Rower set for World Champs
New Zealand rower Bradley Leydon reckons it’s ‘‘pretty cool’’ coming from a small town and being selected to row for your country.
The 17-year-old former Arrowtown School pupil will contest the single sculls at the Junior World Championships in Trakai, Lithuania in August after smashing the talent at the Maadi Cup in March.
Leydon was named in the team last Thursday and is due to head to the high performance centre in Cambridge next month where he’ll spend three months preparing. Not bad for a fellow who only took up the sport just over three year’s ago.
‘‘It’s pretty surreal. I’m pretty happy,’’ he said.
‘‘Mum [Jill Leydon] is pretty over-the-moon. She’s pretty excited and stoked that I will be wearing the Silver Fern.’’
Following a rugby injury, Leydon ‘‘thought I better do something else’’ and took up rowing.
It was only in 2016 when he managed bronze in the under-17 single sculls at the Maadi Cup that he knew he had some talent in the sport.
‘‘The first two seasons were a bit of a battle. I sort of didn’t get anywhere too flash.
‘‘It wasn’t until really the under-17 seasons that I realised I could do this better if I actually committed.
‘‘I guess this was when I really knuckled down and gave it a good crack.’’
Knuckle down he did, beating his nearest rival, Elliot Jenkins, of Whakatane High School, in the under-18 single sculls at the Maadi Cup at Lake Karapiro by almost four seconds.
‘‘It’’s pretty cool to be from a small town [and win]. Those big Auckland schools and that, they have the money and the boats and then to go and beat them is a pretty good feeling.’’
Since then Leydon has had scholarship offers from the United States, including from prestigious Ivy League school Harvard, but for now he’s focussed on the World Champs.