Northland para athlete Cameron Leslie reveals 18-day whirlwind journey

Northland's Cameron Leslie, 29, certainly has reason to have a rest after one of the most successful 18 days of his life. Photo / Supplied

There aren't many people who can say they've had a busier 18 days than Northland para athlete Cameron Leslie.

On August 31, Leslie travelled with New Zealand's wheelchair rugby team, the Wheel Blacks, to the Asia Oceania Zonal Championships in Korea. Playing against the likes of Australia, Korea, Japan and Thailand, the Wheel Blacks came third and in doing so, qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, which will break their 11-year Paralympic drought.

However, the action wasn't over for the 29-year-old who, on September 10, boarded a 12.5-hour flight to London and in the matter of 48 hours, was competing in the Para Swimming World Championships and took home two gold medals, breaking a 15-year-old record before heading home on September 17.

Leslie was all smiles at the World Para Swimming Championships in London, taking home two gold medals. Photo / Supplied

To put it simply, Leslie won three medals, earned Paralympics qualification, broke a world record and flew more than 50 hours across the globe all in the space of 18 days.

"It would be the most satisfying and successful 18 days of my sporting career," Leslie said with a laugh.

"It's a really awesome set of achievements and it's a really quirky way of going about them, so it's certainly probably the most whirlwind and challenging 18 days I've ever had."

Leslie's rollercoaster started with the Wheel Blacks overcoming 11 years of heartbreak to finally qualify for the Paralympics. While he was stoked with the third-place finish, Leslie said the effect for wheelchair rugby would be huge in the future.

Leslie, seen here playing wheelchair basketball, has been one of the mainstays in New Zealand's wheelchair rugby team for the last 11 years. Photo / File

"That's massive for the sport and I don't think we'll truly see the benefit of that until after next year's Paralympics, we've already seen players get really excited and kick their training up a gear."

As common sense dictates, competing in two world sporting competitions required an immense level mental and physical fortitude. When asked how he achieved such a feat, Leslie was very matter of fact.

"You just ride the wave of confidence and excitement of achieving a goal and then I guess you just move your sights.

"I'm a big fan of not spending too much time getting nervous or flustered about things and just finding a solution and get on with it."

Leslie couldn't be stopped in the pool while he was in London. Photo / File

To ensure he kept up his swimming training while in Korea, Leslie was forced to share a an eight-lane, 25m pool with 140 other people while he trained. Despite the obstacles, New Zealand's fulltime national para-swimming development co-ordinator rose to the occasion, picking up gold in the 50m freestyle and backstroke along with a world record.

"A lot of my competitors had gone faster than me either in the morning [races] or that year and I don't know what happened, they didn't step up for the final and I did.

"It was pretty special to break a world record and even better to break one that's that old."

It took a tremendous amount of preparation and recovery work for Leslie to perform at his peak over the 18-day period. Photo / Supplied

What made Leslie's achievements even more meaningful was the people he had to leave behind to complete his goals. It was only 14 weeks ago, Leslie and partner Emma welcomed baby Beau into the world but only five weeks into his son's life, Leslie had to leave.

"Lots of parents would understand, you don't want to leave your partner five weeks into this very new life so there was a motivating factor to get the job done properly," he said.

"You certainly feel some emotions you haven't felt before because you've never been in that position. It's tough but at the same time, [Emma] is a pretty strong person who gets it."

Leslie has his eyes firmly focused on a great year in 2020. Photo / Supplied

Now facing a relatively quiet summer at home in Glenbervie, Whangārei, Leslie said whatever next year's Paralympics would bring, he was glad to know he would have one more supporter watching on in the stands.

"If the Wheel Blacks were on the podium that would be massive, but I think it's a massive step forward just having them at the big dance and having them compete.

"Swimming-wise I want to be on the podium, and I guess it would feel different having a one-year-old in the crowd as well."