She claimed six gold medals and a silver in various under-16 categories.
Toy says she is excited to compete at both of this year’s events, particularly the world championships.
“Japan was the furthest I ever went last year, it was a nine-hour flight, and I was like ‘holy moly, it’s so far’,” she said.
“Now I am doing 16 hours, so I’m like doubling it, ugh, scary.”
The European countries were ones to watch, Toy said.
“The sport is quite popular there, and lots of teams are pretty sharp.”
The Whanganui Girls’ College student has been kayak racing since she was 11.
Leading into an event, Toy usually trains about 10 sessions a week with her coach, Brian Scott, on the Whanganui River.
For the Asia Pacific Cup, her preparation has been “a little bit different” because of Whanganui’s recent flood.
“The prep has been a little bit interesting because the river is not perfect to paddle in, so we have been going to [Lake Wiritoa], but it doesn’t have the same opportunities as the river does,” she said.
In Rotorua, she will compete in two K1 (individual) events, two K2 (doubles) races, a K4 (team boat) event and an age-group relay.
Toy hoped to achieve personal bests and “be proud of whatever I do”.
The “bigger picture” was to try to peak for the Junior World Championships because of the opportunities it presented.
“I want to be at my top level; it would be great if we could get into an A final,” she said.
An athlete could enter only two events at the top level, Toy said.
She will race in the K2 500m and K4 500m events.
After the Asia Pacific Cup, Toy will begin fundraising for her “expensive” trip to Canada in July.
Fin Ocheduszko Brown is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.
