CARLEY McKay, the guest speaker at this year’s 2AD FM 100.3 Armidale Sports Awards, is a jack-of-all-trades.
Currently one of the nation’s top rowers at the Australian Institute of Sport, she is also an accomplished basketball and netball player, triathlete, mountain biker and weightlighter.
At 21 and with only two years of serious competition in rowing under her belt, McKay is rising to the top.
At the Australian National Rowing selections this year she earned silver in the quad and four, while at the Australian Youth Cup in 2006 she finished with silver in the eight and bronze in the four.
However McKay’s speciality in rowing is single sculls.
The single sculls haven’t qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics but McKay has her sights set on 2012.
“I’m hoping for London,” she said.
“I’m specialising in my single sculls so we’re aiming towards then.”
Rowing wasn’t the sport McKay intended to focus on.
With a father who had represented Australia in basketball and a mother who was one of Australia’s top netballers, McKay originally had her eyes set reaching the highest levels in those sports.
“At the time I had a South Australia Institute of Sport scholarship for both netball and basketball,” she said.
“They put my fitness test results from those sports into their talent search listing and it came up I would be a great rower.
“At the time because netball and basketball were going so well I didn’t really jump at the opportunity.
“But my dad said ‘you never shut the door on an opportunity without stepping inside and taking a look’.
“I started rowing but really didn’t do it seriously. It was in the background of the other sports.
“Two years ago I took it up seriously and am now solely focused on it.”
The reason for turning her back on basketball and netball was the challenge rowing presented.
In between her team sport and rowing forays, McKay competed at the 2002 Australian National Triathlon Championships, was the Victorian schools mountain bike champion in 2004 and the Victorian state weightlifting champion in 2006.
“I enjoy playing lots of sports. I guess rowing was the sport that challenged me the most,” McKay said.
“It’s the sport that I knew I’d have to work hardest and train hardest at if I wanted to be successful.
“I chose it because I was prepared to put so much time and effort into my sport.”
According to McKay the future of Australian rowing looks healthy heading into the next few years of competition.
“Women’s rowing certainly is very strong,” she said.
“The eights performed very well at the World Championships this year and the women’s pairs won their event at the world cup as well.
“We’re certainly looking very strong for the Olympics and are a gold medal chance next year.”