Most of New Zealand's top canoe slalom paddlers will converge on the Kawerau's Tarawera River this Sunday for the North Island Canoe Slalom championships.

Organisers are thrilled at the record number of entries with more than 80 starts – including the majority of the NZ team, featuring NZ Olympian Luuka Jones, on the start list.

K1W (NZ number 1) Luuka Jones, is on the start list for Sunday's North Island Canoe Slalom championships at Tarawera River. Photo courtesy of Sportscene.

Jones has just returned from a five-week training camp in the desert, on the Al Ain artificial course near Dubai.

Jones saying the camp is a great training venue with most of the world's top paddlers in attendance due to the mild training conditions.

'I'm stoked to be home again though until I meet up again with my coach, British Olympic medallist Campbell Walsh.”

Currently training in the high performance environment at Cambridge, Jones will be in NZ for six weeks before heading off to base herself in the UK, ahead of the European race season.

Jones' main competition for the North Island title will come from Cook Islands' Olympian Ella Nicholas, and NZ senior team mates Jane Nicholas and Anna Higgins.

These girls, all from the Bay of Plenty, are currently studying in the South Island, and will return north for this weekend's event.

U23 team member Haylee Dangen could surprise with a podium finish, given her results at last weekend's Bay of Plenty Champs.

The men's K1 is headlined by the recently-crowned U18 Oceania Champion Callum Gilbert, with U23 team member Malcolm Gibson (Palmerston North) and 15-year-old Jack Dangen (Tauranga) being likely threats.

Mike Dawson, currently NZ-ranked number one, is out due to injury.

Ben Gibb, who recently also took Oceania U23 honours is the favourite in the men's C1 (canoe class), with NZ team members Brent Bastin, Callum Gilbert and Patrick Washer, all from Tauranga, the strongest challengers.

The women's canoe class sees all of the K1W doubling with number one seed Jane Nicholas, facing opposition from Kelly Travers (Palmerston North) and Haylee Dangen (Tauranga).

As well as the overall North Island titles, paddlers will compete across the age groups on the challenging upper-river whitewater course, while the novice group gets race experience on the lower river schools' site.

This race will be the last chance for North Island paddlers to compete before the NZ Secondary Schools White Water Championships and NZ Nationals, which take place in the South Island later in the month.

For more information, visit www.slalomnz.org.nz