Hi all,
We are already halfway through 2026 and it’s been a strong and exciting period across our sport, with positive momentum building at both club and national level.
The 2025/26 domestic season was a standout, with high-quality, engaging events delivered across the country, despite some challenges thrown at us by the weather. This was book-ended by the Asia Pacific Sprint Cup – an exceptional event hosted here in Aotearoa – where the young New Zealand team secured the Cup for the first time.
We are into the colder months now but that doesn’t mean paddling stops – there are a range of exciting winter events happening across the country over the next few months, and we are especially excited for the the 2026 Paddler Winter Series starting in August at clubs across the motu. Keep an eye of our online event calendar for all the upcoming events.
The international season is now well underway, with some pleasing performances by our athletes at the first ICF Sprint World Cups of 2026 in Europe. A highlight was Finn Murphy winning his first international medal (silver) in the Paracanoe World Cup in Brandenburg, an incredible accomplishment seeing as he only started kayaking through our PaddleAble programme in 2022. Our Junior and Under 23 World Championship team is set to compete this week in Halifax, Canada. We wish them all the the best and know they will represent Aotearoa New Zealand proudly when racing begins on Thursday NZT. Attention will then turn to a Canoe Sprint World Cup in Montreal, Canada and then World Championships, which are critical milestones in the Olympic qualification pathway.
So far this year we are seeing encouraging engagement, with more people coming into the sport through club activity. Thank you to the clubs, volunteers, coaches and officials driving this progress.
While growth is evident, it has been uneven across the network – highlighting the opportunity to lift capability and capacity more consistently across all clubs. We encourage clubs looking to grow participation or strengthen delivery to reach out – we are committed to working alongside you, and continuing to support environments to grow our club membership and offer high quality experiences.
We remain focused on strengthening the systems that support the sport. Many clubs are now using the Paddler Portal for membership, and we encourage others to adopt this over the winter period – a good opportunity to put the right systems in place ahead of next season. Alongside this, work continues on an updated affiliation model that is simpler, fairer, and better aligned to participation.
We are also seeing increasing interest from new partners and stakeholders, reflecting the strength of the sport and the opportunities ahead.
We look forward to building on this momentum for the remainder of the year and into the next summer season.
Ngā mihi,
Graham
