Durban North resident, Hayley-Jo Nixon is the Women’s Surfski World Champion. She was born and raised in Durban North and after attending school in Durban North and Kloof, Hayley went on to study sport science and biokinetics at Rhodes and TUKS. This was when the rowing bug bit!
TUKS was where the national rowing team was based, and it wasn’t long before Hayley started rowing for her varsity. She spent 10 years making her way through the rowing system to world level. While living in Jo’burg she was working as a biokineticist part-time while rowing full time in the SA team (2007 – 2012).
She also spent 13 months living in Australia before coming home to Durban. This was when Hayley was invited by friends to go surfski paddling – and she fell in love with it! Since 2013 she has been racing for South Africa – flat water canoeing and marathon surfski racing.
“When I first started paddling, I was known as The Girl in the Reeds… I was hopeless!” laughs Hayley. “It was very humbling, but I knew I could be good at it so I persevered.”
She tried out various types of paddling, trying to find her niche. In 2015 she qualified for the ICF Ocean Racing World Championships in Tahiti, and came 5th. “Something in me clicked then, and I knew I wanted to be in the ocean. It was challenging and I wanted to get better at it. I had two years to train for the 2017 World Champs in Hong Kong.”
Winning the ICF Ocean Racing World Championships in 2017 is the highlight of Hayley’s career so far. She went into the race as one of the top three, and won by 30 seconds! “I experienced a moment of relief – those ten years of rowing weren’t for nothing! Part of me thought that was it for me, but the opportunities since then have turned 2018 into the best year!” says Hayley. She now has more sponsors which means she can participate in more big races overseas – and she hasn’t lost an international race this year!
Equality for women
“Surfski is becoming more professional – big companies are funding more races, making it more competitive,” explains Hayley. “There has been a big shift in women’s racing. The competition is fiercer, making it more exciting! We are now able to stand up for ourselves and demand equal prize money, which means more equality with the men.”
In a big move, the Nelo Summer Challenge in Portugal has handicapped women and men so that women can race the men, and there is an extra bonus for the overall winner. This is revolutionary and provides many good opportunities for women. We are pleased to announce that Hayley was the overall winner this year!
Hayley is now working toward the 2019 World Champs and is working from home – doing online coaching for paddling, training programmes and mentoring for clients all over the world.
Hayley is about to leave for a six-week tour to East London for National Champs, then Hong Kong for the Dragon Pan, and then Australia for four more races. Hayley is grateful to her sponsors: Carbonology Sport, Euro Steel Sport and Shaw and Partners.
We wish Hayley all the best for her upcoming races!
Written by Sarah Mackintosh