Paddler reaches pinnacle of sport

CONGRATULATIONS to Lisa Carrington for winning the Halberg Supreme award on Thursday night.

The much deserved and very popular win is another achievement for a sportsperson who joins the list of "once in a generation" athletes.

And she's done it by herself.

The team behind her has to be acknowledged but her sport is a solo event and there's only her in the boat. The single-minded determination to win is so much more defined when there's just one person involved.

Carrington's success at canoe racing may have left her competitors in her wake but has allowed others to get a help along on her bow wave.

Funders High Performance Sport has channelled $1.2 million into canoe racing last year and $1.6 million this year. The sport has been given Tier 1 ranking, and much of the increased investment is due to Carrington's success.
Upon receiving her Halberg Supreme award last Thursday, the athlete was looking forward to new challenges and targets over the next four years culminating in Tokyo 2020.

At 27 and with two Olympic golds, one bronze and five world championships behind her, finding stimulus and goals for her career's next stage is vital.

She has been quoted as saying: "It's really hard to stay at the top because you have to keep forging new boundaries and new paths but that is what I like doing ..."
She also said: "I turn up and enjoy what I do."

Carrington has been "turning up" since she was a kid.
Whakatane's finest was born in Tauranga, raised in Opotiki and Ohope Beach, and is of Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki and Ngati Porou descent.

She was a netballer in winter and surf life saver in summer and it was her dad who suggested she try the kayak to help progress the latter.

Carrington's win last week couldn't have gone to a better role model. Effortlessly charming, with a winning grin turned into a grimace while racing, she is proof that determination and effort - with a dose of innate talent - will triumph.