LAST year the paddling world sat up and took notice of Durban-based paddler Jenna Ward when she ground her way to a bronze medal in the U23 women’s K1 race at the 2014 ICF World Marathon Championships, however the youngster’s fledgling international career has bloomed in 2015 and she is looking to press on even further in 2016.
The 22 year-old has been covering huge amounts of water both in the boat as well as during her vast travels with her most recent trip being a successful outing to the ICF Ocean Racing World Championships in Tahiti where she produced a mature, measured performance to claim the gold medal in the U23 women’s surfski clash.
The ocean racing gold was the cherry on the top after a highly successful year of racing for Ward who places her Marathon World Championships medal at the top of her 2015 achievements pile.
“I have had a great year and I am extremely happy with what I have achieved this year. I have been successful across all of the disciplines that I have taken part in however my bronze at Marathon World Champs was definitely my proudest achievement. The field was so strong and it was my main goal going into this year after I also won bronze last year so it definitely meant a lot more to me winning that medal again,” a satisfied Ward mentioned.
With flat-water marathon racing being her focus for the year, it is admirable how well the MAC Squad star has done across the other disciplines with her surfski career also taking off in 2015 courtesy of a number of high profile wins in the local Durban surfski series.
Ward has however confirmed her focus will once again be on the flat-water marathon circuit when the 2016 season kicks off.
“2016 will be my last year of U23 so I really want to push as hard as I can for another medal at Marathon World Champs – maybe even gold! I will paddle the K2 event with Kyeta (Purchase) again and we did well this year so we are hoping to do even better in 2016 in the open age group which is exciting,” a positive Ward added.
Ward has been undecided about whether or not she was going to tackle the KwaZulu-Natal river marathon season however with her FNB Dusi Canoe Marathon partner flying out from overseas she is also eager to tackle the gruelling season head on.
“The Dusi is never the main focus but I enjoy the race and have a partner coming to South Africa from overseas for next year’s Dusi so we are going to work really hard for that! I am not a good runner and don’t enjoy it but I have started my running training so we will see how it goes” Ward said.
The Elite Athlete Development Programme is something that Ward has praised in helping her achieve such impressive results in 2015 and with this being her second year as part of the KZN Department of Sport and Recreation backed programme she has been able to see herself improve year on year.
