Oarsome Teneale

TOP KAYAKER: World Cup series K2 1000m winners Teneale Hatton and Lisa Carrington, centre in black, hope to get support to fund an entrance into the Olympic Games in 2012.

ROSS MALYON

SURFING SENSATION: Teneale Hatton, right, competing in the open women’s double ski event at the Auckland Surf Life Saving Championships held at Ruakaka in February.

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OREWA Surf Life Saving club star Teneale Hatton is not one to shy away from deep waters in her quest to be the best.

The 20-year-old is a veteran in the surf life saving scene with 16 years experience under her belt, and has now turned her hand to kayaking.

"I got involved as I wanted to improve my ski skills, and stayed with it because I liked it and I was good at it."

In fact, Teneale is so good at kayaking that her dream to compete in the 2012 Olympics is likely to become reality.

"I have applied for an AMP scholarship and as part of this there is $10,000 awarded to the person with the most votes. It's called the People's Choice Award. The scholarship money would go towards a new two-person kayak training boat and towards our 2012 Olympic campaign."

Teneale's goal is to become the fastest flat water sprint kayaker in New Zealand – and the world.

"I want to show the world that New Zealand female kayakers are the ones to watch."

So far the former Carmel College student is doing her best and leaving quite a few ripples in her wake.

In May she competed in the World Cup series in Vichy, France, with her partner Lisa Carrington, and won gold in the two-person kayak 1000-metre race.

This August the duo will leave for Poland to compete in the Flat Water Kayaking World Championships where they hope to improve on their placing from last year's event.

"We ranked in 12th place last year. We are also competing in a four-person kayak race which we have never done before and we are really excited about that."

She is member of both the New Zealand Flat Water Kayaking team and New Zealand Surf Livesaving, in addition to the Orewa Surf Club.

Head coach Andrew Towns from the Orewa Surf Life Saving Club is very proud of Teneale's efforts.

"When you are representing two sports at an international level, it is some kind of achievement. She's a great role model with our club, a shining example of how to go about the daily grind of preparing for racing."

Teneale follows a gruelling schedule with 16 training sessions a week, each lasting an hour and half.

- © Fairfax NZ News