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Canoe Racing NZ is delighted to announce the imminent arrival of British canoe sprint legend and former Olympic champion Tim Brabants into its world-class coaching team.
Tim arrives in New Zealand in early January to take up a coaching role in Cambridge, where he will primarily be working with the six-strong Canoe Racing NZ men’s squad.
During an illustrious career, Tim became the first British athlete to win an Olympic canoeing title when striking K1 1000m gold at the 2008 Beijing Games. He also snared Olympic bronze medals in the K1 500m in Beijing and K1 1000m at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and secured world and European titles.
Since retiring from competitive paddling, Tim, a fully qualified doctor, has stayed connected with the sport. From 2016 he served for two years as British Canoeing’s Chief Medical Officer before in early 2018 taking up a role working with elite paddlers as Podium Technical Coach at British Canoeing.
Tim, who is a good friend of New Zealand’s 2004 Olympic K1 1000m silver medallist Ben Fouhy, has a close affinity for New Zealand and its rich kayaking tradition.
“I was very happy to be offered the role in New Zealand, “explains Tim, 42. “New Zealand has a strong kayaking history with the likes of Ian Ferguson, Paul MacDonald, Alan Thompson and Ben Fouhy. More recently the women’s squad has also achieved brilliant results, which means its people have the right attributes physically and mentally to achieve. You see Kiwis deliver great results in so many sports because of their passion and raw talent.
“It is a really exciting opportunity. It will be fantastic to work alongside other great coaches who are part of the New Zealand system like Nathan Luce, Jasper Bats and Gordon Walker and to be a part of that environment.”
Married with two children, Tim is looking forward to starting his role and is excited at the prospect of helping develop a promising crop of men’s paddlers based out of Lake Karapiro.
He was impressed by the performance of Kiwi duo Max Brown and Kurtis Imrie, who reached the K2 1000m A Final at the 2019 World Cup in Poznan, and added: “Having met Max and Kurtis I immediately got a sense of two mature but young lads who are hungry for success. I’ve also met the other paddlers in the squad, all of whom are super-polite, love their sport and are all very committed. That attitude is what you need as a starting point for delivering high performance.”
Besides fulfilling his coaching role in the UK he also worked once or twice a week as a doctor in the Accident and Emergency Department at a nearby hospital. In time, he also hopes to combine his full-time position at Canoe Racing NZ with the occasionally hospital shift in New Zealand.
Canoe Racing NZ CEO Tom Ashley said of Tim’s imminent arrival: “We are ecstatic that Tim has chosen to join our coaching team. He brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of success as an athlete, coach and, remarkably, as a medical doctor. It is a unique privilege for our team to have an opportunity to work with one of the legends of our sport.
“His appointment, along with the recent arrival of Craig Mustard as CRNZ Development Coach, completes the restructure of our Performance programme. Our goal has been to build a group of world-class coaches who will work together for the benefit of our athletes under the leadership of our Technical Director, Gordon Walker. We believe that we have now achieved this goal, and we look forward to watching our team develop over the coming years.”
13 January 2020
Applications are open for Junior and U23 athletes to apply for the ICF Junior/U23 World Championships, Asia Pacific Cup and World Cups. Instructions on how to do this can be found in the Smartabase Instruction manual.
Application close dates are:
U23’s – 20 January 2020
U18’s – 16 February 2020
If you have any queries please contact polly.powrie@canoeracing.org.nz
25 November 2019
CRNZ are seeking expressions of interest for any coaches or managers who would like to be involved in the CRNZ Pathway Program for 2020.
The purpose of these programs is to ensure athletes are in the right environment, receiving the right support, at the right time, in order to maximise the opportunity to achieve their full potential.
The main purpose of the coaches roles is to support and develop the Foundation, Paddle ID and Pathway to Podium Squad athletes during a structured program.
The main purpose of the Managers role is to support the coaches by administrating the program/camps and ensuring the objectives of the program are met.
