OFF TO THE WORLD CHAMPS: Poverty Bay paddlers Zach Ferkins, is competing in the Junior/Under-23 World Championships on Monday. Pictures supplied
THREE Gisborne paddlers Quaid Thompson, Zach Ferkins and Britney Ford are part of a 26-strong New Zealand team competing at the ICF Junior/U23 World Championships in Minsk, Belarus, starting on Monday.
Thompson, who has been based in Racice, Czech Republic for the past nine weeks, met up with the New Zealand teammates in Slovenia where they have been training for the past two weeks, as they prepare for the Minsk championship.
“Being based in Racice meant I had good training conditions — good deep, calm water, mainly because it’s a man made lake for kayaking and rowing,” said the 18-year-old, who is competing in the K1 1000 metres and K1 200m at the junior world champs.
“As well as being one of the best courses in the world, it was good to be able to train in a warmer climate.”
After the world champs, he and Ferkins will head back to Racice to prepare for the marathon world championships at Brandenburg, Germany in September.
“A few other NZ marathon team members will be joining us in Racice for the three weeks training before the marathon worlds.”
Thompson, who has been paddling and racing for nine years and been competing internationally for three years, will be attending his second junior world champs.
“My first was in 2014, when I came seventh in the B final,” he said.
“I was still under 16 competing in the u18 age-group, so it was really all about learning and getting an idea for what the real world of kayaking was like.”
Last year, Thompson pulled out of the NZ team so he could train in Hungary under multiple Olympic and world champion kayaker Rita Koban and her squad.
“My coach (Quaid’s father and former Olympian double gold medallist, Alan) thought it would be better for my long-term development.
“I learned a lot. We’ve had a few Hungarian coaches at our club (Poverty Bay) so the training programme was similar to what I was already doing, but getting to train with some fast juniors was really good.
“They don’t care who you are or where you come from, if you train hard and go fast they will share respect with you . . . only deeds matter, nothing else.”
Against the best in the worldWith this being Thompson’s last year in the u18 age-group he was “hoping to get in some good racing, do my best and see how I stack up against the best in the world”.
Ford and Ferkins also spent time overseas preparing, in Most na Soci, Slovenia, before heading to Minsk.
“The training set-up in Slovenia is amazing,” said 18-year-old Ford, studying a bachelor of Urban Planning at The University of Auckland.
“It is this bright milky blue colour lake and river surrounded by mountains in what looks like quite a small village.
“There are six u23 girls racing. We won’t be competing in any races before worlds, instead, focusing on training.”
Ford will compete in K1 200m and K4 500m.
“It’s exciting to be racing the same events that I did in the u18 world champs in Portugal last year, but in a different age group,” said Ford who placed seventh in the K4 B final with Gisborne’s Courtney Hoskin.
“Racing in Portugal was good experience. It’s a different level of competition and intensity.
“The step up between u18 and u23 hasn’t been anything unexpected to me. I knew I was going to have to work very hard to make this step up and it has made me more determined to do well.
“In New Zealand there are a lot less u23 competitors than u18s.”
Ford started paddling, while at Gisborne Intermediate, “where we could sign up to go kayaking every Friday”.
After that programme finished Ford continued paddling and went on to make her first appearance for a national team in Australia in 2013.
Championships in Portugal last yearShe made the NZ team to race at the junior worlds in Hungary in 2014 (5th in B final) and retained her place for last year’s champs in Portugal.
“Moving to Auckland in February was a big change for me, but I’m really enjoying it,” Ford said.
“I love the people and the atmosphere along with the course I’m studying. I’m surrounded by like-minded people all day, which is great. Paddlingwise, it’s also been a big change.
“I live in the halls of residence, which are in the city, and training, twice a day, is on the North Shore.
“In Gisborne it only took me five minutes to get to training so I never had to be super organised.
“In Auckland I’m up at 5am every morning and have to get all my stuff organised for the next day the night before. It can also be a good 40-60min drive home from training.
“The early starts mean we often paddle in pitch black for half of the sessions, in order to make it back into uni on time for my first lecture of the day.
“The traffic can be a nightmare trying to get back from training, but I’m getting use to it.”
Ford said she enjoyed training “with a group of paddlers from the North Shore kayak club, all ages and genders”.
“Everyone pushes each other during training and the club has a great atmosphere. You can tell everyone there loves paddling.
“Everyone here in Auckland has been helpful and supportive in the process of me moving and I felt welcomed. I think because everyone was so welcoming I settled in fairly quickly and have felt at home ever since.”
Ferkins (17) has been paddling for “about a year-and-a-half, but I have been also paddling surf ski for four years”.
“I started about a year-and-a-half ago because I wanted to become a faster surf ski paddler and ended up enjoying the sport enough to make it my main sport.
“I’m really looking forward to being able to represent my country at a sporting event.”
While Ford and Ferkins are keen to pursue academic careers,Thompson said he did not “have any major goals at the moment”.
“I just want to focus on training and worlds and staying pretty relaxed and rested during my spare time.
“I have however been enjoying a bit of gardening and growing my own veggies in my spare time.
“I also have 30 frogs and 15,000 tadpoles who have taken over the swimming pool.
“So I’m thinking of opening a French restaurant . . . hahaha.”