Ben Fouhy World Champion K1 1000m Kayaking New Zealand

It is with great regret that I announce my retirement from competitive Kayaking today.

The sport and the people that I have shared it with have given me so much over the last 15 years of my life – from the first time I ever experienced kayaking at the Blue Lake at the age of seven years old to the next two times I paddled at the ages of 13 and 14 and thought that I was going to drown, and all that followed, I am very grateful. I have achieved far more than I could ever have hoped for.

Before I had ever represented NZ I wrote on a piece of paper three goals: win the World Championship, win an Olympic Gold Medal and set a new world record. I fell short only with a silver medal but achieved the other two outright. Events of the past three months have taught me to learn to live without the elusive Gold.

For now I would just like to say that it is really not how I would like to end my career but there are many circumstances that have accumulated and I have taken a few weeks to reflect before making this decision public. For a variety of reasons I have lost the passion and motivation to continue. Having said that I am looking forward to moving on with my life and onto future challenges and wish Canoe Racing New Zealand and all its athletes the very best.

Over the weekend we had the Blue Lake regatta down in Rotorua. It was a very nice weekend with a good turn out and the weather playing nicely.

Most of us have been training fairly solidly so to break things up with a bit of a road trip and some racing was quite a good thing.

I was pretty happy with the racing and to have my injury at bay gives me some confidence for the next block of training. It was great to see the depth in the sport continuing to improve. A lot of work for most of us to do yet but at least it was respectably paddling with most of the A final paddlers in the 3.30-3.40 range.

As you can see an idyllic setting.

Its been an awesome weekend for New Zealand sport with the New Zealand Rowing team winning ten medals at the World Championships which have been held at Lake Karapiro, Cambridge New Zealand. Three Golds, Three Silvers and Four Bronzes.

By all accounts the organisors have done a stunning job of running the championships. Yesterday morning (Saturday) after our 5km time trial a few of us loaded up our kayaks and headed down to watch the rowing. Amongst the highlights in which there were many we found in particular the mens pairs to be something else – an absolute ball breaker of a race. As psychological as it was physical it came right down to the wire with only .3 of a second over six and a half minutes separating the highly respected British crew and our boys who took the title.

Mens pair Hamish Bond and Eric Murray

The womens pair of Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown administered a severe beating to the rest of the world to win by a convincing margin.

In the Womens single Scull Emma Twig from New Zealand won her first World Championship medal to take the bronze with Multiple World Championship title holder and Olympic Bronze medalist Mahe Drysdale taking the Silver after a difficult campaign managing a back injury. Needless to say the atmosphere was something special.

On the way home we pulled over at Mercer and Troy and I enjoyed the Waikato river for our last training session of the week. A very nice way to round out a memorable day.

Great times is the best way to describe the feeling at training at the moment. This morning the team was rewarded for our 6am start with pristine conditions.

Having said that it has been an interesting time with past coaches who have recently lost their jobs still having a crack in the media for the fifth week. Its amazing! The threat of legal action against the administrators who are trying their hardest to make things better for the paddlers has only seemed to create a greater sense of solidarity amongst the senior members of the team.

Below a picture from our squad session at Greenhithe

Sam, Erin,Mike, Myself,Troy,Zac,James,Scotty

Troy fished this one out this week. 13 years earlier Troy and I at a Wild Water Development camp courtesy of Aaron Cox and Phil Dooney. Me 5th from the left and Troy 6th from the left.

Hi All

It’s not good to see all the controversy around kayaking in the media. I’m disappointed I have been dragged into it in the way that I have – especially since it is not really about me. As I understand it CRNZ and SPARC have undertaken a pretty comprehensive review of the high performance program based on two international trips earlier this year, which I was not part of, and they have come to some conclusions that change is required. I can understand how that creates pressure and difficult situations for people and I guess it is up to them as to how they choose to deal with that. I have to be honest however and say I would prefer if they left me out of it.

We have given some thought to correcting some of the things said about me and our agreement with CRNZ and SPARC but to be honest I do not want to get involved in the politics of it all and certainly see no benefit to anyone or the sport by engaging in any of this personal stuff. To my mind no one wins.

