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Pinnacle Programme proves gold at World Rowing Championships
Pinnacle athletes have won gold at the World Rowing Championships held at Bled, Slovenia. Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown successfully defended their women’s pair world champion title to take out the Gold. Hyundai sponsored athletes Peter Taylor and Storm Uru also won Silver in the lightweight double sculls, further testament to the effectiveness of the Pinnacle Programme.
All four have now qualified to compete in the London Olympics in 2012
Juliette and Rebecca are recent additions to the Pinnacle group of High Performance athletes, which helps young New Zealand sports people become world champions. Totally supported by Hyundai New Zealand, Pinnacle plays an important role as mentor for the athletes outside of competitions. The mentoring specifically concentrates on the development of personal, professional and organization skills, essential in providing the mental edge necessary for champion athletes.
Pinnacle supports athletes for a period of 12 – 24 months, with the aim of winning a world title or equivalent at the end of that timeframe.
Juliette Haigh says Pinnacle provides the pair with “a great opportunity to work on areas of our life outside of rowing to allow us to train and prepare for the London Olympics in the best way possible,” while Rebecca says the Pinnacle programme allows them to “develop the necessary level of professionalism and focus required to achieve their rowing goals and fulfill their potential in life.”
The Pinnacle programme supports several athletes at a time. Currently in the programme alongside the rowing team is rugby league player Elijah Taylor. Past graduates of the programme include Commonwealth Games gold medalist swimmer Moss Burmester, Andrew Murdoch, ranked world number two in Olympic Lasers, and triathlete Debbie Tanner.
Tom Ruddenklau Hyundai New Zealand’s Chief Operating Officer states that ‘We are aware of the tremendous amount of preparation and effort that has gone into this campaign. One of the key roles of the Pinnacle Programme is supporting athletes with the potential to compete at an international level; it clearly works. We look forward welcoming the team’s home and celebrating their success with them’.
Applications to join the Pinnacle programme are accepted from young competitors in any recognised New Zealand sport. For further information visit www.pinnacleprogramme.co.nz
Pinnacle Programme
World champion rowers Scown and Haigh join Pinnacle
World champion Womens Pair rowers Rebecca Scown and Juliette Haigh are the latest athletes inducted to the Pinnacle programme.
Pinnacle is a nationwide organisation, backed by the Hyundai motor vehicle network, which provides young athletes with a range of professional and personal skills to help them reach world-best status.
Haigh, 28, and Scown, 27, will be in the programme for the next year as they build up to the London Olympics.
The pair won a commanding victory for their world title at the world championships on Lake Karapiro last November.
Both have established successful careers in rowing, Haigh winning a world title in 2005, but it was little more than a year ago they came together as a pair. Success came almost immediately.
They train fulltime at the Rowing New Zealand high-performance centre at Karapiro.
“Pinnacle provides a great opportunity to work on areas of our life outside of rowing to allow us to train and prepare for the London Olympics in the best way possible,” commented Juliette Haigh, and Rebecca Scown added that the pair will be looking to extend beyond the water.
“The Pinnacle programme is helping us to develop the necessary level of professionalism and focus required to achieve our rowing goals and fulfil our potential in life,” said Rebecca.
They become the 10th and 11th Pinnacle athletes, and join Warriors rugby league player Elijah Taylor in the programme currently.
“This is the first time we have worked with a pair of athletes at one time,” commented the Chief Executive of Pinnacle, Ian Miles.
“Both Storm Uru and Peter Taylor, the 2009 world champion lightweight men’s double scullers, are graduates of Pinnacle, but they were in the programme at different times.
“So the pairing is a new challenge for us but the reality is that Juliette and Rebecca train and race together all the time so it is sensible to work together in our area as well.
“They are both very committed, hard-working and ambitious athletes and I am confident they will be worthy Pinnacle members.
“They are already high-achieving athletes with strong prospects for next year’s Olympics; our role will be to help handle the factors outside their immediate sport to improve their performance and their wider life.
“We know the difference Pinnacle skills can make, we see it from our world champions and Olympians; now it’s time to share those skills with a two-person team.”
Through mentoring within Hyundai and beyond, Pinnacle builds on the athlete’s physical conditioning and their technical training in their sport.
Pinnacle instills a range of mental skills, lifestyle controls and professional techniques which are usually the difference between success and failure at the highest level.
Pinnacle graduates:
- Adam Hall Paralympic gold medal skier
- Peter Taylor World champion lightweight sculler
- Storm Uru World champion lightweight sculler
- Debbie Tanner Olympic triathlete, World Cup winner
- Kate McIlroy World mountain running champion, now triathlete
- Moss Burmester Gold medal swimmer, retired
- Andrea Fountain Wakeboarder, World Cup winner, retired
- Andrew Murdoch Olympic sailor
For more information on Pinnacle go to their website: http://www.pinnacleprogramme.co.nz