TWO Thornlands brothers have set their sights on paddling in Tahiti after participating in the Va’a World Sprint Championships on the Sunshine Coast last month.
Sixteen-year-old Ashton Cullen and his brother Zach, who is 18 months younger, have excelled in paddling since they started four years ago.
Ashton is ranked fourth in the world in the under 16 men single craft category and third in the world for the under 16 1000m category for the six-man teams.
He won a gold medal for the six-man under 16 500m sprint and a silver medal for the 12-man under 16 500m sprint.
He also holds second place in Australia for the under 16 boys in both long distance and sprints for a single craft, and for sprints on a one-person outrigger canoe.
In the South Queensland Zone Marathon Series last year, Ashton came second in the under 16 boys single craft category and first in the under 19 two-man category.
Ashton was also part of a 10-member crew that came second in the National Changeover Championships on the weekend.
The brothers, who are members of the Gold Coast Outrigger Canoe Club, will compete in the first race of the South Queensland Zone series on July 16.
The junior titles, where Ashton will compete in the under 16 and under 19 categories, are on the event calendar for September.
He will compete at an under 21 level when he races at the national titles in Townsville in November.
His goal is to be one of the top six finishers to qualify for the elite under 19 distance crew to represent Australia in Tahiti in June next year.
Brother Zach is aiming for a place in the team heading for Tahiti in 2018.
Having come first in the under 14 single craft category in the South Queensland Zone Marathon Series last year, he went on to be selected for Australia in the under 16 boys development crew that competed in the World Sprint Championships last month.
