A record number of Illawarra athletes are preparing to head to Portugal after gaining selection in the Australian Ocean Racing Team to compete at the ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships in October.
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Six out of the 15 team members selected for the junior and senior divisions are from the Illawarra. Johnathan Crowe [Kiama], Todd Boreland [Kiama], Mackenzie Hynard [Mt Pleasant], Casey Haynes [Wollongong], Hannah Minogue [Thirroul] and Michael McKeogh [Woonona] will all represent Australia later in the year. In addition, Darren Lee [Albion Park] will be competing in the Masters category.
The 2022 World Championships, held in Viana Do Castelo, marks the first time Australians have competed in the event since 2019. In that competition, Australia collected 15 medals across juniors, under 23's, open and masters categories.
Albion Park's Lee said the fact that so many locals were selected did not surprise him as he believed the area is very competitive.
"We have got the best competitors in the country in this region. In all my experience wherever I go and whatever I compete in, the Illawarra always has the best competition," Lee said.
"So I can't really say that was a shock [for Illawarra to dominate selection], I know nearly all the guys down here that are involved in the paddling community and we do seem to have a super strong area and a long history of success. I think strength breeds strength. If you have a really solid core group of guys at the top level in the sport everyone is trying to match that. In the Illawarra we have plenty of great competitors so that makes the area better because everyone's pushing that level," he said.
Along with the World Championships, Lee will also be competing at the ICF Canoe Marathon Championships, which precedes the Ocean Racing Championships. He said training for more than one tournament, along with full-time work will make it a busy few months ahead for Lee.
"To be honest I can't train as much as I'd like to. My job consists of a 13-hour day so I can only really get in one hour four days of the week and then I've got to cram some training in the other three days that I'm off so I've got to get as much in as I can," he laughed.
"It's pretty tough but I'm used to it and I can't wait for all that is coming up in September and October."
Thirroul local Minogue shared Lee's sentiment in her excitement to be able to compete overseas again, something she has very much missed.
"It means a great deal [to be selected]. It's also special that we are lucky enough to travel again and get to race overseas against the best competitors so it's very exciting," she said.
"The last couple of years have been tough because you've been training and you don't really know if you're going to race. So when given the opportunity to go overseas like we have been now you've got to take it and that's what we've done. It's a bit of an unknown for Portugal because we haven't raced overseas competitors for some time so it will be challenging and we don't really know how we're going to go, but we're just excited to see what happens and give it a go."
Minogue said Illawarra's high representation in the Australian team was a testament to the positive environment the canoe paddling community has created.
"We've got a really good paddling community in the region. We all paddle out of Wollongong Harbour together," she said.
"It's great knowing there's that support there and people to train with and now we get to go overseas to race together which is something that is pretty cool."
She added her training regime would step up another gear in preparation for Portugal.
"Basically now I'm just trying to get my kilometres up on the water. It's hard in between shift work trying to get that done but with the weather getting a bit warmer now and it's getting a bit lighter in the morning so that makes it much easier to get the work done in the mornings. My goal is for a solid next month and then I fly out of the country in about five weeks."
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