Whakatāne High School’s Kaedyn Thrupp has been paddling his heart out recently with plenty of success.

He competed at the Waka Ama World Sprint Championships held in Hilo, Hawaii, a successful event for the 16-year-old who was part of a strong New Zealand side.

He helped his W6 team to bronze in the 500 metres and silver in the W12 500m.

New Zealand claimed gold in the W6 1000m, but were disqualified on a technicality.

He finished 10th overall in the individual effort, capping off a great time on the water.

Kaedyn said the chance to represent New Zealand like Hawaii was amazing.

“I enjoyed the event and being amongst some of the best paddlers in the world.

“The atmosphere was unreal, and I have created what I hope to be lifelong friendships.”

A couple of things stood out for Kaedyn.

“My highlight of the event was being surrounded by people who were passionate and like-minded people that I could interact with. Also winning a couple of medals was pretty cool.”

Waka ama is a sport he’s been involved in for a few years and one that has enriched his life.

“My waka ama journey has been amazing so far; being exposed to great opportunities and I have been fortunate enough to be coached by some of the best coaches in the world. It has really helped my paddling.”

As expected, the competition in Hawaii was of a high standard.

“Being a world event, this attracted the best of the best in the world. So, the competition was pretty next level.

“The plus side to this was it really challenged not only me as an individual but also pushed the team to our very limits.”

Kaeydn already has his sights set on 2025 and the inevitable challenges.

“Every year I set goals to achieve and better my results from the previous year, however, going into next year I will be moving up an age division, so I will have to apply more time and focus to be a top contender.”

He would love to see more people in the Eastern Bay give the sport a crack.

“In terms of waka ama, my plans for next year are to help grow waka ama within our community here in Whakatāne and try to help our local teams thrive and grow.”

Kaedyn said the conditions were very different in Hawaii to New Zealand, with the warmer weather making paddling tough coming from a Southern Hemisphere winter.

“The toughest thing we faced was trying to adjust to the climate and conditions that were present in Hawaii.”