The 16-year-old has been named in the under-18 New Zealand squad to compete at the regatta in Penrith from February 9-11.
It will be a stark contrast from the freezing Dunedin temperatures she contends with at her 6.30am winter trainings.Indeed it is not an extreme many have had to contend with; she is
one of few Otago racers to take that step. the Otago Girls’ High School pupil — who has just finished year 12 — was excited to compete for the first time wearing the national colours.
"This will be really cool, getting to pull on the New Zealand gear and compete internationally; it’s been a big dream of mine," she said.
Three weeks ago she had a trial after what she rated her best achievement — fourth place in the under-18 K1 500m at the Blue Lake regatta in Rotorua.
There she raced against some top competition, which was not always easy to find in Dunedin.
After she had been to several camps throughout the year, the trials saw her tested primarily in K4 boats, being mixed and matched with different people.
Through that the selectors could look at data to compare performances and determine who was doing well.
Racing in a team boat had been a challenge, as it was not something she did regularly.
Former Olympian Erin Taylor was now in Dunedin, so she got to train in a K2 boat with her. However, that tended to be the extent of her team boat training.
"It does make it challenging" to race out of Otago, she said.
"Not only because of the weather and the conditions on the harbour often, but a lot of the North Island clubs have a lot bigger clubs so they can do a lot more team boat work.
"So for me going into the trial when we were doing K4s, I felt like I struggled a bit with that to adapt.
"It’s different trying to fit in with everyone else’s technique to make the boat go fast, as opposed to just you in your K1 to make it go fast."
A member of the Otago Academy of Sport, she had made a lot of strength gains this year.
That had helped her improve in the 200m events, while the 500m always had been a strength.
She took the sport up three years ago, having previously had success in surf lifesaving and basketball.
She was unsure how those would fit in from now;
canoeing would definitely remain her priority.
