Claire O’Hara is Britain’s most successful kayaker in history. (photo Jez)
CLAIRE O’HARA has been involved in sport since a young age and started kayaking with Leeds Canoe Club in 1996. While at Leeds Metropolitan University she became the captain of its Kayak Club and was also awarded a Carnegie sports scholarship.
Since then Claire has excelled at nearly everything in the kayaking world and after winning her place on the Great Britain team has gone on to become the world’s most successful freestyle kayaker and the most successful British freesyle kayaker in history. She is the current world champion in freestyle kayak and squirt boat kayak.
In this exclusive interview Claire talks to us about her successes in the sport around the world, her work with young people and her ambitions for the future.
Were you ‘sporty’ from a young age and when did you first get involved in kayaking?
I have always been sporty and grew up playing soccer, windsurfing and body boarding. In fact I would be involved in any and every sport I could at any chance I got!
When I was 9, I first tried kayaking on a lake near home and really enjoyed it. I got in a boat again on a week’s canoeing trip on the Wye when I was 12 and that was it – I was hooked. Every chance I got I would jump in a boat, especially a kayak.
Then, when I was 15, I joined Leeds Canoe Club and kayaking became my main focus and sport.
Throwing huge tricks on the Gabr Wave Ottawa Canada. (photo by Phillip Robert)
Could you tell us about your time at Leeds Met University Kayak Club and the success you had there?
I studied a degree in Sports Development at Leeds Met University from 2001 until 2004. During that time I paddled with Leeds Met Kayak Club. It was a super active club, and as an already experienced whitewater kayaker, I got to go on many amazing adventures with the club. We paddled in the pool twice a week and took part in river trips, surf trips, canoe polo competitions and freestyle competitions at the weekends.
In my final year I received a sports scholarship from the university to support me in my paddling. This same year I made the finals at the National Student Rodeo Kayak Event and also was captain of the Kayak Club.
In 2004 when I left the university I started working for Carnegie Great Outdoors, Leeds Met University’s outdoor education department. I still coach for them every autumn in the Lake District. (Leeds Met University is now known as Leeds Carnegie University).
My time at Leeds Met University set me up, not only for a career in sport and the outdoors, but also for a successful life as an athlete. It gave me a real insight of what life as an athlete would be like. The level of support, commitment and drive needed to pursue the top level in competitive sport and also how incredible this lifestyle could be. I had access to sports nutritionists, physios, mentors, strength conditioners and sports performance analysts. It was a pretty rare and unique opportunity for a developing athlete in my sport and position at the time.
As well as all this, my time at Leeds Met gave me the buzz for international travel with my kayak after hearing stories of other students’ travels and trips. So much so that the year after leaving I travelled to kayak in Austria, Switzerland and Nepal, all in just the one year and the journeys haven’t stopped since!
Celebrating with fellow competitor Emily Jackson in Idaho, USA. (photo Phillip Robert)
Between 2001 and 2006 you were competing in freestyle kayaking before you made the British team. Could you tell us about some of your experiences and achievements between those years?
Back in those days there were some amazing competitions called the Peak Challenges that ran across the UK and also in Nepal. My first freestyle competition was one of those events and really drew me into the sport. Based on fun and participation, it was a weekend of non-stop action and fun. We would meet on a Saturday morning and take part in freestyle, boater cross and extreme slalom races. On the Saturday night there would be a big gathering and usually a fancy dress party and big meal for everyone and on the Sunday there would be finals and a massive prize giving where the new and up and coming competitors would win prizes alongside the professionals and top GB athletes.
I loved those events and they really drew me into the sport of competitive freestyle. The ability to compete in a super fun and supportive environment yet against some of the best paddlers in the world was insane. It set me up with a really good approach to competition and a really high standard of where I could be and what level I could reach.
Racing in Idaho USA. (photo by Philip Robert)
These events were also the British Championship series and I quickly found as I got more experience in the sport that I was soon competing against the best paddlers out there and eventually finishing in the top few and actually winning the events. It was a very exciting time.
The event that stands out for me the most during this time was the Himalayan Peak Challenge in Nepal in 2004. It was my first international freestyle event. Not only did I win this event against some incredible paddlers from as far away as NZ and the US but I got to compete on some big technical rapids and in a challenging freestyle hole. I won a massive Buddha trophy that I had fun flying home with.
What did it mean to you to then break into the British team and was it a big step up from the races you’d been competing in before?
It was huge moment for me making it into the GB team. I actually went for the team a year before, but I had missed the entry application deadline, so although I competed and made top three I didn’t get the chance to go to the Australia Worlds.
