Whanganui athlete Cameron Hopkins finishing his second Ironman.
A devastating fourth dislocation of his right shoulder only fuelled Whanganui’s Cameron Hopkins’ journey toward extreme athleticism.
In 2020, aged 17, the farmer from Pākaraka dislocated his shoulder while skateboarding, then again during a rugby game months later.
His third dislocation during a boxing match that same year required keyhole surgery.
After a slow recovery through 2021, the surgery proved futile when his shoulder “popped out” a fourth time, only 30 seconds into his first corporate boxing fight in 2022, Hopkins said.
“I threw a big right hand and it just came out, clunked. My friends from uni came and my family were all there, and it was stink.”
This sent him back to hospital for Latarjet surgery.
Hopkins said his boxing career was over.
“Boxing was what I loved ... and I was right on the verge of being able to do tournaments, and I had just got my boxing licence.
“To go from such a high-high to a low-low of sitting in bed, recovering all day ... I’m not gonna be afraid of anything now.”
While playing video games one day, Hopkins looked at his character and thought “What a cool dude, I could be like him”.
“You’re not exactly going to get fit or achieve much real-life success from gaming if you’re doing it the wrong way.
“So, yeah, I just jumped on the treadmill.
“And then it was a goal of, how do I build up muscle in my shoulder?”
Hopkins’ first endurance event was the 2022 Whanganui 3 Bridges Marathon during his university agricultural commerce studies.
His next major step was an Ironman.
In his latest Ironman, Hopkins finished seventh, with a sub-10-hour time and the fastest marathon split in the 18-24 age group.
Most recently, he completed the KiwiMan Xtreme Triathlon, touted as the country’s most difficult event and among the toughest in the world.
It tests athletes with a 3.6km swim at Lake Rotomanu, a 194km bike ride and a 46km run to Pouākai Hut on Taranaki Maunga (Mt Taranaki).
“It’s the elevation that makes it the challenge,” Hopkins said, citing the 3300m elevation gain on the bike and 1600m on the run.
The bike elevation gain equals about 1.3 times the height of Mt Taranaki itself.
Hopkins’ time was 15h 10m 27s, finishing seventh overall and becoming the youngest finisher in the event’s history – for about 20 minutes.
“Until the guy who came in behind me, he was 21.
“Now we’re friends. He’s in Christchurch.”
Last year, he qualified for the Age Group Standard Distance Triathlon World Championships during his Tinman triathlon in Tauranga.
In September, Hopkins will lace up his boots for the event in Pontevedra, Spain, competing in the 18-24 category.
After growing up and working on his family’s organic dairy farm in Pākaraka, it was cool to represent his country, he said.
“Growing up playing rugby, you always think you’re going to be an All Black and, as things turn out, you’re a New Zealand triathlete.
“As much as it’s just an age group thing, it’s still pretty cool to wear the fern.”
His mother, Tania Hopkins, said the furthest he had travelled was Australia, at the age of 8 or 9.
“He actually got me to do the half-Ironman this year ... He gave me that little push.”
Hopkins would be missed on the farm, she said.
“It’s September, so we will still be calving. So it’s usually all hands on deck but we’re not gonna stop him.”
Another challenge in Hopkins’ journey was his inability and “big fear” of swimming.
“I hated swimming,” he said.
Adult swim lessons and Taupō swim teacher Shelly Clark, a “nice old lady” he met on Facebook, were vital in training him from total incapability to an athletic level.
“I was in the kiddie pool learning how to blow bubbles and kick my feet,” Hopkins said.
Work on the farm could be lonely, but the racing environment was thrilling, he said.
“You’re in the middle of nowhere, you’re alone and it’s quiet, and you’re like, I actually wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now.
“And knowing that there’s this big celebration at the end for you.”
He drew inspiration from David Goggins and New Zealanders including brain bleed survivor and triathlete Tamsin Horne and Aaron Fleming.
“We’re mutuals on Instagram, [Aaron Fleming’s] cheering me on.
“You see what your peers are doing, like, s***. People write books about this stuff.”
He looks forward to racing in Spain alongside athletes such as Hayden Wilde.
Hopkins has shared his athletic journey on social media including YouTube and TikTok, racking up to 11 million views on a single video.
It was weird but cool to see people inspired by him, he said.
“I’m no Olympian. I’m just an age-grouper.
“I’m nothing special, I’ve just put a lot of time aside to do it, you know? And if anyone puts enough time aside, they can do exactly what I do.”
After Spain, the Melbourne Ironman is next for Hopkins.
He hoped to boost his all-world athlete ranking, currently fifth in the country and 57th globally for the 18-24 age group.
Hopkins could only afford a one-way ticket to Spain for the world championship race.
He hoped to find a sponsor to support his travel, racing and accommodation costs.
Hopkins said he was not going just to finish the race but to compete.
“No stone left unturned.”
Noam Mānuka Lazarus (Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara) is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle.