The Lawrence Sisters: News

At the recent Sydney University Sport and Fitness annual awards dinner Ros received the 2009 Sportswoman of the year award. Sportsman of the year went to olympic rowing silver medallist Francis Hegarty. Scholarship holders for 2010 were also announced and guests were provided with demonstrations of fencing and taekwondo for entertainment.
For photos see: www.davidstanton.com.au

This Easter the Lawrence family (plus a few extras) journeyed to South West Rocks for a holiday by the sea. We ate a little bit of chocolate, but we also did plenty of exercise; running on the beach, surfing, snorkelling and paddling. It was great to relax for a couple of days and spend some time with our family.

In March Ros flew down to Melbourne to race in the Victorian Dragon Boating championships as part of the Dragonboat Restaraunt team, which posted the fastest time of the day over 200m. Thanks to Roy and Dita for a great day of racing and a new experience! Also thank you to the lovely Guinea family for their hospitality.

At the last two selection races at Brady's Lake, Tasmania, Ros and Kate both qualified for the Australian senior team. Kate will be racing in Europe in K1 and Ros in C1. Kate and Ros were both expecting freezing weather in Tasmania (Ros packed every single item of warm clothing she owns) but the week proved to be sunny and warm!

The complete senior team this year will be:

WK1: Sarah Grant, Jessica Fox, Kate Lawrence

WC1: Jessica Fox, Leanne Guinea, Ros Lawrence

MC2: Kynan Maley/Robin Jeffery, Ben Hankinson/Phillip Gibbins, Scott Guinea/Chris Guinea

MC1: Kynan Maley, Robin Jeffery, Ethan Hodson

MK1: Will Forsythe, Lucien Delfour, Warwick Draper

Next Tuesday Ros and Kate will fly to Tasmania to prepare for and compete in the 2nd and 3rd Australian senior selection races. The races will take place on Saturday and Sunday, each with a best run counts format.

So keep an eye out on the Australian Canoeing website for results!

Ros and Kate have just finished the first selection race for the 2010 senior team. The race was also the Oceania Championships and it proved to be an exciting race thanks to all the international paddlers that are out taking advantage of the Australian summer for training.

Kate gained a solid 2nd place (Australian) which put her in 4th place overall. Ros placed 3rd Australian and 8th overall. Corinne Kuhnle of Austria won the Women's K1 with a time of 111.35, followed by Katerina Kudejova of the Czech Republic in second with a time of 112.86 and Australian Sarah Grant in 3rd place (112.92).

The exciting new event of Women's C1 was contested by thirteen individuals from six countries. The winner, Australian Junior Jess Fox, laid down a time of 125.01, followed by Jana Dukatova of Slovakia (126.88) and Leanne Guinea of Australia (129.44), with the 3rd Australian spot going to Alison Burrows.

The Men's K1 was won by Italian Daniele Molmenti (97.63), followed by Vavrinec Hradilek of the Czech Republic (99.42) and Pierre Bourliaud of France (99.87). The top Australian paddlers were Warwick Draper and Will Forsythe followed by Anthony Brown and Jaxon Merritt who tied with exactly the same time and will receive identical points for selection purposes.

The Men's C1 was taken out by Edern Le ruyet of France (105.28), who is in fine form after spending five months training in Australia. Edern was followed by Vitezslav Gebas of the Czech Republic (107.5) and Takuya Haneda of Japan (108.46), with the top three Australian places going to Ethan Hodson, Christian Fabris and Kynan Maley.

The Slovakian Skantar/Skantar team dominated the field in C2 with a time of 109.03, followed by the Hochschorners, also of Slovakia (111.60), and the British team Goddard and Radmore (114.32). Maley and Jeffery were the first placed Australian team, followed by Fabris and Burrows, and Guinea/Guinea.

For more results see: www.oceaniacanoe.org.au

Earlier this year Kate and Ros travelled to the North Island of New Zealand for racing and training. The two races were selection races for the New Zealand senior team, held in Kawerau and Mangahao, and were great races for Ros and Kate to fine tune their racing in the lead up to Australian selection. Ros even had the chance to do a river trip with some of the locals, down the Kaituna and Gnarly gorge, which was fantastic. The Kiwis were very hospitable, with a special thankyou to the Jull family and Luuka Jones, for providing us with homes away from home.

For results and information from the race, see the slalom NZ website: www.slalomnz.org.nz

Well, another year has flown by, and what a year it has been! The major paddling achievements of our family were:

Ros:

• Silver medal, C1W, ICF Canoe Slalom Racing World Cup #1, Pau, France
• Gold medal, C1W, ICF Canoe Slalom Racing World Cup #3, Augsburg, Germany
• Bronze medal, C1W, Slovenian Open, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Silver medal, C1W, ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships, La Seu d’Urgell, Spain
• Ranked #1, C1W, ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Series Ranking
• Ranked #1, C1W, Canoe/Kayak Slalom Racing ICF World Ranking

To add to Rosalyn’s accolades, she was the first Australian ever to be selected onto the National Team to compete in two events – C1W and K1W – at the World Cups and World Championships.

Kate:

• Silver medal, K1W, ICF Canoe Slalom Racing World Cup #2, Bratislava, Slovakia
• Bronze medal, K1W, Slovak Open, Bratislava, Slovakia
• Ranked #4, K1W, ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup Series Ranking
• Ranked #7, K1W, Canoe/Kayak Slalom Racing ICF World Ranking

Dad:

• Bronze medal, 55+ K1M, World Masters Games, Penrith, Australia

With all of this under our belts, a few awards have been won (by Ros in particular!):

Australian Institute of Sport Awards:
Ros – Sport Achievement Award
Kate – Sport Achievement Award


New South Wales Institute of Sport Awards:
Ros – Finalist for the University of Sydney Academic Excellence Award

Australian Canoeing Awards
Ros – Female Canoeist of the Year Award


Sydney University Blues Dinner
Ros – Awarded a Sydney University Sporting Blue – the highest sporting honour at the University of Sydney, awarded for outstanding performance in a sport (this award involves receiving a very attractive blues blazer…)
It has also been a big year for Jacqui, who has retired from competition. With her partner Torsten, she has bought a flat in Dee Why (by the beach!)…

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