Canoeing paddles way towards Cambridge

Canoeing is off to cambridge but Lisa Carrington won't be there.

The cluster of top national athletes in Cambridge is soon to grow.

Rowing New Zealand, Cycling New Zealand and Triathlon New Zealand are all based in the Waikato town.

Canoe Racing New Zealand will be there too, most likely early next year.

The sports administration will be at the Avantidrome on the edge of Cambridge but their training facilities are being built just along from RNZ's headquarters at Lake Karapiro.

It has been seven years getting to this point. There have been camps down at the lake and things are moving in the right direction.

However, there is a curly issue looming.

The country's finest paddler, three-time Olympic medallist Lisa Carrington, has long made it known she wants to stay in Auckland.

So CRNZ's plans to have all their elite paddlers based in one place at Karapiro have hit a speed bump. There is no blame attached to Carrington; it's simply a set of circumstances.

"She's made it pretty clear she won't be relocating fulltime to Cambridge," CRNZ chief executive Mark Weatherall said.

"We're working through permutations and especially now she's wanting to continue with crew boats [as distinct from single seat racing], it puts a slightly different spin on things."

This season, Carrington, who has won back-to-back Olympic golds in the K1 200m sprint and a bronze in the classic K1 500m in Rio last year, has branched into K2 and K4 racing, partly to bring a fresh challenge to her year but also with an eye on boosting New Zealand's Olympic prospects in two and four-seat racing at the Tokyo Games in three years.

Carrington wants this arrangement press on towards Tokyo. She has enjoyed the camaraderie and the results have been outstanding with wins at both World Cup regattas in Europe in the last fortnight.

Of the K4, Carrington and training partner, Caitlin Ryan train at North Shore's Lake Pupuke with Gordon Walker; Kayla Imrie and Aimee Fisher are with national women's coach Rene Olsen and would be at the new HQ.

Options will be considered to ensure the ultimate goal isn't damaged. Regular training blocks for the four at Karapiro is likely one of them.

"We're all focused on winning medals in Tokyo," Weatherall said. "We're looking at real potential for multiple medals. That's our most important thing. Lisa has committed to a slightly different pathway than in the past. There will need to be flexibility from all parties."

High Performance Sport boss Alex Baumann, who resigned from the position yesterday, said potential for including canoeing in an enlarged sports hub in Cambridge had been recognised a few years ago.

"Cambridge has 170 carded athletes. Athletes, triathletes, cycling and rowing are there and canoe racing will be. It creates a precinct for high performance sports," Baumann said.

Which is why the Government has contributed $2 million to the building of the canoeing facility.

"In the end, what we want to try and create is an environment where all athletes want to come; have the right coaching staff, support staff and technology down there," Baumann said.

As for Carrington's preference, Baumann said it didn't automatically mean CRNZ needed all its best athletes centralised in Cambridge.

In some sports it would be more important than for others, such as cycling and rowing, Baumann suggested.

"But it's also important Lisa is somehow connected to part of it. It's the sports' final call."