Torquay Outrigger Canoe Club secure funding support for Pacific Games

THE Torquay Outrigger Canoe Club have received some extra backing from three Surf Coast organisations as they ready their paddles for the Pan Pacific Masters Games this November.

The Surf Coast club were thrilled to secure funding last week from McCartney Real Estate, The Salty Dog Café and Bells Beach Brewing, which will help them strive for gold on the Gold Coast.

 

“We are so thrilled to bring on board McCartney Real Estate as a major sponsor of our team as well as Bells Beach Brewing and The Salty Dog Café,” team member Donna Sceney said.

“They’ve all been very generous in donating us some money and we really want to try involve them and bring them into the club to share the sport.

“Part of their package is that we give them a welcome paddle for their support.

“We hope to create some good energy out there, we don’t just want to put our hands out and ask for money, we want to involve them and build a good relationship.”

According to Mrs Sceney, preparations have been ramping up for the 13-person squad, with the group training twice and sometimes three times a week at their home base at Fisherman’s Beach in Torquay and on the Barwon River in Geelong.

“We’ve been doing some extra training and the Geelong Outrigger Club have let us do some training on the river on Monday’s when the weather is ok.

“We won’t know exactly who we are competing against until the draw comes out but being the Pan Pacific Games, it’ll be a lot of Pacific Island communities who are highly skilled in this area.

“The team expect to have to have a bit of competition, there will be lots of teams, many from around Australia as well.”

 

Torquay Outrigger Canoe Club will have athletes compete across six different races, in men’s, women’s and mixed divisions.

The two race lengths will be 6km and 12km and will most likely be staged on the calm and accessible waters of Broadwater.

Six athletes in total will be in the boat at one time, with an athlete also tasked with steering the vessel at all times.

The Torquay Outrigger Canoe Club said it looked forward to getting amongst the competition and thanked the Surf Coast community for its support.