AFTER securing victories at the 2019 Australian Kayak Marathon Championships in Perth, siblings Alana and Isaac Johnson must decide if they will head to the World Championships in China later this year.
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Alana won her under 23 singles event over 22.6-kilometres last weekend, while Isaac, with his partner Hamish Young, stormed to an unlikely victory in the Open men's doubles 30-kilometre race.
Isaac also just missed out on scoring a place in a second event when he finished third in the under 23 singles title over 26.3km. The top two placings scored a spot in the national team.
The Warrnambool Kayak Club members, who are both studying in Melbourne, will need weigh up the logistics of joining the Australian team when it heads over for the 2019 World Kayak Marathon titles in September.
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"Hopefully we'll be able to go," Isaac said. "But we haven't fully decided because of how much of a time commitment it is to go and how expensive it is, but it would be the dream."
Alana, who was booked to do doubles until he partner broke her ribs, said she didn't expect to achieve such positive results at a highly competitive national championships.
"I was sort of taking training this year just to paddle for a bit of fun," the 19-year-old said. "On the day I was just competing for fun and didn't know I would do that well but I felt good."
The pair's father, coach and the president of the club, Ben, believes it was their strength in beach portages - a 250-metre run with their kayak every five-kilometres - which helped them secure their victories.
"We spend plenty of time practicing at the Hopkins river mouth when they train at home," the father-of-three said.
Isaac attributed his cross-training to his success at the national titles.
"For the sport in general it's good to be involved in Warrnambool because we have so much water we can train on," he said.
"And with the surf club and its surf ski discipline the training for kayak overlaps with lifesaving and it has been really good to do some surf carnivals and that helps with my training for kayaking."
The relationship Isaac has with his partner Hamish Young also helps him when it comes time to race.
"We often train together, we raced together last year and we raced all the way back in 2011 when we were 13, so I have known for a while," he said. "We also both study the same course at the same uni in Melbourne.
"In some boats the pairs don't know each other and sometimes they haven't really practiced with each and they sometimes feel uncomfortable in boat
"But we feel comfortable in the boat, we have good balance and we know each others strengths, which comes in handy."
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