Matehaere working on staying calm, in moment
LUCY Matehaere is ready for her biggest foray into foreign waters yet.
The 17yearold begins her canoe sprint junior world championships campaign in Bulgaria tonight.
She is racing in the New Zealand under18 women’s K4 500m team in what will be her first world championship event.
Having been to several international regattas before, she knows little of what to expect, although thinks this one will be on a bigger scale.
That brought a certain amount of anticipation, although she is trying to stay as levelheaded as possible.
‘‘I’m excited,’’ she told the Otago Daily Times from Bulgaria.
‘‘But I’m working on staying relaxed, calm and in the moment.’’
The Otago Girls’ High School pupil’s preparation has been extensive.
After several training camps and regattas since selection at the start of the year, she has spent the past two weeks in Le TempleSurLot, France.
That has allowed her to train on ‘‘beautiful water’’ and also acclimatise.
She arrived in Bulgaria this week and had been out on the water to test out the race course.
‘‘Bulgaria has many differences to New Zealand and also France where we have been training.
‘‘The course is renowned to be one of the fastest.
‘‘We trained at the course yesterday and it’s really cool to see the flags of the countries, grandstand, finishing tower, boat racks and tents all set up.’’
Matehaere is one of very few Otago racers to have made it this far in sprint kayaking.
She said being with the Otago Academy of Sport was crucial in her development.
She has access to highlevel coaching at both local and national levels in Brendan O’Neill, Mark Watson and Megan Gibbs.
Alongside that, her family and Maori identity were strong motivational forces for her.
That was particularly prominent at these championships as the under18 team symbol was the Mangopare — the hammerhead shark — which is the design on their sprayskirts.
Matehaere’s first race is at
5.48pm.
Should she make it that far, her final will be early on Saturday morning.