Whanganui’s Olympic kayak racer Max Brown returns to Whanganui High School

Olympic kayak racer Max Brown returned to Whanganui High School to talk to students. Photo / Fin Ocheduszko Brown

New Zealand Olympic kayak racer Max Brown credits growing up in Whanganui as a major contributor to his sporting success.

The 31-year-old returned to his former school, Whanganui High School, to speak to students on April 30.

Born and raised in Whanganui, Brown graduated from high school in 2012.

He said he had an amazing upbringing in the River City, climbing Mt Taranaki and Mt Ruapehu, paddling on the Whanganui River and fishing at the bar.

“I’m really proud to be a Whanganui boy ... I have no shame coming from Whanganui, I think it’s one of the greatest places to grow up,” Brown said.

“[It’s] one of the reasons why I ended up in the sport of kayaking – I grew up in such an adventurous way.”

Brown began racing at 14 at the Whanganui Kayak Club, coached by Brian Scott.

“I really enjoyed his company and mentorship and I really enjoyed being competitive out on the water with people,” he said.

After high school and a gap year, Brown studied music at Victoria University in Wellington.

In his second year, Brown, aged about 20, suffered a slipped disc injury in his back and it took him three years to fully rehabilitate from the pain.

He said he was close to giving up but stuck at it through resilience.

In 2021, three years after recovering, Brown represented New Zealand at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

“I’m very proud and privileged to have gotten there. Obviously, it took a lot of hard work to go to the Olympic Games, it requires a lot of things to align,” Brown said.

Max Brown won gold in the open men's K1 1000m race at the 2021 NZCT Sprint Kayak Nationals at Lake Karapiro. Photo / Georgia Schofield

He became the 1398th athlete to represent the country.

Brown and his K2 (doubles) partner, Kurtis Imrie, made the K2 1000m final despite ranking 15th in the world.

The pair placed fifth in the final, with a time of 3m 17.267s, and set a New Zealand Olympic record for men’s K2 1000m in the quarter-final with 3m 10s.

The quarter-final time would have been one second off a bronze medal and 1.5 seconds off an Olympic gold.

“We were probably the happiest fifth place-getters at the Olympic Games because we had improved so much,” Brown said.

Brown was selected again for the 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris.

In the K4 (team boat) 500m, Brown and his crew were the first New Zealand men’s K4 crew to reach an Olympic final since 1984.

The crew placed eighth in the final with a time of 1m 22.19s.

They set a New Zealand men’s Olympic record in the quarter-final with 1m 20.56s.

“Our goal was to win a medal but we fell short. In sport, you can turn over every stone, give it your best but still not achieve or win,” Brown said.

Brown said his upbringing in Whanganui taught him to intentionally connect with the community he was in.

“Here, I got a lot of support from the likes of the Future Champions Trust, the [Arthur Wheeler] Leedstown Trust and my coaches – I had a very supportive network.

“It is a pretty hard journey that we follow so you do need that support, financially and guidance-wise.”

Brown won 11 national titles in team boats but only one individual K1 title.

He put that down to his ability to communicate and work as a team, which he learned as early as primary school.

“For me, it was the basic stuff you learn at primary school like respecting your environment, respecting your teachers and teammates,” he said.

“Being in a high-performance team at the Olympics, you are in extreme pressure-cooker environments where, every day, you are getting judged on your numbers.

“Being someone who genuinely cares for people and creates really good relationships, you become the person that people want to be a boat with.”

Now based in Mt Maunganui, Brown’s main goal is to compete in the Coast to Coast event for the first time in February.

He will also compete in several surf lifesaving carnivals but has not set a long-term goal yet.

Fin Ocheduszko Brown is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.