Canoeing: Competition is breath of life

Cory Hutchings

For most people nervousness is not a desired emotion.

Sweaty palms, hyperactive butterflies fluttering in the stomach and nausea aren't particularly appealing.

But surf ironman supremo-turned-canoeist Cory Hutchings has a different opinion.

"The longer you have been in sport, when you get nervous and have heart flutters it is a really nice feeling - it is like your body telling you you are ready."

That is how the 33-year-old feels ahead of his first canoeing regatta, this weekend's national championships at Takapuna's Lake Pupuke. It is the first step in his long-term goal of representing New Zealand at the 2008 Olympics.

Hutchings will compete in the K1 500m and 1000m, the K4 1000m with a team from Gisborne and the K2 500m with partner Andy Kinsella.

"The main thing for me this weekend is to get a bit of a bearing on where I am at and what I need to do to get to the next level.

"My goal would be to be among the top six or seven guys, but at the same time I really just want to go there, compete and get the adrenalin going again."

After a glittering surf lifesaving career, which included three world ironman and 11 national ironman championships, Hutchings retired in 2003 but never quite managed to rid himself of the competitive demon.

While there is no doubting his athletic prowess, the man himself is under no illusion about how tough it will be to break into the New Zealand team.

Following the nationals, the New Zealand selectors will name a high performance squad of around 20. A week later they name a team to travel to Europe for world cup events and the world championships.

Although Ben Fouhy is destined to continue in the K1 and Steven Ferguson and possibly Mike Walker in the K2, the selectors are hoping the standard at the nationals will be good enough to ensure a men's and women's K4 team will also be named. It's the K4 Hutchings is pinning his hopes on.

"But in saying that, my goal as an athlete - even though I am not going for the K1 spot - has to be to try to get as close to those individual guys as possible. The closer I can get to the likes of Ben [Fouhy] the better chance I have at getting in any team boat."

Hutchings said he had trained with Fouhy and Ferguson and "they are definitely a level above where I am but hopefully over the next six months I'll bridge that gap a little".

Based in Gisborne, Hutchings works under the eye of top New Zealand coach and former Olympian Alan Thompson. He can also call on his father, Ben, who coaches the Australian Olympic kayak team, for advice. Ben Hutchings coached the New Zealand Olympic team in 1984 and 1988 before taking up a job with the Australian team.

For a young Cory it meant plenty of dinners shared with greats Ian Ferguson, Paul MacDonald, Grant Bramwell and Thompson.

Yet it was a stint at the Australian Institute of Sport that Hutchings says made him the athlete he is today.

"In all honestly if I had not moved to Australia and been involved in the Institute of Sport for those years, I would never have won anything. You learn how to compete and you learn about the will to win and hard work.

"That was the time in New Zealand sport where participation was really important as opposed to winning.

"I think if I had stayed under those guidelines I wouldn't have achieved what I have."