Tauranga kayakers Anna Higgins and Callum Gilbert have been named as part of a 180-strong squad of top young New Zealand athletes to take part in the 2013 Australian Youth Olympic Festival (Ayof) in Sydney from January 16-23.
Unfortunately, due to a recent injury, Cole O'Connor Stratton from Tauranga Boys' College, who won the Secondary School Sportsman of the Year award at the recent BOP Sports awards, is unable to compete in the two classes he was selected for K1 & C1M.
But this has opened an opportunity for another local paddler in Gilbert to join the team.
Gilbert has just finished Year 12 at Tauranga Boys' College and has embraced the opportunity to compete at this level on the Sydney 2000 Olympic course in Penrith.
Higgins, a Tauranga Girls' College student, won the top female paddler trophy at this year's NZ Secondary Schools championships, and was recently awarded a Baytrust scholarship as well as a Supreme Sports award at her school sports prizegiving.