This fired me up so much to make the team that in 2006 when I finally got my place it was amazing. In terms of the major international team competitions I was in some ways prepared for the standard as a lot of my British competitors were on a par with other top paddlers in the world. It was just that there was suddenly a much bigger depth of field. There was a lot more paddlers able to throw down exceptionally good rides and there was a lot more hype around the events. It was also strange that my first international event was at Nottingham in the UK so I was competing in familiar territory on my home ground.
Media watches as Claire performs at 2013 World Championships. (photo by Greenriver Photography)
You are the current world champion in freestyle kayak and squirt boat kayak as well as being the most successful female freestyle kayaker in the world and the most successful freestyle kayaker in British history. What drove you to become the best and what have been some of the highlights on your journey to the top?
Its kind of crazy really as in my eyes I’m just Claire. I just go kayaking with my mates on amazing rivers around the world just as I did in the early days. I’m just extremely lucky and fortunate to have had great success in my sport and be living my dream as a professional kayaker but at the end of the day i’m still just Claire.
My goal has always been to be as good as I possibly can. If I have seen other paddlers throwing moves I have always set about trying to be able to do them myself and challenge myself to complete them no a matter how technical or tough. I think my success and the opportunities that have come up as a result have given me a platform from which to motivate,encourage and inspire others to follow their dreams and be the best they can possibly be.
I have been lucky to be part of a generation of female paddlers that have driven the standard of our sport further than we even dreamt possible and in turn inspire the next generation, not just to be good, but to be great. With an underlying passion of ensuring that ultimately throughout training and life, the most important thing is to do everything because you want to and because you enjoy it. As a friend of mine and exceptionally talented paddler Emily Jackson would say “it’s about living life without compromise”.
Celebrating the win. (photo Greenriver Photography)
Competition has taken you all around the world. What have been some of the greatest experiences and some of the hardest?
One of the greatest moments has to be the latest Worlds. The prelims in freestyle stand out as I was so prepared for that day that I just went in and threw down with very little nerves, just a perfect amount of excitement and I got my personal best score to date! I can’t remember the ride or what I threw I just know it felt awesome to be so ready for an event.
Then a few days later on finals day. In the morning I put down some epic squirt boating rides, again hitting personal best scores and nailing some ridiculously complicated tricks, even under the pressure of a finals event to win the gold medal. I also got to watch and share in my partner Jez winning a bronze medal in his event. All this before heading out to battle in the freestyle finals.
Claire on the World Championship podium. (photo Greenriver Photography)
It was insane. With all my friends and family watching and hearing the announcement that I had won, in the last ride, right at the very end, was an amazing moment I will never forget. I would probably say that this was also one of the hardest moments. Being there in the finals, knowing that I could do it, that I had more than enough moves and had performed much higher scoring rides at several other times in this feature. But also knowing that I now had to do it, and that it would be my last chance, was pretty tough. Having not performed as well as I can in both my first two attempts and knowing that my closest competitor, Hitmoi, had set a pretty awesome (but beatable) score, and also knowing how much I wanted to just nail an epic ride and win the world championship title. Especially with all my family and friends watching. Knowing that it really was now my last possible chance. That was probably one of the hardest competition moments of my life so far.
Could you tell us more about your work as a coach and your passion to help and motivate young people?
I work as a coach in various capacities around the world. I love sharing my passion for and knowledge of the sport and of sport and adventure as a whole, coaching is a great medium for this. Especially with young people as there is such an incredible opportunity for life learning and development to take place through these sports that to be able to coach, guide and mentor young people into and through these experiences is a rewarding way to inspire them and help them develop.
I have personally gained so much as a result of the opportunities given to me by my family, coaches and friends over the years that I enjoy the chance to give something back and give others the opportunity to experience this wonderful life through these sports.
Coaching in New Zealand.
How important is blogging to you and what’s it like being able to connect with other like-minded people from around the world?
Again, blogging is a means for me to share what I am so fortunate to have. I like documenting and reflecting on my experiences but also like giving others the opportunity to see what is possible what can be done and what is out there. I think blogs allow this to happen in a very relaxed, real and personal way.
What does the rest of 2015 have in store for you and what is the next challenge or competition you’re set to take part in?
2015 is a big year. Already so much has happened I have travelled to Australia, New Zealand, Uganda and the UK with my coach and great friend Dennis Newton to train on some of the best waves and I am about to fly out to the USA to compete on the USA freestyle before heading to Canada to train and compete at the 2015 World Championships.
This year’s world championships is my next major event although I will be competing at the Go Pro games in Colorado before then, defending my titles at the Worlds this summer – that’s the huge event. The main one I’m excited for. I’m going to have the chance to put my new found wave skills to the test and I can’t wait.
The adventures and training never stop and I love it.
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