Both manager and coach roles may involve one or more of the following opportunities;
Note that these are voluntary positions. However, we are committed to exploring funding options to assist the successful coaches and manager by offering some form of remuneration/stipend. Expressions of interest close 12th January 2019.
Successful candidates will be subject to NZ Police Vetting for child protection and CRNZ policies and procedures.
Please email CRNZ Performance Development Manager, Aaron Osborne, at aaron.osborne@canoeracing.org.nz, stating what role and any tour that you may specifically be interested in. Expressions of interest close 12th January 2019.
25 November 2019
The CRNZ Canoe Sprint competition rules have been updated to align with the new ICF rule book as they apply to the racing environment in New Zealand. The CRNZ rules contain variations to the ICF rules as marked up in blue.
14 November 2019
In accordance with Clause 16.3 of the CRNZ Constitution, this is formal notice of the 2020 Canoe Racing New Zealand Annual General Meeting (“AGM”).
1. Date and Time
The date, time and venue for the 2020 AGM are as follows:
Time: 7.00pm
Date: Friday 14 February 2020
Venue: CRNZ High Performance Training Centre, Lake Karapiro
2. Elected Board Member nominations
There is one vacant Elected Board Member position, replacing Scott Bicknell who resigned in August 2019. We seek nominations for this vacant position. Nominations must be received by 5pm, 15 January 2020.
Nominations must be on the attached form and sent to CRNZ, PO Box 65451, Mairangi Bay, Auckland or scanned and emailed to stacey.plowman@canoeracing.org.nz.
Following receipt of Nominations, the Board Appointments Panel will interview selected nominees. The CEO will advise Member Clubs of the Panel’s recommended nominee, as well as other valid nominations received, by 6 February 2020.
3. Delegates
Notification of the Delegate(s) of the Member Clubs and Associate Members for the AGM must be received by 5pm, 6 February 2020
The approved form for notification of Delegates is attached. Notification of delegates should be sent to CRNZ, PO Box 65451, Mairangi Bay, Auckland or scanned and emailed to stacey.plowman@canoeracing.org.nz.
4. Proposed Motions
The closing date for proposed motions and other items of business is 5pm, 15 January 2020. Proposed motions and other items of business should be sent to CRNZ, PO Box 65451, Mairangi Bay, Auckland or scanned and emailed to stacey.plowman@canoeracing.org.nz. The agenda will be circulated after this date.
25 October 2019
CRNZ are looking at a proposed new strategic direction to promote participation in paddling. We believe this responds to the wishes of our members and fulfills our responsibilities as set out in CRNZ’s Constitution. It will also help us to become a more sustainable organisation, less reliant on HPSNZ funding. We believe that we can continue to do what we currently do well (that is, high performance sprint kayaking, and running great sprint kayaking events in NZ), but also build a strong, vibrant sport. In order to do this, we are proposing a new strategy with three pillars: Performance, Participation and Engagement/Connectivity.
We seek input from our sporting community by 20 November 2019. All feedback welcome.
25 October 2019
Tickets are now available for the Canoe Racing annual Sports & Recognition Awards to be held at the Holiday Inn, Tryon Street, Rotorua on Saturday 7 December.
The list of sports awards finalists includes:
Lisa Carrington, Caitlin Ryan, Aimee Fisher, Kayla Imrie, Scott Martlew, Kurtis Imrie, Mark Watson, Gavin Elmiger, Garth Spencer, Andrew Mowlem, Teneale Hatton, Jack Wilkinson, Sam Ferkins, Olivia Brett Sean Murphy, Matt Archer, Glenn Muirhead, Daniel Brown, Gary Waller, Lynette Imrie, North Shore Club, Hawkes Bay Club.
Recognition awards will also be awarded.
Function details are below. Please contact karen.simpson@canoeracing.org.nz for tickets. Earlybird price of $55pp by 24 November.
