Competitors from around the country will gather in the Wairoa River to fight for a water-filled podium finish this weekend.

This Saturday and Sunday, Kaimai Canoe Club will host two events on the weekend in two different parts of the river.

Event organiser Joe Anderson said paddlers from the Bay of Plenty, the Waikato, Hawke’s Bay and Central Otago will compete in the slalom event and an extreme race.

Tauranga paddler James Senior, 20, will race this weekend and Anderson said he was likely to win the men’s C1 (one blade) category.

James Senior in action at a race on the Mangahao River. Photo / Rod Hill, rod_coffee

“He got selected for the New Zealand team to compete at the world championships in October in Sydney.”

Rosie Rex, 16, from Tauranga Girls’ College, “will probably podium in both K1 and C1 women’s,” Anderson said.

Rosie Rex in action at a race on the Mangahao River. Photo / Rod Hill, rod_coffee

On Saturday, there will be a time trial for the extreme race going down a 500m section of the river.

Each paddler will be ranked, then will compete in head-to-head races, two boats at a time down a grade-5 section of the river. “It’s a knockout competition,” Anderson said.

On Sunday, further down the river, the club will host the slalom event. The kayaks go one at a time through the course with poles hanging over the river which they go through within a time trial.

Rosie Rex in action at a race on the Mangahao River. Photo / Rod Hill, rod_coffee

The aim is to get through the fastest and they get penalties if they touch a gate and more penalties if they miss a gate, Anderson said. “The slalom race is a club event so it’s not huge, it’s mostly high school-aged kids whereas the extreme race will be generally older people. The two races are very different.”

This is a club-level race. Slalom will be open to K1 — a two-bladed paddle — and C1 — a single-blade, kneeling in the canoe — categories, two runs of each.

Rosie Rex in action at a race on the Mangahao River. Photo / Rod Hill, rod_coffee

“The Wairoa course is a 200m long, rocky gorge surrounded by native bush upstream of the Ruahihi bridge,” said Anderson, who expected there would be about 50 competitors in each race.

These races are part of a national white-water series.

“I think we have about three throughout New Zealand over summer and this is probably the most popular.”