Max Brown fought back tears as he spoke to more than 40 people at the official naming of the New Zealand men’s canoe sprint team for the Paris Olympic Games in Cambridge today.
Max Brown with his fiancée Izzy Marsh.
“There’s a lot of people involved and we can really feel that, out there, as you can tell,” he said, his voice cracking as he acknowledged everyone who had supported the team.
“So I guess my emotion can say how much it means to have you all here”.
Brown and Kurtis Imrie were named for their second Olympic Games at Canoe Racing New Zealand’s High Performance Centre at Lake Karāpiro this morning, alongside Games debutants Hamish Legarth and Grant Clancy.
They will be the first male K4 crew to represent Aotearoa at the Olympics since Richard Boyle, Finn O’Connor, Stephen Richards and Mark Scheib competed in Barcelona in 1992.
Eight years before, Grant Bramwell, Ian Ferguson, Paul MacDonald and Alan Thompson became household names after winning Olympic gold in the K4 1000 in Los Angeles in 1984.
Kurtis Imrie with his partner Gina Roberts outside Canoe Racing New Zealand’s High Performance Centre at Lake Karapiro.
This year, Imrie will also pair with Legarth in the men’s K2 500m race, while Brown will team up with Clancy in the C2 500m.
Imrie and Brown made their Olympic debut in the men’s K2 1000 at Tokyo 2020, where they placed 5th.
“It was awesome and a great experience, so that gave us both the drive to try to go to another one and also to try to qualify the K4 that hasn’t raced at the Olympics in 32 years,” Imrie said.
Originally from Whakatōhea, the 28-year-old has lived in Cambridge for seven years.
“It’s been awesome coming from Wellington; the conditions paddling-wise are pretty difficult and challenging down there,” he said.
“Lake Karāpiro is probably one of the best lakes in the world, and I guess being able to share experiences with the rowers and the cyclists because we do gym in the velodrome, it’s a pretty cool community.”
Max Brown improvises music to a two-minute rap in a challenge set by The Crowd Goes Wild Television presenter and rugby sevens Olympian Shiray Kaka.
Legarth, originally from Hawke’s Bay, has lived in Cambridge since joining the canoe sprint squad in 2018.
“I don’t get home much, so Cambridge is my home now,” he said. “I love it here though, it’s great vibes with all the different sports and athletes around, and flatting with different athletes is really good.”
He will head to Europe next week with the team for their final preparations. The Olympic canoe sprint events run from August 6-10 at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
“The first day is a gruelling schedule – we’ve got the C2, the K2 and the K4 all on the same day, so we’ve got four races that day and every hour, hour and a half we’re up racing,” Legarth said.
“Then we’ve got a day off, and then it’s K4, and then it’s the K2 the next day, so a little bit more spread out, but it’s going to be a big schedule.”
Clancy, born in the USA, moved to Cambridge from Auckland three months ago, after being asked to trial for the K4.
“I like it, it’s a small town, less traffic than Auckland and good for athletes.”
He said it was great to see so many family members and supporters turning out for the team announcement.
“It takes a real big team, not just the athletes, to get us to the Games,” he said.
Max Brown with his guitar outside Canoe Racing New Zealand’s High Performance Centre at Lake Karapiro.
A television crew from The Crowd Goes Wild interviewed the team after the official ceremony, where presenter Shiray Kaka, a rugby sevens Olympian, challenged Brown to put music to a two-minute rap on his guitar.
Brown, who tutors music students at Cambridge Middle School, teamed up with Olympic cyclist Ellesse Andrews to create an original song for the New Zealand Olympic team, Ain’t Just Dreaming, last November.
Recorded with Toi, a band he went through university with, it was released in February.
“It’s been awesome; I actually go around lots of schools doing talks for the Olympic team, just sharing my journey, and so many of the kids already know it or get me to play it,” Brown said.
“We actually made it to the number one new New Zealand song on the singles charts, so that was pretty special, about a month ago. We were in the top 20 for ages and then one week we just hit number one, so that was cool.”
Brown has lived in Cambridge since 2018. He and his fiancée Izzy Marsh bought a house together in Leamington in 2021 and have spent the past three years renovating it.
“It’s sometimes fun, sometimes really hectic,” Brown said.
“I’ve done it all myself, so it’s been a real thing of pride. I’ve built a deck, renovated the kitchen, two bathrooms and painted the whole house.”
He said his philosophy on home renovations also applied to Olympic sport:
“You can do anything if you’re naïve enough to start and stubborn enough to finish.”
His fiancée, Marsh, spoke of the dedication required to be an Olympian.
“Being his partner for now 10 years, I’ve really seen him grow and train every morning, get up at 6am… he’s just so dedicated every morning, every afternoon, every evening, training two or three times a day, and it all results in this one moment; it’s quite surreal and just amazing that we’ve finally got here and we’re able to celebrate it now,” she said.
Imrie’s partner Gina Roberts said she was “super excited” and proud to be part of the morning.
“There’s a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes, so I’m really glad he gets the recognition he deserves for all that hard work,” she said.
“The commitment on and off the water is pretty massive.”
She will be travelling to Paris to support the team and said she couldn’t wait.
“The atmosphere’s going to be awesome and it’ll be good to see these guys compete,” she said.
“Go the K4!”
The New Zealand men’s canoe sprint team celebrates their selection for the Paris Olympic Games, officially announced at Lake Karapiro in Cambridge this morning.
