ANNE CAIRNS WINS SILVER FOR SAMOA
In May 2021 the International Va’a Federation announced that the 2022 IVF World Sprint Championships would be hosted in Europe for the first time ever in Sports History.
The highly anticipated event finally kicked off in England last week and proved to be a huge success with athletes from 16 different countries flocking across the globe to take part.
One of those athletes was Samoa’s very own Anne Cairns, who not only represented Samoa on the World stage, but has also secured Samoa’s first ever medal from the Championships since 1994.
Cairns previously represented Samoa in the 2019 Pacific Games where she also won a bronze medal in the Women’s V1 500m sprint.
The passionate paddler adds yet another amazing achievement to her track record after winning a silver medal in the Master 40 Women’s - V1 500 final this week, despite this being her first experience taking part in the competition.
“Winning that medal for Samoa means such a huge amount to me and my family, and also to a lot of others too I have come to realize” Cairns shared.
When asked how she felt about her accomplishment the silver medallist shared “I feel really grateful that I could be here at Va'a worlds, and just a huge amount of pride in seeing that Samoan flag raised.”
“We were a very small team here, and in the world, Samoa is quite a small nation, but Va’a is in the blood of all our Polynesian people - so to win a medal racing Va’a is for me one of my biggest achievements, and representing Samoa gives me a huge sense of pride also” she added.
Cairns shared that she had been training hard for such a long time, and that it was a satisfying feeling to look back on all the training hours and sacrifice and know it was all worth it.
However, despite her success the silver medallist’s preparations had no shortage of setbacks along the way. One of those challenges included having to undergo surgery in April to remove her appendix. Cairns expressed the concerns she had about how it would affect her racing, especially given that she would have to sit out trainings for six weeks.
She also noted that planning for an event on the other side of the world and its costs was stressful, and then having to do so in the middle of a pandemic made things even more difficult. But she reiterated “I knew how much I wanted to race, and I've been training towards it since September last year, so any hiccups or obstacles would be worked over and moved past!”
When asked what she would say to any athletes who might also be facing similar obstacles Cairns advised “whether it's physical or mental in terms of motivation or self-belief - It's hard in the moment because it's front and centre of your focus, but it won't always be like that. She added “You WILL move past it, so keep working in that direction. “It won't be easy but as they say, "nothing worthwhile is ever easily achieved".
She then highlighted the importance of finding people “you can talk to and talk things through with” such as a Coach or friend, and then shared the reminder to “always remember you can be this person to someone else.”
Cairns acknowledged the great help from her Partner for this campaign, as well as her family who she said “are always right behind me 100%”. She added “No matter what the outcome is, they are proud of who I am.”
She also recognized her sister Bridget for always having her back, acting like her big sister, and making the Samoa Canoe/Kayak uniforms happen.
Cairns shared how grateful she was to have such a supportive network of friends that show their Alofa no matter what, and thanked her friends near and afar. She acknowledged Jay and Tasi Schuster and their families, Moana Evans and her ‘Samoan paddling sistas’, and The Samoa Outrigger Canoe Association for their support of her, and more importantly of the growth and development of the sport in Samoa.
Cairns also highlighted the ‘Ipaddle’ brand for her paddle clothing, and Xylobladz Paddle, stating “My sister Maata and her husband Marty make the paddles and I’ve never used anything else!”
The silver medallist will also race in the New Zealand Long Distance Nationals in October, and then continue preparing for the Va’a Long Distance World Championships in 2023, where she hopes to represent Samoa in V1.
She also hopes to take part in the upcoming South Pacific Games 2023 in Solomon Islands.
