KAYAKING: Autumn goes gold early for teen trio

SHANE HURNDELL | 11th March 2010

Mention golden summers and a Karamu High School trio of Aimee Fisher, Jordan and Amon Pearse know all about them.

They've collected a phenomenal share of gold medals during the past fortnight and there could be more to come during the next fortnight. Fifteen-year-old Year 11 student Fisher won eight golds at the national kayaking sprint championships in Rotorua a fortnight ago - a repeat of last year's haul.

Seventeen-year-old Jordan Pearse, her school's deputy head girl, won three golds in Rotorua and her 15-year-old brother, Amon, two. Last weekend, they were members of their school teams which won gold at the Hawke's Bay Secondary Schools Canoe Polo Championships at Flaxmere. Today, they travelled to the national surf-lifesaving championships at Ohope near Whakatane and, from March 22, they will be competing for some of the fancied teams at the national secondary schools canoe polo champs in Wellington.

"All the sacrifices have paid off ... we don't get to as many parties as we would like," Jordan Pearse said.

The trio were prominent in the 28-strong Hawke's Bay Kayaking Club contingent which retained the Tainui Shield for the top club at the nationals and won the top junior club title for the fourth consecutive year.

"Tom is the father of one of our club coaches, Phil Dooney, so that was a nice touch to the weekend," said the club's head coach, Pip Pearse (the mother of Jordan and Amon), who also won gold at the nationals.

Fisher and Jordan Pearse hope to represent New Zealand in kayaking at the Olympics in the future. Their more shorter-term aim, however, is to make the New Zealand under-21 canoe polo team for next year's Oceania champs.

While rapt with the coaching they receive from Pip Pearse, Jordan pointed out the trio have also benefited from having New Zealand representative Scott Bicknell representing the Hawke's Bay club. Bicknell beat Olympian Steven Ferguson in the K1 200 at the nationals. "Scott is a big influence on us and it's good he still represents Hawke's Bay despite being based in North Shore for his training," Jordan said.

 The surf lifesaving nationals, where they will be among 1518 competitors, were their immediate focus when SportToday caught up with them earlier this week.

Fisher will represent her Ocean Beach Kiwi club in the under-16 ski and taplin relay events.

 Amon Pearse will represent Waimarama in under-16 ski events while his sister is in the Waimarama under-19 girls long course four-person team which will attempt to retain their title and will also represent the team in the short course event and the under-19 ski.