Boz, an 18-month-old Hungarian vizsla, takes a treat from Liz Thompson, who regularly minds – and exercises – the dog for her son Quaid. Photo / John Gillies
Gisborne kayaking’s “first lady” is cutting back on her duties.
Liz Thompson, Poverty Bay Kayak Club head coach for much of the past decade, wants to make more room in her life for, well, stuff that isn’t kayaking.
That’s a big ask for someone who grew up in and on the water, married an Olympic double gold medallist, gave birth to two gifted canoeists and competed at elite level well into her “veteran” years.
But at 64, she’s up for the challenge. A former police constable and sergeant, her beat these days is likely to include time teaching Pilates, walking son Quaid’s dog Boz and daughter Kim’s dog Tilly, and supporting husband Alan and their children in their endeavours.
“I’m not cutting ties completely,” Thompson said.
“We had an adults’ group under way. We lost some of the equipment they were using in Cyclone Gabrielle but they are growing again ... I’ll enjoy paddling with them.”
Thompson is president of Waikanae Surf Life Saving Club – the first woman to hold that position – and is the first and so far only woman to be made a life member of the club.
In his book, A Shade of Blue – A Touch of Gold, on the history of Waikanae SLSC from 1950 to 2000, Dick Glover reflected on candidates for the unofficial title of Waikanae “Lifesaver of the Century”.
In his opinion, five members stood out.
“There is really only one candidate for the women’s title and that must be Liz Thompson, nee Blencowe,” Glover wrote.
“Liz’s phenomenal record was that, since the inception of women’s ski racing at national level, she was placed either first or second in a ski event in every one of the 15 seasons between 1983 and 1998.
“When her results in surf swims and leading role in R & R [rescue and resuscitation] are taken into consideration, she won 14 New Zealand titles and was placed second or third in 24 other events.
“Add to that her encouragement and coaching of young women competitors on top of personal training, a career as a policewoman promoted to sergeant and the onset of motherhood in the mid-90s. The mind boggles at how Liz could juggle so many facets in her life and remain a top competitor.”
The other four in Glover’s shortlist were Bruce Adams, Grant Bramwell, Alan Thompson and Barry McLean, with McLean getting the author’s nod as Waikanae “Lifeguard of the Century”.
Liz Blencowe married Alan Thompson in 1991.
Outspoken and driven, Olympic double gold-medallist Thompson could be a handful for officialdom, but Blencowe was a world-class athlete in her own right and they met on equal terms.
Working together and separately as required, they built on solid foundations to establish Poverty Bay Kayak Club as a force in New Zealand canoeing.
They met before the 1980 Moscow Olympics, when New Zealand canoeists competed in the Australian national championships.
Alan Thompson was one of three Kiwi canoeists who competed in the Moscow Games (team coach was Gisborne’s John Grant ... he and Thompson adapted running coach Arthur Lydiard’s training methods to canoeing).
Blencowe had been nominated for the Australian team by her sport – Australia competed in the boycott-affected Games under the Olympic flag – but she did not make the Olympic committee’s selection.
Their paths crossed again in 1982 at international regattas in the lead-up to the world championships. While European athletes went home between regattas, the New Zealanders, Australians and North Americans hung around the venues, because home was too far away.
“We got to know quite a few of them,” she said.
“I came to Gisborne at the end of ’82. I had got to know Alan and the rest of the group. Not a lot was happening in the way of squad for me to train with in Melbourne [her base at the time]. I wanted a fresh outlook. I could have gone to Hungary, but I didn’t speak the language, and getting into Hungary was a bit iffy at the time.”
It came down to Canada or New Zealand, and Alan was a “big factor” in her choice to come to Gisborne.
She returned to Australia for the selection trials for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and was the only woman picked to paddle for Australia at the Games. Women competing in individual events then had only a 500m race in Olympic kayak sprint racing and Liz finished eighth in the final.
Back in Gisborne, Alan was keen to have Liz as part of a women’s programme.
“He brought in Blair Campbell as coach and recruited three ski paddlers from Ōtaki,” Liz said.
