Hayley gears up for the world champs

A LOCAL paddler, is gearing up for the toughest tests of her life as she prepares to represent South Africa at the World Canoe Marathon Championships in Hungary as well as World Ocean Paddling Championships in Tahiti. Hayley Arthur, who has previously represented South Africa at sculls rowing said she is ‘amped’ about the upcoming challenges.

“I am extremely excited about both world championships. It’s great to be representing South Africa at Marathon World Champs again but this will be the first time I have the opportunity to compete in ocean paddling champs and I’ll be in the single (K1), so that’s pretty special for me.

“I have had a pretty lucky season of paddling and will now be capped in three canoeing disciplines: marathon, sprints and surfski,” she said.

The former St Mary’s DSG Kloof pupil believes racing against tough international competition was one way of making you stronger as a competitor.

“I think all racing adds to your experience as an athlete and it definitely benefits you. It’s nerve racking lining up against the best in the world so the more times you can do it and learn from it means the better you can handle it and the more experience you will have dealing with different race courses, conditions and situations. The competition overseas is generally higher than what we are exposed to in South Africa so we are given the opportunity to raise our game and take on the best in the business.

“I like to tell myself that racing is racing: it’s in a boat, on a piece of water against other people so that’s always constant and we shouldn’t get too wound up in the external variables. But the fact is we need to be smart about how we travel overseas: the timing of arrival and when we race, taking into consideration travel fatigue or jet-lag; and then hopefully having enough time to settle into the swing of things and be comfortable in your surroundings and most importantly in your boat before having to line up on the start.

“We can only control the ‘controllables’ so I like to focus on making sure I am on top of those things that I can control and then the rest should fall into place,” she explained.

Arthur is part of the MacSquad, led by the incomparable Lee McGregor and his son, Hank, and the uMhlanga resident said she is very lucky to have mentors of their pedigree in her corner.

“We are incredibly lucky to have someone of Lee’s pedigree and experience guiding us in our training. Having Hank around is an honour too and both of them share their knowledge with us. Lee is a tough coach who believes that champions are made not born so hard work and dedication will bring results. We train on the river and in the sea and have a nice competitive group so we keep each other on our toes, battling out a “war on water” almost every day,” she said.

Hayley is among three other locals also going to this year’s world champs. She will be joined by Jenna Ward , Kyeta Purchase and Donna Tutton.