Steve Hutchen, a former Terry Hie Hie resident, won a gold medal in the double kayak with partner Rod Osborne at the World Masters Games.
The rowers entered in the 50 to 55-year-old age bracket with no expectations of winning.
They entered the event on Wednesday, October 21, a week before the Hawkesbury classic as part of their fitness training.
“We did not have expectations of doing very well, we took part in the World Masters Games event to get more training for the Hawkesbury classic,” Hutchen said.
Hutchen’s outlined his winning strategy for the race.
“We were keeping up with the leaders of the race but couldn’t get past them, so we planned a strategy to sprint the last kilometre of the race, we won at the finish line by half a boat,” Hutchen said.
The winning duo’s time was one hour and 19 mins over the 14 km course, which was a personal best time for the pair.
“We got more than we expected to give it our best shot.
“If we came close to the winners we thought it would be a good effort, to win was a total surprise and overwhelming, well above our expectations,” Hutchen said.
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