Stewart claims treble in Adelaide

NSWIS star Murray Stewart has produced a faultless performance at West Lakes on Thursday by completing the treble over 1000 metres adding the K1 and K2 titles to the K4 title he won on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old began the day with victory ahead of fierce rival Ken Wallace (Qld) in the highly anticipated K1 1000 final. Stewart produced a scintillating time of 3:36.12 to finish 3.14 seconds ahead of Wallace.

“It was a good race with some tough competition. A lot of the U23s and younger guys have really stepped up”, Stewart said.

Stewart then went on to win the K2 1000 final alongside K4 1000 teammate, Queensland’s Jacob Clear.

The experienced pair showed their class finishing more than two boat lengths ahead of second place getters Wallace and the NSWIS’ David Smith in a time of 3:14.09.

In the race of the day Western Australian Alana Nicholls edged the NSWIS pair of Naomi Flood and comeback girl Jo Brigden-Jones in the women’s K1 500 final.

Flood and Brigden-Jones had their revenge later in the day winning the women’s K2 500 final in 1:45.90, 2.12 seconds ahead of their nearest rivals.

The newly formed K2 pair was pleased with their performance, particularly Brigden-Jones who has been suffering from a throat infection.

“I was kind of struggling to get out of bed this morning but I am glad I did and once the gun goes your body kicks into its natural mode and this is what we train for, you just have to switch your mind off and go for it”, Brigden-Jones said.

Brigden-Jones, Flood, and Nicholls each recorded their second national wins when they combined with Bernadette Wallace (Qld) to win the WK4 500 final in 1:37.80.