The "oarsome foursome" of Christian Ireland, Finn Ireland, Thomas Tudor-Jones and Archie Skinner all impressed at the championships.

All are newcomers to the sport, racing for just the first or second time. With eyes on home Olympics in 2032, the junior age groups are becoming hotly contested.

Amazingly, three of the four returned as State Champions.

They raced in single boats (K1) and two-person boats (K2) over 200m, 500m and 1000m.

Christian Ireland narrowly won one of the closest races of the day, the under 14's K1 500m, with a margin of just 0.13sec.

It was the first time his rival had ever been beaten in a competitive race. Christian rounded out his regatta with second placings in the 1000m and 200m, as well as second placings in the K2 100m and K2 200m.

Finn Ireland was the next to win a race, claiming gold in the under 12's K1 500m.

Finn went on to collect silver in the K1 500m, and silver in the K2 100m with his brother.

Thomas Tudor-Jones joined the other state champions by winning the under 12's K1 200m, with coach and proud dad David Tudor-Jones cheering him on.

Thomas also won silver in the K1 500m, and K2 200m.

Archie Skinner also had a successful first outing, his best result was winning the B final in the under 18s K1 1000m.

The boys are all members of Makai Paddlers, and you may see them training on Burrill Lake.

They are now looking forward to National titles in April.