Bay Harbour: January 24, 2024

Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz<br />

Wednesday <strong>January</strong> <strong>24</strong> 20<strong>24</strong> <strong>Bay</strong> <strong>Harbour</strong> News<br />

NEWS 7<br />

McKenzie aims for Paralympics<br />

• By Dylan Smits<br />

MCKENZIE DRAGE is in<br />

the pool six days a week in<br />

preparation for the New Zealand<br />

championships in April, with<br />

a long-term goal of competing<br />

at the Los Angeles 2028<br />

Paralympics Games.<br />

The 19-year-old from Mc-<br />

Queens Valley was born with<br />

Apert syndrome, but it has never<br />

stopped her from pursuing her<br />

dreams.<br />

“I am very determined and like<br />

to face challenges with a positive<br />

mindset,” she said.<br />

Apert syndrome causes fusion<br />

of bones in the fingers, toes, and<br />

head and neck. Various surgeries<br />

were needed during Drage’s infancy<br />

and childhood to improve<br />

her quality of life.<br />

“School and social life have<br />

been a challenge but I’ve never<br />

let my disability hold me back<br />

from setting goals and achieving<br />

them,” she said.<br />

When swimming, Apert<br />

syndrome mainly affects Drage’s<br />

range of movement as she cannot<br />

fully extend her arms, neck or<br />

shoulders.<br />

“I have limited reach and kicking<br />

ability, but I follow a daily<br />

stretching programme to try and<br />

develop my flexibility.”<br />

Drage, who attended Hagley<br />

College until graduating last year,<br />

lives on the family farm with her<br />

parents and older brother. Farm<br />

life has taught her how to work<br />

hard.<br />

“I’ve learned how to get jobs<br />

done and be organised with my<br />

time.”<br />

The family owns 80 free range<br />

chickens, and Drage is partly<br />

responsible for selling their<br />

eggs to customers in<br />

Christchurch.<br />

She also works part time as a<br />

lifeguard at Jellie Park.<br />

THE RIGHT<br />

LANE:<br />

McKenzie<br />

Drage with<br />

the award<br />

qualifying her<br />

team for last<br />

year’s Oceania<br />

tri series.<br />

Drage’s longterm<br />

goal is<br />

to compete<br />

in the 2028<br />

Paralympics.<br />

She has always enjoyed<br />

swimming and started<br />

competing in year 11.<br />

“Being able to swim well helps<br />

me feel confident in any water.<br />

I really like the discipline of<br />

training hard and feeling fit and<br />

healthy.”<br />

Drage is part of the Aquagym<br />

Swim Club where she is coached<br />

by Emma Smith.<br />

In September, she represented<br />

New Zealand for the first time at<br />

the Oceania tri series swimming<br />

‘Everyone has differences and strengths, and life is about<br />

making the most of what you have’ – McKenzie Drage<br />

championships in Hastings.<br />

She won the 100m individual<br />

medley, achieving a personal<br />

best of 1min 52.4sec.<br />

“I feel really satisfied when I<br />

get a personal best time in a race<br />

I have been focusing on,” she<br />

said.<br />

“They don’t come easy though,<br />

there’s a lot of hard work and<br />

sometimes you get disappointed<br />

when you don’t make a time.”<br />

Drage is training hard ahead<br />

of the New Zealand swimming<br />

championships in April.<br />

With her eyes on the future,<br />

Drage wants to achieve<br />

qualifying times for the world<br />

para series in Melbourne next<br />

year and then the Los Angeles<br />

2028 Paralympic Games.<br />

Being a paraswimmer has<br />

given her amazing opportunities,<br />

she said, like meeting her hero,<br />

Paralympian Sophie Pascoe,<br />

and being able to represent<br />

New Zealand in international<br />

competitions.<br />

“Everyone has differences<br />

and strengths, and life is about<br />

making the most of what<br />

you have.”<br />

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