Three-time world rafting champion and firefighter Anne Cairns will race in canoe sprint for Samoa at the Tokyo Olympics, after a build-up in a muddy Manawatū lagoon.
In an international paddling career spanning more than 20 years, Anne Cairns is set to make her second Olympic appearance in Tokyo. And she’s done so by spending a significant amount of time training in little more than a duck pond.
The 40-year-old New Zealand-based Samoan international juggles life as a full-time firefighter and world champion athlete, lives between two cities more than 200km apart, and trains at a range of locations on the ocean, rivers and lakes.
Among them is the 750m-long Hokowhitu Lagoon in Palmerston North – a waterway she describes as “little more than a duck pond.”
“I guess you wouldn’t believe someone heading to the Olympics would train at the lagoon,” says Cairns with a smile. “A few multisport paddlers train there along with me and I end up going round and round. In the summer months especially, it’s muddy and weedy.”
Conventional it is not – but then there’s very little that’s conventional about Cairns’ life or paddle sport career.
Dividing her time between Palmerston North, where she works as a firefighter, and New Plymouth – the hometown of her partner and fellow kayaker Carl Barnes – she has to be both versatile and creative to meet her training demands.
“In a normal week I paddle on between four to six pieces of water between Palmerston North, Whanganui and New Plymouth,” Cairns says.
“I would sometimes finish my last shift in Palmerston North and drive up to Whanganui to train there. At New Plymouth I paddle on the Waitara River or on a lake out of town or in the sea. For Palmerston North it’s Hokowhitu Lagoon, or when it is too low or weedy, out at Foxton on the river.
“The running joke is I sleep in three beds a week - in Palmerston North where my mum and dad live, New Plymouth and a bed at work - and paddle in about six different places.”
Born and raised in Palmerston North, Cairns began her sporting journey as a swimmer and surf lifesaver before taking up paddling as a downriver racer aged 17.
She quickly developed into one of New Zealand’s finest downriver exponents, performing internationally and gaining top eight finishes at both the world junior and open world championships.
But she recalls it was “a hand-to-mouth” existence on the international circuit.
“I did all the travelling on my own and I never had a coach or a manager,” recalls Cairns. “I joined in with different teams; it might be Australia or the Czech Republic. I was always on a really tight budget, but I made the most of what I could.”
She first sat in a K1 at the age of 25 back in 2007 and was fast-tracked into the New Zealand K4 programme for the Beijing Olympics. Unfortunately, her hopes of making the 2008 Games didn’t work out and after “losing the enjoyment” for sprint paddling, she quit.
For several years she focused on waka ama and multisport racing. But then in 2012 – while on a course to be a trainee firefighter – she watched Lisa Carrington strike K1 200m gold at the London Olympics.
“Watching Lisa gave me the thought that the next time the Olympics comes around [in Rio 2016], I could race for Samoa and give qualification a crack through the Oceania spot,” says Cairns.
“My mum is Samoan, I’ve always had a huge connection with Samoa and to be able to represent Samoa is as important to me as racing for New Zealand.”
Under the guidance of British coach, Richard Forbes, Cairns focused her efforts on qualifying in the K1 200m and K1 500m for the Rio Olympics. Dividing her time then between living in Palmerston North and Dannevirke - and training in the aforementioned ‘duck pond’ and a small lake in a farmer’s paddock - she reached Rio via the 2015 world championships in Milan.
The Olympic experience was a dream come true for Cairns – who finished seventh in her heat of both the K1 200m and K1 500m.
“Rio was amazing,” she says. “I guess everyone has that Olympic dream and it was my luck to have that chance to do it. The Games were everything I hoped and expected they would be.”
Yet one taste of the Olympics did not quite sate Cairns’ appetite, and believing she would forever regret not targeting the Tokyo Olympics, she went to North Shore Canoe Club coach, Gavin Elmiger, for guidance in 2017.
Juggling her time competing and training in a range of paddle sports - including surf ski (ocean racing), whitewater rafting (she's won the world title three times) and waka ama - Cairns believes her versatile background has provided ideal preparation for canoe sprint.
At the 2020 Oceania championships she secured her spot on the Samoan team for the K1 500m in Tokyo.
Having to wait for a year following the postponement of the Olympics has been far from ideal. But Cairns continued to pursue other paddle sports, and in April, banked silver at the New Zealand surf ski championships in Whakatane over the 30km distance. She also won gold at the national waka ama long distance championships in Picton.
So why has she opted to pursue multiple paddling disciplines – many of them long distance in nature - to prepare for the shorter canoe sprint events at the Olympic Games?
“I get a lot of mental and physical stimulation from all the paddle disciplines and keeping a lot of variation has meant a high enjoyment factor,” she explains.
“I love the external and environmental factors of rafting. I enjoy catching the waves in the surf ski – which you just don’t get from flatwater.
“But when it comes to flatwater, I like the fact there are no real external factors and it’s just you racing the other boats and you just have to put it out there.”
Elmiger has been open to Cairns doing all different types of paddling, Cairns says.
“I've had periods during the long build-up to the Olympics where I’ve lost my enthusiasm,” she says. “But the last three or four months it’s really come back and a big part of this is my training and racing programme.”
Earlier this month she warmed up for the Olympics by finishing a respectable fourth in the K1 200m at the New Zealand canoe sprint champs on Lake Karapiro. Now she has her sights set on Tokyo where she will be competing in both the K1 200m and K1 500m (events where Carrington is the world champion).
“My preparation has gone well and in Tokyo I just want to put down some good races and be happy with my performance,” Cairns says. “I don’t have a set place or time in mind, because conditions can be so varying, I just hope to be in the right head space to go as fast as I can.”
