Whanganui kayak racers Zoe Anderson and Alexis Toy to represent New Zealand

Alexis Toy (left) and Zoe Anderson have been selected for the New Zealand under-16 team for the Asia Pacific Canoe Sprint Cup. Photo / Olivia Reid

Fifteen-year-old Whanganui kayak racers Zoe Anderson and Alexis Toy have been selected to represent New Zealand in the Asia Pacific Canoe Sprint Cup event in Japan.

The pair are in the under-16 team for the event in May.

Zoe and Alexis both started kayak racing at age 11 at the Whanganui Multisport Club, with Zoe following her dad’s passion and Alexis stepping up from casual kayaking on her grandfather’s property.

“We moved here in 2018 and my dad used to do multisport in the early-2000s, like running, biking and kayaking,” Zoe said.

“He never had a coach so when we came here and he saw there was a kayak club he thought he could learn how to properly kayak. Then my brothers came down [to the club] and I came down eventually.”

Alexis said she was “just doing really basic kayaking on a stable boat at my granddad’s”.

“My mum said I might be able to do it at Whanganui so we looked and there was a club so we joined.”

Their coach Brian Scott put them together for K2 (doubles) races because of their similar age and skill.

In 2023 and 2024 they were awarded Junior Team of the Year at the Mitre 10 Mega Whanganui Secondary Schools Sports Awards.

In 2024 at the NZ Canoe Sprint Nationals, Zoe and Alexis came away with six medals over K1 (individual) and K2 and K4 (team boat events) over several distances.

Although the girls had competed together before, they were selected as individual athletes for the New Zealand team, but being able to travel together was a comfort for a nerve-racking experience.

“I reckon if Zoe wasn’t there I’d be a lot more hesitant,” Alexis said.

The girls spend a lot of their time training, with up to 10 sessions a week in the lead-up to a competition.

Their training sessions are increasing with the nationals coming up in April.

In their limited spare time, Alexis and Zoe enjoy other active pursuits including mountain biking, hiking and athletics.

Kayaking is not the only sport the girls are gifted in, coming first and second in the 2024 Whanganui Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships for the 3000m run.

Alexis and Zoe credit their coach for their ongoing kayaking success.

“He does so much for us. He doesn’t get paid anything to coach us and he wakes up really early in the morning to come up with our programmes,” Zoe said.

“Honestly, our success is 100% credited to him.”

For Zoe, a significant goal was to be selected for the Asia Pacific Cup team, so she now aimed to be selected again in the future and potentially compete in the 2032 Olympics.

“This squad is a massive thing for me,” she said.

Alexis has no specific goals, simply enjoying the sport and seeing where things go.

“I just enjoy it and we’re doing really well at the moment,” she said.

The girls look up to New Zealand athletes as an inspiration for where their sport may lead.

“Lisa Carrington is the most successful New Zealand Olympian so she’s quite a good role model for us,” Alexis said.

They are fundraising for their trip to Japan. Donations so far include $2000 from Property Brokers Whanganui and a raffle fundraiser at Zoe’s family shop The Bike Shed.

The Asia Pacific Canoe Sprint Cup will take place in Komatsu, Japan. Zoe and Alexis will compete alongside Taylor Newman (Poverty Bay Kayak Club) and Claudine Meerlo (Hawke’s Bay Kayak Racing Club).

Olivia Reid is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.