NINE Outrigger Whitsunday members returned to Australia with their heads held high, proudly sporting the green and gold uniform on Sunday after competing at the world championships last week.

The region's contingent had been working hard for more than 12 months to qualify and earn their spot in the Australian team to represent at the World Titles in Tahiti.

Locals in the Open Men's crew included Blake Broadwood, Nick Bellinger, Cody Wright, Shaun Mulvena, Zack Cobbing (coach), Blair Mitchell (steersman) and Sam Johnson (reserve).

As the top two seeds, the Whitsunday men joined forces with the Moololabah men to compete in the v12 500m race.

Also representing was Ashleigh Suchanek who raced with the Mooloolaba Under-19 Ladies Division and Mark Bell, who raced with Club Koa Kai from Sydney in the Master 40 Division. Race veterans Bellinger and Mitchell had previously competed in the 2016 world titles and Bellinger said the competition was fierce and times had stepped up significantly.

"World records were being broken all over the place,” he said.

"The Open Men's crew is made up 100 per cent of Outrigger Whitsunday Paddlers, and it is the first time ever that a club from the North Queensland Zone have had a team qualify to represent Australia at the World Titles with a crew made up of members all from the same club.”

Achieving great results all round, the Open Men finished second in their v6 500m starting heat to qualify straight into the semi finals.

Crossing the line in sixth position the outriggers finished with a ranking in the top 16 in the world.

"The high level of competition was evident as our v6 500m time would have broken the world record in 2016,” Outrigger club president Bellinger said.

In the v12, the joined forces of the Whitsundays and Sunshine Coast placed seventh in the final.

The1500m v6 event saw the paddlers just miss out on the semi finals by three seconds, but clocked a personal best time.

Bellinger said it was a seriously tough competition dominated by the Tahitian and New Zealand crews, where the national sport is outrigger.

No Australian crews made it through this round.

Ashleigh Suchanek's team placed sixth in the V12 500m Sprint finals.

Suchanek qualified with the second fastest time in the semi finals V6 1000m Sprint and finished fifth in the finals with a time of 5.36.12.

The team finished fourth in their V6 500m Sprint heat to qualify for the final, finishing eighth in a time of 2.15.41.

Mark Bell's crew finished sixth in their V6 500m Sprint heat in a time of 2.04.87.