Rotorua's Rivey Mutton will go up against the world's best young kayakers in Barcelona. Photo / Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media Services
Rotorua's Rivey Mutton will go up against the world's best young kayakers in Barcelona. Photo / Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media Services
A couple of teens who live next door to each other at Okere Falls will fly to Spain to take on the world's best young kayakers in April.
Rotorua Lakes High School students Rivey Mutton, 16, and George Snook, 14, are two of six young kayakers hoping to continue New Zealand's proud paddling prowess at Olympic level, having been selected in the Youth Olympic team.
They will join Tauranga's Kahlia Cullwick, Finn Anderson and Oliver Puchner and Hawke's Bay's Henry Hall at qualifying event in Barcelona in April, with a ticket to October's Youth Olympics in Argentina at stake.
Rivey was selected in the New Zealand team for the Canoe Slalom Junior World Championships last year, but was unable to attend. She has, however, been selected again this year and all things going well will compete in Italy in July.
She said she was excited for the Youth Olympic qualifications in Spain.
"I think it will be fun, I've never been to Barcelona and I've always wanted to go to Spain. I'm just trying to get faster, I try to train every day. I'm not really sure what the competition will be like, I haven't done a lot of overseas racing, I just have to try and get a good, clean run. It will be a good experience."
She said she enjoyed being part of the kayaking community.
"You meet good people and it's a fun thing to do. It should be a fun trip - George lives a couple of metres away from me, I train with him a lot."
Rotorua's George Snook competing in the men's K1 semifinals at the Oceania canoe slalom championships in Auckland. Photo / Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media
George, who also has a busy year ahead having been selected for both the Youth Olympic qualifiers and the Junior World Championships, said he was "pretty stoked" to be heading to Spain.
"I didn't really know much about it until this year, when it came up, so I thought I'd try for selections. The selections went all right I think, I'm not very good in the flat water K1 boat, but made some time up in the slalom I think. I'm going to put some flat water K1 in my training programme to get a bit of practice," George said.
The paddlers will race both sprint and slalom, with Canoe Slalom New Zealand and Canoe Racing New Zealand joining forces to send the team, with help from the Olympic Solidarity fund.
Like their senior namesakes, the Youth Olympic Games are held every four years, with 28 sports featured on the summer programme.
Athletes are aged from 15 to 18 and come from more than 200 countries around the world.
The games are used as a stepping stone for athletes, while also promoting Olympic ideals.
Canoe Slalom New Zealand spokeswoman Sue Clarke said the selection of the six paddlers was a way of helping the next Luuka Jones or Lisa Carringtons achieve their Olympic goals.
"Most of these paddlers have come through the intermediate-aged AIMS Games ranks and some of them are already starting to feature at a national age group level so this gives them another clear step in the Olympic pathway," Clarke said.
All nations must attend the qualification event in Barcelona, with spots in the Youth Olympic Games allocated on a continental quota basis.
Boys: K1: George Snook (Rotorua Lakes High School), Henry Hall (Taradale High School). C1: Finn Anderson (Tauranga Boys' College), Oliver Puchner (Tauranga Boys' College).
Additional information provided by Jamie Troughton/Dscribe Media Services.
