Profile of Aaron Osborne
By Thomas Lindup 19/6/2009
When African slalom contestant Benjamin Boukpeti from Togo broke his paddle after an Olympic medal winning run most of us thought it was great to see someone pull off the race of their life. However for Aaron Osborne it was just an opportunity to see what he had missed out on.
The term “canoe slalom” has only recently been adopted for this event. This is confusing as “canoeing” usually means you only have a paddle with one blade and kayaking usually means controlled with a normal double blade paddle.
Canoe slalom is the BMX of the paddling world. Ninety seconds or so of precise technique, power a splash of bravery and dash of luck. Still a minority sport south of the equator. Although New Zealand has the all the ingredients to be a strong hold with its multitude of rivers. Europeans dominate with regularity, helped by all the events been in their backyard.
But there are a few people who are aiming to reverse this trend and bring this intense water sport dominance and popularity south. No drought this is not the easiest of tasks to take on but Aaron has the vision if not the recent luck.
Like most athletes Aaron struggles to remember when he started down this road, ‘I think it was 2002 I went with the junior development squad to Australia’. Two years later he was at Junior Worlds really getting a taste for what was ahead.
2007 saw Aaron hit some form and make a bold step onto the world stage with a 30th finish at the World Champs.’ This is the best result we’ve (New Zealand) had since I’ve started paddling’.
With races barely lasting 90 seconds the difference between 1st and 10th can be tenths of seconds. And with the unpredictable nature of water it takes a splash of luck, literally, to crack a good result. ‘You can read the river best you can, then a surge can come and the best kayakers in the world wouldn’t pick it.’ Aaron says.
After a successful 2007 Aaron’s progress suffered a blow when he injured his back on a school trip. ‘I wish I had a better story’. Most of 2008 was spent recovering and getting back in the boat. It has been a long road to get back into international competition but 2009 looks to be the year for Aaron to return to the pointy end of international events.
Ultimately, Aaron is aiming for the London Olympics in 2012. But he is aware how hard it is to get a qualifying spot. With only 21 slots available getting in can be harder than placing at the event. But he has three years to get into world beating form.
Until then focus firmly rests with World Champs and Cups, and breaking the top ten barrier. ‘This year I want to make top ten, then next year regularly make the top ten’. This would really announce Aaron as a force on the scene, even in Europe.
To make this happen there is a lot of travelling and many dollars to get to Europe to face up the World’s best in their backyard. No mean feat when you go everywhere with a somewhat unusual piece of luggage. So Aaron is well familiar with ‘sweet talking airline desk staff to get boats on to planes. ‘
But it may not be long before Aaron and other New Zealand Canoe and Kayakers will not have to make the arduous trek to practise on the World stage. As all World events as held on man made rivers, of which New Zealand has none. So the announcement for plans for such a facility in Auckland has been meet by the Slalom community with much delight.
With it all going well Aaron may have the chance to smash his paddle after his Olympic medal run, although he might be a little less reckless with his equipment.
