It was a busy week for the newly-elected Malta Canoe Federation (MCF) committee as they finalised preparations leading up to the Manoel Island Canoe Race held last weekend.
In his first comments, president Peter Borg Costanzi said "the new committee is focused on consolidating the sport, setting new guidelines for sea awareness and safety and establishing a calendar for racing, touring and canoe polo to make the sport attractive to all, especially newcomers."
Early morning clouds and Force 5/6 winds threatened to wreck the best of plans on Sunday.
Although the wind continued to blow as forecast, the day turned out to be bright and warm. Still, race control decided to move the start/finish position closer to the bridge and the circuit was reduced to a tight circumnavigation for safety purposes.
The first race of the day got off to an auspicious start, sending 14 paddlers off for three laps around Manoel Island.
Chris Camilleri/Matthew Schembri in their faster K2 took off with an impressive force. They maintained a steady pace to complete the distance in 39:49, just breaking the 40-minute barrier.
Julian Mamo/Pierre Chircop followed in a slower K2 in 47:38. Mark Bugeja/Michael Gellel placed third in 48:24.
Due to challenging conditions, the K1 racing was only attempted by two skilled kayakers.
Veteran Gerald Degaetano paddled impressively to finish in 44:02, even beating the slower two K2s. He was followed by Borg Costanzi, in 48:43.
In the K1 class, Robert Pullicino finished first in 54:09. He was closely followed by Frans Debono just 24 seconds behind. Damian Schembri was third in 56:52.
Less than a decade ago, local paddlers required more than 60 minutes to complete this particular race. However, thanks to better preparation and the progress recorded in this sport, the race was completed in faster times notwithstanding the taxing conditions on Sunday.
The main three-lap race was followed by a single-lap fun event that was also attempted by a group of six beginners from MCAST, all of whom completed the race with quite respectable times.
Camilleri and Schembri again demonstrated their skill in a K2 by completing the single lap in 12:34, beating their single-lap record in the longer event by eight seconds.
They were followed by Chris Borg Costanzi and Craig Wightman/Simone Ellul.
The final event was a 200m sprint race that was again dominated by Camilleri/Schembri in their K2. The K1 racing class was won by DeGaetano closely followed by Chris Borg Costanzi.
In the K1 Sea Kayaks Clark Weissinger made a photo-finish win over Damian Schembri.