She says while it was a “little bit” of a surprise to be selected, “based on my placing in V1 at LDN (long-distance nationals) I knew I was up there with the best in New Zealand regardless of age group.
“That’s why I thought I probably should put my name down and see how I get on.”
It will be Nicky’s third worlds after Tahiti in 2017 and Australia in 2019, Covid-19 preventing the event from taking place again until this year.
She was part of the New Zealand team that won the six-person women’s masters title in Tahiti. She was also third in the solo masters (V1) women’s race.
“I also went to Australia in the elite team and the masters women in the V1.”
On that occasion the Aotearoa crew was pipped by the hosts in the open women’s V6 and Nicky repeated her third place in the V1 solo masters.
She says she prefers paddling in a crew and also prefers long-distance over sprint-distance events.
“I prefer the six man. You’ve got a team to share the success with for a start, if you manage to do well, but I also like getting together with a bunch of strong women that are all doing their own training and just seeing how well we can blend together and get that boat to move.”
Sprint and long-distance events are intense, but in different ways.
“Sprints are so short and very intense on your body, especially when you get to be a senior master, but [long distance] takes more mental strength as well as the physical. I think that’s where, when you get a bit of age on you, the mental toughness really comes into its own.”
She also prefers ocean paddling to lake paddling.
As for the nations to beat at the worlds?
“A lot will depend on the conditions — it could be rough, it could be flat — but there’s always the Tahitians, the Hawaiians are all out there surfing together all the time and the Australians are normally a strong contender.
“And of course, the crews change so there might be some dark horses out there, but I think we’ve got a good strong team of women this year and I’m excited to see how well we can do.”
Crew members have had individual training programmes and have been together for a series of training camps.
“It’s been fairly challenging but I’ve been sticking to the training, pretty much working it around family life and kids and sport and all that stuff. I’ve been working hard doing some big distances and getting together for training camps in Wellington and Taupō.”
Nicky is a member of Maketū Hoe Waka Club as well as the Napier-based Haeata Ocean Sports Club.
The Maketū club is a small one with little activity during winter.
“I’m on the committee down there and look after the gear and most of my trainings are up the river or out from the Maketū bar.”
“It’s a very small club but we’d love to have more members come along and give it a go.
“It’s pretty hard in a small community to get those dedicated members — a lot of people want to come and do it just for fun, but you sort of also have to have the people who want to keep coming back to get weekly trainings together.”
Waka Ama NZ chief executive Lara Collins congratulated all the paddlers who qualified and were selected for the world long-distance championships.
“Our ... long-distance nationals was an awesome indicator of the high calibre of paddlers we have here in Aotearoa. We look forward to travelling with the paddlers in August and supporting them at the event.”
