Chill out for champion sportswoman

The chance to rest and relax has brought Kiwi canoeing Olympic gold medallist Lisa Carrington to the tropical shores of the Cook Islands recently.

It was a well-deserved break for the 24-year-old New Zealand flat water canoeist, who won a gold medal in the K1 200m and a bronze in the K1 500m races at the International Canoe Federation (ICF) canoe sprint world champs in Germany earlier this month.

Her gold medal follows on from her success in the same event at the London Olympics, with the K1 500m a new event for her.

Carrington spent four days in Rarotonga, time which she spent mostly relaxing, as well as a swim out to the boiler last Thursday evening with friend Shannon Saunders and a crowd of local swimmers.

“It was cool – it was really nice to get out there,” said Carrington of her time in the ocean.

Carrington was chosen New Zealand’s Maori Sportsperson of the year in November 2012, and was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2013 New Year’s Honours, for her services to kayaking.

On her return home, she will be back into training which she describes as a full time job.

“The next two years are quite serious and full on,” Carrington said, with her training leading up to qualifying events in 2015, for the next Olympics.

With such intense training Carrington says she needs time to chill out, adding that Rarotonga has been great for that. “It’s a place I’d come back to,” she said.