Extreme slalom gives edge | Rotorua Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Rotorua

KIWI extreme kayaker Mike Dawson and Czech star Vavra Hradilek have made history by creating and running the most spectacular canoe slalom course ever attempted.

The pair ran the Kaituna River near Rotorua at full flow recently, including the spectacular Trout Pool Falls, a 5m drop usually only attempted by the most experienced kayakers in plastic creek boats.

Not satisfied with that challenge, Dawson - who has qualified for the London Olympics - and world No3 Hradilek also set up gates down the stretch of whitewater and ran it in carbon-fibre slalom boats.

"No-one really paddles that part of the river at that sort of flow," Dawson explained. "If you get stuck and there's no one there to pull you out, basically you'd have to get fairly creative to get yourself out of the situation. We had a really good safety crew though, and we'd minimised the risks but even then, there was a few nerves. And that's exactly what we were after - that apprehension is exactly what you feel when you're competing in big events and hopefully that gives us an advantage in London.

"Knowing how tough the competition and the course in London is going to be, we decided to think outside the box and utilise what we had right here in our back garden."

Hradilek still has to battle through the vigorous Czech selection races in late April but believes his Kaituna exploits could give him an edge if he makes it through to race on the punishing Lee Valley whitewater Olympic course.

"It was intensely physical and needed a lot of technical skill but also, in the back of your mind, there was also a mental struggle to overcome."

This is Hradilek's fourth visit to New Zealand, using the Antipodean summer to get a jump on his European rivals. He struck up a lasting friendship with Dawson in the junior ranks and is impressed by where the world No49 is heading.

"Mike's really stepped it up and he's getting a lot more consistency with his World Cup results - qualifying at the world championships proved that.

"You could see his confidence growing during the year and he's starting to believe he belongs at that level."

For the moment, both Dawson and Hradilek belong on another level entirely, having completed what may be the most extreme slalom run ever attempted.

The last word goes to cameraman Josh Neilson, who filmed the Kaituna run for Southern Underground Productions and whose online footage is about to go viral.

"These guys pushed the barriers of what slalom can be, far past what even the boldest slalom paddlers could imagine," Neilson says, still shaking his head at what he saw.

"By taking a slalom kayak down there and then adding the aspect of having to make it round gates ... it's a real feat."

Meanwhile, Swiss kayaker Michael Kurt has won the New Zealand Open canoe slalom title for the second consecutive year, beating a star-studded field of international paddlers on the Mangahao River near Palmerston North on Sunday.

Kurt, ranked seventh in the world, posted a clean run in the 10-boat men's final, recording a time of 91.74s. He was just 0.36 seconds ahead of Fabian Doerfler (Germany), with Canadian John Hastings a further 0.94s back in third. Dawson picked up two two-second penalties in the final to drop him back to seventh, with a time of 97m 95s.

Young Czech star Karolina Galuskova narrowly beat Kiwi Olympian Luuka Jones for the women's title, with the 17-year-old posting a time of 111m 48s. Jones was just 1.39 seconds adrift, with third place going to Tauranga-raised Ella Nicholas, who has also qualified an Olympic place for the Cook Islands.

In the C1 category, top Argentinian Sebastian Rossi and Australian Ian Borrows went head-to-head, with Borrows grabbing the title by 1.27 seconds. Tauranga's Shaun Travers was the best of the locals in third, 8.19 seconds behind the winner.

To see the epic Kaituna descent, check out www.vimeo.com/35661461