Jack Lopas to Under-23 World Rowing Champs in Plovdiv, Bulagria

My name is Jack Lopas. I am 18 and in my first year out of school(Christchurch Boys’ High).

Recently I have had the honour of being selected to represent NZ again, but this year at the World Under-23 Rowing Champs, Plovdiv (Bulgaria), in the Quadruple Sculls.

I have been rowing for 5 years now, 4 of which for CBHS and 1 for the Southern Regional Performance Center. When I started rowing, I was quite, in my own words unathletic, in 2013 I didn’t make the CBHS U15 squad that would travel to Maadi Cup, from that I learnt my lesson and decided I had to train more than they did if I ever wanted to be amongst or above them. I guess you can say that’s where it all started for me. In 2015 I was selected in the u19 Junior rowing team to compete at Junior Worlds in Rio de Janiero where I placed 8th in the Double Sculls. Following that in 2016, my last year of school I earned myself a Gold medal in the U19 2X at Nationals, 3 Gold’s in U18 sculling events at Maadi Cup and a Bronze in the U18 8+, Maadi Cup. This led to me being selected to compete for NZ in Rotterdam for the Junior Worlds and came away a world champion in the double sculls. Since then I have been training under Rowing New Zealand and High Performance New Zealand at my Christchurch based training centre(Southern Regional Perfromance Centre(SRPC)). At the 2017 NZ Club National Champs I took out another 2 National titles in the under-22 quad and under-20 single, as well as a silver in the under-22 double. This earnt me a under-23 trial which took play from April 11th to April 17th. While there I completed a 2km erg test and ranking 2nd overall in that , and also competed in various races. After the week of trialling I was selcted to compete in 2017’s Under-23 World Champs in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in the Quadruple Sculls.

Apart from the opportunity to represent my country at the World Champs, the training for this event involves us in 'living in' at Lake Karapiro for 10 weeks and training alongside the other NZ rowers preparing for the World Champs; Juniors through to Elites rubbing shoulders in the same facility. This is an incredibly inspiring environment to be absorbed in and, having had the opportunity last 2 years as a NZ Junior, I appreciate the value this has for me as an individual as well the strength it gives us as a rowing nation.

I look forward to representing myself, my family, my club and my country with pride at Plovdiv in July.

Making the most of this opportunity comes at significant cost; $10,000, I am grateful and humbled by the ongoing support of my family, friends, my club, rowing community and home community of Banks Peninsula in helping me fulfil my dream of representing my country. Any support you are able to give, large or small, would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks,

Jack.