Te Puke waka ama paddler Nicky Kingi has competed at every IVF Va’a World Distance Championships since they began in 2017.

With the exception of 2021, the outrigger canoe championships have been held every other year since 2017 – alternating with the world sprint championships – and Nicky has competed in Tahiti, Australia and Samoa.

Next week she will once again represent New Zealand, this time in Brazil.

Two years ago, she was part of the New Zealand elite team that took second place in the 24km race, and she also won the senior masters women’s gold in the solo V1 category.

“This year I decided I wasn’t going to go elite just to take a bit of pressure off, with my kids doing their sports as well.”

Kingi is part of a women’s masters crew with members from across the country that will compete in the master’s distance race.

She will also again paddle solo in the masters 16km V1 category.

Qualifiers were held in Wellington.

“You have to win the crew spot – you have to get a crew together you think might be able to take that spot at the nationals to then follow through to the worlds.”

Apart from the obvious difference of it being much hotter in Brazil than New Zealand’s winter, one basic rule was also going to mean making adjustments.

“We have to paddle with lifejackets on – which you don’t have to do here, you just have to have them in the boat – so that’s going to make things a lot hotter," said Kingi.

“It does restrict you a little, but we’ve been paddling with them on to try and get used to them.

“It has also proved tricky to get many training paddles organised as the crew is scattered around the country.

“You don’t get a lot of time to gel together as opposed to maybe getting a local crew, but it’s pretty hard to win a worlds with a local crew. It can be done, but I don’t know how often it gets done.”

It will be Kingi’s first time competing in South America but she’s no stranger to long distance racing.

Since the last distance world championships she has been to Rarotonga, where she was part of a crew that won a changeover race where crews change out at sea.

That came about due to Kingi and Raanj Rapana from Whakatāne paddling for Taupō-based waka ama club Makoha.

“Because they are fairly new, we want to help them grow the club. They’ve got connections and whānau in Raro, so we thought we’d get a team together to do that.”

She also took part in the Nā Wāhine O Ke Kai – a marathon paddle between Molokai and Waikiki in Hawaii.

“It was a super-fun six hours of paddling. And it’s very competitive.”

While Kingi has regularly qualified for the world sprint championships, she has only been once, much preferring the long-distance racing.

“[The sprint championship] is a real pressure-cooker environment. I much prefer the distance – and the older you get, the harder it becomes to do all the training [for sprint racing].

“Distance is different – it’s still takes a toll on the body, but in different ways. A lot of it’s mental which I think, as you get older, becomes a bit easier.”

Kingi’s normal solo paddling was in a ruddered waka, but she would be in a rudderless boat in Brazil.

“Paddling rudderless is a whole different skill and one I’ve tried for years to master and I’m probably better than I used to be, but still not as good as I’d like to be.

“It’s just a matter of doing the best you can on the day because you don’t get the practice.”

The world distance championships are being held at Sao Francisco Beach in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro between August 13 and 22.