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Athlete Update- William Leigh

2019 Perago Trust funding recipient William Leigh provides us with an update.Here's an update on my barefoot waterskiing at the moment. Currently I am living and training in Florida, USA. I have been here for a little over a month and will be here until the end of October. A couple of weeks ago I skied in the Southern Regional Championships and finished 2nd in International mens. My scores were 5700 in tricks, 14.8 in slalom, and 20.7 in jump. I was pretty stoked to take out the highes...

Athlete Update- Jordan Woodall

Golfer and 2018 Perago Trust grant recipient Jordan Woodall provides an update into his training and competition achievements. My start to the 2019 season was definitely a slow one. I started the year with a missed cut at the Australian Amateur Championship held in Melbourne, the event that I was a semi finalist at the year before (2018). Followed up by a trip to Sydney to play in the Avondale Am where I finished tied 32nd position. I don’t think I have ever learnt so much about my g...

Flying Buscomb’s on track to achieve greater things

Sarah Cowley Ross @lockerroomHaving run away from New Zealand in search of a breakthrough, distance runner Camille Buscomb is out to prove herself at the world champs and, she hopes, the 2020 Olympics.  Kiwi distance runner Camille Buscomb spent years on the cusp of greater things. Clearly a talented runner, Buscomb kept falling agonisingly short of breaking through into major track events around the world; events such as the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the 2015 world championships a...

Athlete Update- Seth Hope, April 2019

Rower Seth hope updates us on his training and performance:I have been training with the Waikato RPC (Rowing Performance Centre) for a full racing season now having completed the National Championships which were held in Twizel this year at the end of February. My season was quite a successful one with it being just my first year with the RPC and being required to race only in Premier events against far older and more experienced rowers than myself. I had a few successful races throughout t...

Athlete Update- Leila Walker, January 2019

January 07 2019- BMX Rider Leila Walker provides an update to the Perago Trust on her training and competition.I am writing to thank you for the incredible support I have received during 2018. This year has been a busy one for me. I have raced internationally twice and received quality BMX coaching with the Matt Cameron Race Academy. In April, I competed at the New Zealand National Championships in New Plymouth winning both my age class and the 12-14 year girls supernats titles. I raced at the U...

Athlete Update- Hannah Blackwood, September 2018

Dear Perago Trust, I have just returned home from my pinnacle event, competing in the 2018 FINA World Junior Open Water 10km Championships in Eilat, Israel. As New Zealand’s sole qualifier and representative, my coach Carl Gordon and I left Auckland on 31 August. It took 48 hours for us to get to Israel and when we did, it was a bit of a shock to the system after leaving 5 degree Cambridge to the 40 degree desert weather. The race location of Eilat was extremely beautiful. Israel can tend...

Athlete Update- Beckie Leigh, September 2018

Rower Beckie Leigh provides an update on her training and competition:  I just wanted to say a big thank you for the funding that you granted to me for the New Zealand Junior Rowing campaign and our trip to the Junior World Rowing Champs in Racice, Czech Republic.  We had an 8-week training camp prior to our departure, where we trained at Lake Karapiro and went to school at St Peter's School from 10am until 2pm. We lived for a majority of the time at the Podium Lodge, across the road f...

Greenough scores Australian title

One Cambridge’s top BMX riders has returned home from the Australian National Series with good reason to smile. Bennett Greenough competed in three rounds of the event with enough race wins to claim the overall title in his age group. Unfortunately, due to the Cambridge BMX track not being allowed to use their start gate during winter, Greenough wasn't quite able to have the same preparation leading up to the last round as his Australian counterparts, but he didn’t let it dampen his spirits....

Athlete Update - Will Thompson

2018 grant recipient Will Thompson gives an update on his training and competition:The junior rowing campaign has come to an end for 2018. I am currently emailing from Prague airport as we await our flight to come home.  Build up to racing: We arrived in Prague on the 30th of July at 2pm where we then settled into the hotel and checked out the rowing venue.  As we exited the airport in Prague, the temperature struck us, 37 degrees was not nice to start with. We settled in well the firs...

Athlete Update - Ellesse Andrews

Ellesse Andrews | New Zealand Track Cyclist Keep up to date with my journey to win Olympic gold EUROPE TRAINING CAMP Seven weeks into my European training/racing adventure, and I’m absolutely loving it. Our New Zealand team is based out of a small town called Gavirate, which is surrounded by amazing riding, and some gorgeous scenery to take in along the way too.  The first three weeks here were purely training, getting in some long road rides, and just more miles on...

Athlete Update - William Thompson

2018 Perago Trust grant recipient William Thompson provides an update on his training and competition goals heading into the World Junior Rowing Championships: Dear Perago, I am writing today to update you on how my training and preparation for World Junior Rowing Championships. We came into Camp on the 3rd of June and since then we have been busy training twice a day and completing school work in between these sessions in Cambridge. During the last weekend of June/ start of July we competed in ...

Athlete Update- Bennett Greenough

Hi Perago, The 2018 BMX World Champs last month had lots of ups and downs for me this year. My qualifiers went really well, picking up a 1st, 3rd, then another 1st, followed by another first in my 1/8 final.In my quarter final, an incident involving another rider caused me to crash on the ramp, ending my day short. I felt like my standard of riding was up there with all the top riders which just adds to the frustration, as well as giving me motivation to train even harder in the next year, to tr...

Athlete Update- Beckie Leigh

An update from 2018 Perago Trust recipient Beckie Leigh: We went into our Junior Camp in early June, with everyone flying / driving to the Rob Waddell Lodge at Lake Karapiro, and then moving to Podium Lodge in Cambridge after 2 weeks. I have been training hard over the last 6 weeks improving my fitness and getting myself ready for this training camp. We are in camp for 2 months, becoming part time students at St Peter's School, Cambridge and full time athletes training out of the Rowing New Zeal...

