The Johnson family, including club president Ben and his children Ellie, Isaac and Alana, were all successful at West Lakes at the weekend.

Ellie was the most successful of the Johnson clan, according to Ben.

Competing in her fourth national championships, she won the under 16 doubles with her partner Hannah Lund from Queensland and came second in the 15-kilometre singles event.  

The combination of results also resulted in Ellie being awarded the prestigious Mark Coulthart trophy for the best-performed under 16 female paddler at the titles.

Isaac and Alana both competed in the under 23 age group for singles, with Alana finishing third in the women’s and Isaac fourth in the men’s.

In doubles racing, two sibling pairs formed two teams to race in their open category events. Alana and Penny Young finished second and Isaac and Hamish Young fourth. 

Ben also raced doubles and singles in the masters category, finishing first and second respectively in his events.

Fellow WKC paddler Jace Nepean, who was competing in his first national championships, finished fifth in the under 14 K1 singles.

Ben said the great results were thanks to the outstanding training facilities Warrnambool offers the club.

“It’s such a great place for marathon kayaking as we have the two rivers in the Merri and Hopkins rivers and we also have the ocean where we do some training,” he told The Standard.