Brooke nabs medals in 3 events - February 2015

SYDNEY SUCCESS:  Former WHS student Toby Brooke, seen here competing at the nationals at Lake Karapiro, had team and individual success at the Australian GP2 at the weekend.

WANGANUI kayaker Toby Brooke had a strong weekend at the Australian GP2 event with a medal of each colour in Sydney.

Representing the New Zealand Under 18 team, Brooke teamed with Campbell Reid, Quaid Thompson and Alex Bristow to win the Men's U18 K4 1000m, finishing in 3m 13.39s, just over three seconds ahead of the New South Wales/South Australia composite team in second.

As an individual, Brooke finished second in the Men's K1 1000m, 2.1s behind Victoria's Oliver James, who won in 3m 48s.

Brooke, 17, had comfortably won his heat to make the final.

Switching to the K2 1000m, Brooke teamed with Karl McMurtrie and after coming second in their heat, finished third overall in the A final, behind a combined Victoria/Queensland team and a New South Wales pair.

Brooke would also come fourth in the A final of the K1 200m.

At her first big international event for the New Zealand Under 18 women, Wanganui's Erica Tanner's best results were sixth in the Women's U18 K1 1000m and fifth teaming with Cassandra Wilson in the K2 500m. In the K1, Tanner finished second in her semifinal with 4m 43.76s, but despite going four seconds quicker in the A final was still well outside the top 3.

The Wanganui "veterans" at the GP2 were Max Brown and Aiden Nossiter, competing for the New Zealand Under 23 team. They teamed with Imrie and Ben Tinnelly to come fourth in the Open Men's K4 1000m. Nossiter competed in one other A Final, as he and Tinnelly finished eighth in the Open Men's K2 1000m.