Athlete Update- Ellesse Andrews 03.06.18

Commonwealth Games | Gold Coast 2018 Being selected into the 2018 Commonwealth Games team was an achievement in itself for me. A huge milestone that I had no idea was even on the cards until about 8 weeks out from race day. Preparation for the event went reasonably smoothly, and I was extremely lucky to have such a welcoming team of riders and support staff to help me transition into this environment. As my key event was the Individual Pursuit, I was able to solely focus and make sure my process...

Funding Announcement

The Perago Trust would like to thank everyone who applied for funding in April 2018, there were a record number of submissions this round which was brilliant to see.Congratulations to the following eight athletes who were successful in gaining funding: 🚲 Leila Walker BMX 🚲Bennett Greenough BMX 🏌️‍♂️Jordan Woodall GOLF 🥅Alannah Mouat LACROSSE 🚴‍♂️Joshua Lane ROAD CYCLING 🚣‍♀️Beckie Leigh ROWING 🚣‍♂️William Thompson ROWING 🏊‍♀️Hannah Blackwoo...

Athlete Update: Sam Cook

2017 Perago recipient Sam Cook provides an update on his last few weeks: I travelled to Tasmania for the Oceania Road Championships on the 21st of March. This was my first U19 race for the season. I road well in the Time Trial however,  just not strong enough on the day resulting in a 15th place. The following day was the Road Race on a course very suited to me. After a tough 106km I was very happy to claim 3rd place in the U19 boys after breaking clear of the pack in the final kilometers...

Sam Gaze wins Commonwealth Gold

New Zealand's Sam Gaze and Anton Cooper have claimed a New Zealand one-two in the men's mountain biking at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, with Gaze winning gold and Cooper silver.The race went down to the wire, with 2013/14 Perago Trust recipient Gaze producing an incredible last lap performance after suffering a mechanical early into the final lap and dropping back to third.However, he fought back to second before closing in on Cooper.The pair were neck and neck with Gaze passing near the e...

Update: Sam Cook

Cyclist Sam Cook, a Perago Trust recipient in 2017 provides an update on his training and competition:In January I did my first race back from my knee injury in the Hawkes Bay at the Hub tour. After only one month of training, it definitely wasn’t an easy race to get back into things with the full NZ endurance track team there! I had a good weekend covering over 300 km over the 2 days. This was a huge test for me and I was happy to be finishing with the leaders on most of the stages however I ...

Update: Ben Kirsop

Rower Ben Kirsop, a Perago Trust recipient in 2015, 2016 & 2017 provides an update on his training and competition:I wanted to give you an update on where I'm at this season. After I returned from Bulgaria last year the advice I received was to focus on my Erg time. I took that on-board and put on some extra weight and worked towards pulling a good 2K Erg. I achieved that goal and PB'd with a 6.03 in January (in the top 2 or 3 for the WRPC) and then slimmed down to race weight to build up to the...

Kiwi Sam Gaze stuns to win opening round of UCI Mountain Bike World Cup season

Kiwi mountain biker Sam Gaze has produced a stunning display to become the first New Zealander to win an elite UCI Mountain Bike World Cup title.The 22-year-old from Cambridge claimed victory in the cross country event in the first round of the new season in Stellenbosch, South Africa, on Sunday morning (NZ time).Gaze, a Perago Trust recipient in 2013 and 2013, upset world champion and top seeded Nino Schurter, of Switzerland, beating him in a sprint finish in the seven-lap race, finishing ...

Ellesse's World

2017 recipient Ellesse Andrew's provides an update on her sporting career: 2018 COMMONWEALTH GAMES It has been an exciting couple of weeks on my journey to be the best athlete and person that I can be!  2018 is shaping up to be a huge year for me, one that will be full of experience and learnings that will help prepare me the best I can for a start position for 2020. I recently received news of my nomination, and later last week confirmation of my selection to represent New Zeala...

New Zealand names biggest ever cycling team for Gold Coast

New Zealand will send its biggest ever cycling team to the XXI Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. The New Zealand Olympic Committee has named a 33-strong cycling team, covering track, road and mountain bike.  Two of these athletes have been recipients of Perago Trust funding in the past. Sam Gaze, who also represented NZ at the Glasgow Games, has been named in the mountain biking squad while the youngest track rider Ellesse Andrews, 18, who was awarded the emerging athlete at the Halberg...

A Halberg for Perago athlete

Ellesse Andrews only took up cycling four years ago but the 18-year-old is already a world champion, and winner of a Halberg award. At the 2018 Halberg Awards Ellesse was presented with the Emerging Talent trophy after a brilliant year where she won gold and silver medals at the world junior champs in Italy, setting a new world record in the women’s individual pursuit. She won multiple golds at the 2017 New Zealand national track championships and the 2017 club road nationals, and took out the...

Lightweight New Zealand single sculler Matthew Dunham records stunning time

It won't count as a world record, but Matthew Dunham's row at Lake Karapiro on January 29 was world class.Competing in the heavyweight premier men's single scull final at the Cambridge Town Cup/North Island club champs, lightweight Dunham finished second behind Robbie Manson in an eye-opening time.Dunham's time of six minutes 42.19 seconds was over a second faster than the world's best time for a lightweight men's single sculler, set over three years ago. Manson won in 6:39.5...

Hansen takes out third in BMX elite class

North Canterbury continues to make its mark on the BMX track, with a number of good local placings resulting from the New Zealand Championships, held in Christchurch over the weekend.The meeting also decided New Zealand's 2018 elite titles.With the UCI World Cup season clashing with the national championships at Easter, the elite titles were decided as part of the South Island Championships at the Christchurch City BMX Club track in Hornby.Coming home with the national number...