Central Otago pupils Finn Butcher and Jessica Bailey are making waves in the sport of whitewater kayaking.
National slalom titleholder Finn (14), of Alexandra, has been kayaking since he was a toddler.
Finn won the under-14 K1 title at the recent New Zealand open whitewater slalom championships on the Tarawera River, at Kawerau, teaming up with Marcus Norbury, also of Alexandra, to win the under-16 C2 title as well.
The national open championships were held at Easter and followed the national secondary schools kayak championships, held on the Mohaka River in Hawkes Bay. At the secondary schools event, Finn collected five national titles.
The year-10 Dunstan High School pupil is a member of Central Otago Whitewater and hopes to be selected for the national junior development squad to compete in Australia later this year.
Finn has been competing since he was 9 but his father, Dale, who is also a kayaker, said his son's introduction to the sport came far earlier than that.
"When he was really little, we'd take him out on the lake [Dunstan] in a kayak tied to my kayak with a bit of string," Dale Butcher said.
Finn spends up to two hours, three or four times a week training on the water. His regular sessions include a run through the Roaring Meg rapids every Tuesday night. The young kayaker enjoys the challenge of the whitewater run. The stretch is defined as grade 3 - with grade 1 being flat water and grade 6 so rough it is described as "unpaddleable".
Finn enjoys the adrenalin rush of the sport.
"I just like the whole pressure of the competition, zoning out at the start and focusing on what you're going to do.
"I can't hear anyone yelling from the bank, I'm just thinking about the run."
His best time at the nationals was 1min 13sec, and the aim was to negotiate a series of gates on the river without hitting the gate poles or missing any in the sequence.
Finn hopes to compete in Europe eventually, following in the wake of several former Dunstan kayakers.
Jessica (13), from Mt Aspiring College, is one of New Zealand's rising whitewater kayak stars, and like any talented teenager, she dreams of competing at the Olympics.
She showed her potential at the New Zealand secondary schools championships and the New Zealand open championships, winning three gold medals, a bronze medal and an age-group trophy.
Kayaking is in her blood. Jessica's father, Roy Bailey, has been a stalwart of Central Otago's whitewater kayaking scene for more than 20 years and has coached and supported many of the district's teenagers to national competition level.
Now it is Jessica's turn in the limelight, after first trying her hand at top competition two years ago, when the secondary schools and open national championships were held on the Hawea River and Roaring Meg.
She was third in her age group then, but is now the under-14 K1 secondary schools champion, after winning the K1 slalom and down-river sprints on the Mohaka River.
Jessica then combined with Shilo Gibson (17), of Lake Hawea, who is in year 13 at Mt Aspiring College, and Cromwell College's Alana Woods (17) to compete in the under-18 K1 team event. They finished third but were not awarded the bronze medal because they were not from the same secondary school.
At the New Zealand open championships, Jessica and Shilo combined to win bronze in the open women's K1 team event, while Jessica also won the under-14 women's K1 event.
Next year, Dunstan High School hosts the New Zealand secondary schools championships on the Hawea River, while Central Otago Whitewater is hosting the open national championships on the Roaring Meg.
