Battle on to realise dream of rowing gold

Fiona Paterson was regarded as one of New Zealand's most promising rowers when she was diagnosed almost four years ago with cervical cancer.

But the determined Paterson, now 26, underwent treatment and not only recovered but got back on the water competitively. Less than a year out from the 2010 world championships at Lake Karapiro, Paterson is aiming to make her mark in front of her Kiwi fans.

She starts her Waikato Times diary which will run as we build up to the world championships.

First off, a little bit about me.

I was brought up on a sheep station in Central Otago, one of seven kids; it was a really fun upbringing. I went to boarding school at Columba College in Dunedin, I played a lot of different sports and got into rowing there.

In my last year at school I made the New Zealand junior women's eight and progressed from there really, into the under-23 system and through to the New Zealand set-up.

I was hooked on rowing from the start and as I began to make my way in the sport I thought I'd like to see where I could go.

I guess it can be slightly addictive. You're with your friends in a tight group; you have a lot of things in common. It's great fun at high school and the Maadi Cup is a big part of that.

Probably the career highlight so far is being part of the crew that won the under-23 gold in Poland in 2004. I've won about 11 national titles.

In January 2006 I was diagnosed with clear cell cervical cancer.

I was pretty tired and fatigued – in hindsight there were probably some signs there. But it was the first time that I'd trained that hard at the top level. I was young and I thought that it was normal – that you're meant to feel that tired.

I had a radical hysterectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. As a result of the treatment my ovaries failed and, at 23, I underwent premature menopause. It was hard to get back into rowing from there but I wanted to. I didn't train hard while I was having chemo, but I tried to keep things ticking along, training lightly and eating well. In my mind I was still an athlete.

Gradually I worked my way back – I was determined it wasn't going to dictate the rest of my life, it was just an obstacle I had to get over.

This year I was very honoured to be asked to be the ambassador for the Silver Ribbon Foundation for Gynaecological Cancer, which is something I'm very passionate about. The foundation raises awareness and provides support for women affected by cervical, vulval, uterine and ovarian cancers. I encourage people to visit the website.

In 2007 I made it into the women's eight and in 2008 we tried to qualify for the Olympics but, unfortunately, we missed out.

Last year I decided to have a year off to get some things sorted out and then came back and trained in the single scull during the winter.

I was recently selected to take part in Rowing New Zealand's summer squad to train in preparation for trials in March next year, with the world champs at Lake Karapiro very much the goal for everyone.

I was stoked to be reselected into the summer squad, especially with the group under coach Richard Tonks. I'm training with a great group of under-23s coming through, and Emma Twigg and Mahe Drysdale, too.

I've been really enjoying rowing in a single scull. I don't want to limit my options for the world champs. I'll just train hard all summer and see what happens. There are sculling options of a double or a quad scull boat.

The world champs on our own water are going to be amazing.

Before it seemed so far away – now it seems to be drawing close very quickly.

Chances of racing internationally at home are usually next to nothing, so it's cool that the public will be able to get to see the racing first hand – it's quite removed watching it on TV.

We get some good crowds at the regattas in Europe but I believe they'll be nothing like the crowds we'll get here.

My training load at the moment involves long kilometres. We usually do 20km to 30km on the lake in the morning and another 20km in the afternoon and then weights.

Right now we're concentrating mainly on training at 18 strokes a minute. We had a trial race on Tuesday – it went okay, I came second behind Emma. Next week we've got tests on a one-hour erg (indoor rowing machine), a 5km erg and a 2km erg, along with a weights test.

These days though, we're lucky we are supported by Rowing New Zealand so we can get up at a reasonable hour and have a good breakfast before we start training – there are no longer any 6 o'clock starts before work or university.

However, you're still pretty much tired all the time. You get two or three hours' recovery and then you're back into the training again. There's just a bit of time for those little housekeeping jobs and the daily routine of life.

In my down time I like to hang out with friends. I love getting down south to see my family and work on the family farm. I'm a little bit arty – I like art but never seem to get around to doing any. But I'm going to try and get out to art galleries more and listen to music. There are no iPods allowed in the boats while training but we have the radio on when doing weights – music definitely affects your mood.

There's plenty of competition among the squad. On and off the water are two very different things and most people are extremely good at separating the two.

I flat with Peter Taylor – he's part of the lightweight world champion double with Storm Uru. It's great not having to live with the people you're competing against. We don't talk much about rowing at home.

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