (Gainesville), who shares the US four-man kayak with the brothers.
The Michael brothers also paired up to win the Men's K-2 1000m National Championship. They were joined by another set of brothers -- Hawaiian Canoe and Kayak teammates Ryan and Patrick Dolan (Kailua, Hawaii) -- to form the National Champion Men's K-4 1000m boat.
"It was a congested program with many athletes racing up to six 1000m races," said National Team Coach Guy Wilding. "Coming off our hardest month of training and flying from Hawaii to Atlanta only two days ago, this was very tough program in the conditions [for the Senior Men's Sprint Kayak Team]. But I was pleased to see many of the senior national team members taking advantage of the great racing available and competing in all the events. It was great training as we are heading to Europe next week for final preparation before the World Championships and Olympic qualifiers in Hungary. LCKC staff and volunteers always run a great regatta and today's first day of the National Championships was no exception."
Lanier Canoe and Kayak Club (LCKC) dominated the Senior Men's Canoe 1000m races. Robert Finlayson (Gainesville) won three National Championships in the C-1, C-2 and C-4 classifications. He linked up with LCKC training partner Alejandro Schwedhelm (Potomac, Md.) to win the C-2 1000m National Championship. The duo combined forces with Ben Hefner (Gainesville) and Gainesville resident Ian Ross (Bethesda, Md.) to win the C-4 title.
The competition will resume on Friday and continue through Saturday at the Olympic venue located on Clark's Bridge Road. The event is free and open to spectators. For a schedule of Friday's events visit www.lckc.org, or simply click here.
Thursday
April 24th, 2025
5:33PM
