Chase Morpeth is 16, attends Whanganui High School in Year 12 and represents New Zealand in the very fast sport of speed skating. He has been skating competitively since the age of six.
"It was a rainy, yucky day, and Mum took me down to the Hatrick St rink for a public session." The woman running the session, Melissa Allen, remarked on his obvious ability and suggested he attend a learn-to-skate. "I did that and never looked back.
"Pretty much, anything fast or with wheels hooks me," he says. "Going really fast and being in full control of what I'm doing drew me in," he says.
"It's a unique sport and not many people know about it. In places overseas it's huge." His current speed on the flat can be up to 45kph, but he can reach 50kph on a good surface.
"As soon as I found out there was racing, I was dead set on it. I went to Nationals that year and pretty much cleaned everything up in my grade." Remember, Chase was 6, competing in a national competition and coming home with titles and gold medals. Since then, he has always been at the top of his grade, competing in all subsequent New Zealand National Road, Flat Track and Marathon events. His coach is Gary Clark.
His prowess and obvious commitment to the sport has meant his parents, Scott and Dale Morpeth, have come into the sport at a practical and administrative level.
They travel a lot to competitions. Regularly to Timaru is normal. This week Chase is competing there in the Oceania competition.
"I've been to Australia three times for skating, and I recently got back from the Australian Nationals where I got two gold medals, four silver medals and two bronze medals. I raced two guys over there that I'll be racing at Worlds.
"I've also been to Colorado Springs, USA, for the American Nationals, and I skated at the Pike's Peak International Raceway — that would be one of the highlights of my career."
There are three types of track for speed skating: banked, flat and road. Whanganui skaters train on the flat surface of Mitre 10 Mega carpark after business hours most nights of the week.
Chase wants to be a world champion which is why he is doing extra training in preparation for the World Skating Championships in Buenos Aires in October and November this year. "I'm training harder than I ever have, at the moment."
He trains every day except Friday; sometimes twice a day.
Chase is going from the dizzy heights of New Zealand competition to a stage where champions from all over the world will be competing. He says he should be ranked somewhere near the middle. He is the only male going from New Zealand and, because of Covid-induced travel restrictions, this is the first time anyone from this country has competed since 2019.
