Mawer is… much more If Wayne Mawer was a competitor in any of Australia’s high profile sports he’d be a household name and a national treasure. In the parallel universe of sports he’s achieved more than Mark Webber, won more world titles than Casey Stoner and, if you take the analogy to its ultimate conclusion he’s been as inspirational as any Olympian. He is, by all measures, a super athlete ….a natural in his chosen field with a grace of movement and an inbuilt will to win and to be the best he can that sets benchmarks for all around him. And yet the current world Ski Racing Champion is determined he’s not going to defend his title in New Zealand next year. With his fortieth birthday looming in November he’s made the decision to pull the pin on world title competition. “I love the world championship format, in open water which is so changeable during any lap,” he says. “It’s so much more challenging than river racing, demanding not only the best from your body but also from your mind.” So why not defend? Mawer’s reasons are two fold– cost and commitment. Certainly it’s not fitness or motivation. “To prepare for a world title is a full on commitment. Everything else goes on hold– family, business, basically your life” he says. “When I was preparing for Tenerife (where he won the 2013 title behind 99 Psycho Clown) I was in the gym at 530 every day, then organising afternoon training while I was working, then picking up the boat, skiing for maybe an hour and a half each evening before I had to tow, wash and put the boat away. It’s not a life when you’ve got a young family. “And your business goes on the backburner. It’s not like you’re skiing for money (like Webber or Stoner for example), so you give up a lot for the sport you love.” Mawer knows all about that. As a 21-year-old he won his first world title when it was held in NSW, dominating two heats in Newcastle, one in Sydney Harbor and another in Botany Bay. As part of the Cyclone Racing team it was a massive result. But young Mawer knew he couldn’t sustain it if he wanted to get ahead. Instead he switched to wakeboarding- at the top level an essentially professional sport– and the wiry 168cm, 70kg athlete won two world titles in the USA. For eight years he was a pro, earning enough money from prize money and sponsorships that he lived a very good life– a “fun life” as he puts it. But it was costly on the body. Mawer was the contemporary master of the big tricks– the 900 spins (they do 1080s now) and the double half cavs (two somersaults with a twist). He paid for them with two ACL reconstructions and several torn cartilages. It was time to come home. That’s Cairns where he has a building company, a beautiful wife Natalie and two sensational kids, eight year old Sunny (who’s already barefooting and winning races at Cairns Ski Racing) and three year old Jada who’s a real girl (“she likes to spectate”). Wayne first got on skis in Cairns at age two, encouraged by his dad Roy who’s a former national veterans and senior champion. Skiers in Cairns have three options – Lake Tinaburra, the ocean or the estuary where the spectators are big lazy crocs lying on the river banks. “You try not to fall off, but the crocs aren’t natural attackers like lions or tigers, they’re more stealthy so you’re pretty safe.” It’s a pretty idyllic life. A good day out is to social ski for half an hour or so out to the reef where you can spend a lazy few hours free diving and spear fishing before you ski home again to barbecue the Spanish Mackerel you caught. Daniel McMahon lured him away from all of that for the 2013 Worlds. It took three years of persuasion, training and commitment to get there. “I wasn’t nervous, just excited and ready” Wayne says. “Natalie and the kids came across and it meant the world to me to have them there for the win, because they’d sacrificed a lot too.” Wayne and 99 Psycho Clowns dominated three of the four heats and broke down in the last. “Happily you get to drop your worst round so we scored maximum points.” Wayne leaves a legacy, and a target. Two world titles, 18 years apart, both of them won in dominant fashion. “I’d love to have another go, but I’d need to win Lotto to do it” Wayne says. “Doesn’t mean I’m giving up. I’ll continue to race – and I can’t see an end in sight to that. Forty is no barrier.” Now a committee member of the Cairns Ski Racing Club (“there’s no assigned position – up here we do whatever it takes”) Wayne remains a huge fan of the world ski racing concept. “We tried it in Australia a couple of years back as the Australian Ski Racing Series.” And that may well be his ultimate contribution – in his own laid back (but determined) way – to continue to push for the development of the sport he loves in a direction he truly believes will be successful: “In Australia river racing is dominant, but it’s a lot easier than the world title format. That’s where stars are made.” skiracing.au/mawer-is-much-more/
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 06:52:47 +0000
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