Reality is I love to race for New Zealand on the international stage, nothing fires me up more. I am driven by wanting to be the best athlete I can be and enjoying the hard work and focus that requires. Winning on that top international stage is the key – it is us against the other top class international paddlers not each other that really counts. I am getting no special protective treatment around selection. There are no restrictions on another New Zealand kayaker competing against me next year at the three world cups and securing that K1 1000 spot for the world champs – it is on CRNZ’s website if people want to go and look. . Even if I end up qualifying the boat for the Olympics I am not assured of selection.

And that people is what my life is all about at the moment – nailing the K1 1000m at the world champs in 2011 and qualifying the boat for the Olympics. Really focusing on what I have to do to ensure I am going faster than ever before for those 2-3 key races towards the end of next year. The competition is so intense now, way more so than I have ever experienced and that is a challenge I relish. I am working really hard on some technical , balance and strength aspects to my kayaking over the next 4-5 months on a very controlled and managed program, aiming to be race ready for the World Cups and well set up for the World Champs.
A second and fourth at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics respectively really has you questioning what it is you have to do to get better, and that is what we are now focused on.

Anyway to wrap up it’s great to back into the full swing of training. Post worlds we had taken some time out to freshen up and recover and get on top of my wrist injury which is now a lot better. On Thursday I paddled just over 20km which ordinarily is not much but it’s a lot more than I’ve been able to paddle in some time. Below is a screen grab from our video technique session out at Greenhithe the other day. It was probably one of the nicest days weather wise for a long time. To be out on the water with the other senior New Zealand paddlers and sink our teeth into a solid training session felt really good. There was a great atmosphere and feeling of solidarity spiced with a general consensus that we were there to go about our business and not be distracted by other events.

Today was important for me and another improvement and step forward on my return to the sport. We are very pleased with my 3rd placing in the B Final. Also pleasing was my time relative to the winner who arguably was a serious medal contender who like many other class athletes here didnt cope optimally with the conditions in the semi finals. Obviously comparing A Final and B Final times is pointless as there was over and hour between them and an obvious shift in the wind. However a very impressive Final to watch. Congratulations to Max, Tim and Aleh.

Overall the best 1000m I have been able to put together in a long time and there are no mysteries as to where to from here. I feel confident with the new opportunities I can get back to my best and from there build on that. Im very excited about the next two years.

Hi there,

Just a quick note to say thank you for all the support!!!

As many are aware we are now in Poznan, Poland contesting the World Kayak and Canoe sprint World Championships.

Today we had the heats and semi finals for the K1 1000m. It is my first time in the start gates since the Olympic final in Beijing. I have to say it is nice to be back competing.

The conditions today were testing for the best of paddlers. In my heat a fellow competitor fell in while in the start block and Ive now heard of 5 other competitors taking a swim with in a half hour period due to the very strong tail wind and waves and swell. I didnt paddle well enough in the heats and paddle to my seed therefore ended up in a very competitive semi final draw with some serious class paddlers.

I am pleased that I adapted to the conditions (Thanks to K4 paddler Mike Walkers surf ski paddling tips) and used all of my own experience to paddle comparatively 5 seconds better in the semi final than I did in the heats to finish 5 seconds behind the winner of our semi final. In other races my time was far more competitive although as always one needs to be careful comparing one race to another. It is possible though in other races I could have made the A final anyhow given my build up this is reality.

Next stop is Saturday morning B Final with Mr Van Koeverden and many other very good paddlers.

It is nice to finally be able to update my blog with a level of certainty around my direction for the next few years. For sure it has been a bumpy year but it has been worthwhile as I now have a fantastic opportunity to prepare for the London Olympics with some clarity.

Thank you to my family, friends and sponsors and the NZFA, CRNZ and SPARC.

We are currently in San Diego training at the USA Olympic training centre. The environment is very nice with a conducive climate for training, a good sized lake with a 3km course. It is a positive place to be with other World class athletes who are driven with the same motivation. It has been interesting learning about other sports and seeing how different athletes train.

I have been dealing with a wrist injury for a while. It is improving slowly and has been quite uncomfortable although its not hard to find perspective. Only a few doors down we have the current World BMX champ and the next best USA rider both with collapsed lungs and a lacerated liver with their Worlds only a few weeks away! If there is one constant in sport it is adversity and it seems that even World Champions arn’t exempt! It is no secret that this year has been far from desirable as far as preparation goes and this seems to be one more bump in the road. I am looking forward to racing in Poznan and doing the best I can with what I’ve got.