Rowing: Strack bound for world under-23 championships

Lucy Strack has the London Olympics in her sights. Photo supplied.
Lucy Strack has the London Olympics in her sights. Photo supplied.
North End club rower Lucy Strack will take the first step towards the London Olympics when she competes at the world under-23 championships in Belarus this month.

Strack (20) is teamed with Julia Edward (Rotorua) in the lightweight doubles for the championships at Brest from July 22-25.

The New Zealand team left yesterday for a two-week training camp at Racice, in the Czech Republic, before moving to Brest.

Strack was a pupil at St Hilda's Collegiate when she started rowing with the North End club. Her highlight was to finish runner-up in the senior girls single sculls at the Maadi Cup.

She gained experience with New Zealand University crews and teamed with Edward at the Under-21 Youth Cup in Sydney last year.

"I knew this year would be a big year for me," Strack said. "It was time to step up to the top level and join our national champions."

Her first goal was accomplished when she won the national lightweight singles at Lake Karapiro.

Strack relocated to Cambridge to train intensively with the national squad on Lake Karapiro.

"We have 16 training sessions per week on the water, in the gym and on the ergometer," she said.

"There is a high level of sports science applied to our training. Twice a week we have squad racing over 11km and 5km.

"Our times are compared to world-class times and we are ranked by our our performances. Julia and I have been consistently at the top of these rankings for the under-23 squad and near the top among the elite squad."

The Rowing New Zealand High Performance Centre has all the facilities required for training with a well-equipped gymnasium and sports science testing facilities. The training rows are tracked with GPS technology and the coaches download details of the training pace.

"Being involved with top-level sport is exciting and there is an infectious enthusiasm among the squad.

"The training days are long and exhausting, but we all see the goal ahead and the bodily pain is dismissed when compared with the excitement of world-class competition."

Strack has no time for a regular job. She survives on family support and financial assistance from the Skeggs Foundation and an Apollo Projects sponsorship.

She began a diploma in sports massage last year but has had to take a break from her studies to train fulltime.


THE STRACK FILE

Age: 20
Home town: Dunedin
Education: St Hilda's Collegiate
Club: North End
Coaches: Royce Wilson, Fred Strachan, Gary Hay
Event: Lightweight single and double sculls.
Record: NZ championships: 2008, Maadi Cup senior girls singles sculls, 2nd; 2009, NZ women's premier lightweight double sculls, 3rd; 2010, NZ lightweight premier single sculls, 1st.
NZ representative: Under-21 lightweight double sculls, Youth Cup, Sydney; NZ University crew (2009); NZ lightweight double sculls, world under-23 championships, Belarus (2010).

 

Add a Comment