“I had to teach them how to paddle a kayak.
“The boys had done really well. Brian Wilson and Benny Hutchings were the coaches, and Grant [Bramwell], Alan [Thompson] and Robbie Jenkinson were among the paddlers training together.
“Kayak club members used to train from Bill De Costa’s section at the end of Fitzherbert St. The woman next door used to let us use her hose to wash the mud off.
“Then the Kiwanis club got behind us and built a clubhouse at Anzac Park. It was opened in 1985. When the girls from Ōtaki arrived, we had changing rooms and hot showers ... amazing facilities.”
Kayaking and surf lifesaving co-existed in Liz and Alan’s sporting world from 1983 to 2000, with coaching taking a steadily increasing share of their time.
From featuring in the lifesaving medal tallies primarily as an individual competitor, Liz Thompson partnered up-and-coming athletes in the double ski, winning nationals gold with Jackie Callahan twice and Leigh Webster three times, and silver with Kristen Glover twice.
The first double ski win with Webster, in 1995, came early in Thompson’s pregnancy with daughter Kim, and the third, in 1998, came when son Quaid was 5 weeks old. At the latter carnival, Thompson was also a member of silver-medal-winning teams in the women’s taplin relay and women’s six-place.
She gained particular satisfaction from coaching Rachel Beale in the lead-up to her victory in the women’s under-19 surf ski in the national champs at Ōakura in 2000, and being handler for Webster when she won the women’s ironperson race in the nationals at Gisborne’s Midway Beach in 2001.
And apart from a few years off when her children were small, she’s done her bit on beach patrols.
Thompson was born in Mackay, North Queensland, on January 10, 1961. The family lived further south, in a town called Sarina, which didn’t have a hospital. A brother, David, is three years older. Their father Lou worked for Kraft Foods and was in Queensland “for something to do with Vegemite”. Mother Pat was a swimming coach and physical education teacher.
When Thompson was 2, the family headed back to Melbourne, her parents’ hometown.
Pat Blencowe used fun and familiarity in her swimming lessons. She let children get familiar with the water by playing in it and when she introduced them to swimming, it was breaststroke first.
In her own swim coaching for Waikanae SLSC, Thompson adopted her mother’s approach and didn’t teach freestyle until her charges had mastered the “lifesaving breaststroke”.
When Quaid was 7, and about to compete in a breaststroke race, Thompson explained the stroke in terms she had used teaching it to him: “Open-the-curtains arms and squash-mosquito legs”.
Quaid duly won the race.
As a youngster, Thompson had followed her brother into whitewater kayaking and soon added slalom and sprint versions of the sport. In 1981, she competed in the world championships of all three disciplines but eventually concentrated on sprint races.
She had coached in one discipline or another from the late 1980s, but after a break when the children were young, she got back into kayak coaching after daughter Kim and a few friends became interested and helped development coach Agi Szabo. When Szabo left, Thompson stepped up.
“You have to help them to enjoy what they’re doing, or they won’t keep coming back,” she said.
“From the outset, you want to teach the basics of good technique.
“A big thing is having a peer group. If you get a good group coming through a holiday programme and some stay on and join the club, it’s a lot easier if they have mates down there. It’s more fun.
“If I’m running a programme for youngsters getting into paddling, I want to see the kids who haven’t found their ‘thing’ yet. A lot of 12-year-olds just love getting out on the river, love the fact that they’re quite good at it. You can teach them the rest.
“Every kid who has done a season or two has got something out of it, learnt about themselves, about co-operating as a team, about self-discipline. Even if they don’t continue, they have learnt something. It is not wasted effort. You have done something for that kid.”
Thompson was inducted into the Surf Life Saving New Zealand Sport Hall of Fame in 2016, along with – among others – Cory Hutchings and sometime Waikanae competitor Anna Ballara. Alan Thompson had been inducted in 1995.
In February this year, Liz Thompson was announced as one of four 2024 recipients of the Canoe Racing New Zealand Outstanding Service Award recognising outstanding contribution at club, regional or national level over at least 10 years of service to the sport.