Most families have that one cool uncle or aunt — the one who says yes to all the fun plans. Midnight ice cream runs, all-day PlayStation marathons — they're always in.
For Andrew James Birkett's two little boys, Dave and Danny, that person is Hamish Lovemore.
The South African paddlers may not be related by blood, but Lovemore has become a part of Birkett’s chosen family.
The kids adore their “corrupting uncle,” Birkett jokes, and Lovemore’s grin widens at every mention of them.
“My two boys love Hamish. They would often wander into his room and chat with him for ages,” Birkett said.
“When they ask for ice cream, it is not much trouble as I want ice cream too,” Lovemore responded.
The closeness of their families that started because of paddling — culminating at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games — is a testament to how sport brings people together.
“Yeah, it was an interesting journey for us. Hamish and I started chatting about the K2 boat shortly after the Dusi Marathon. He flew down to East London soon after that and lived with us until we left for Paris,” Birkett said.
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“We had to work and improve on our combinations and for us, it was both a new challenge and uncharted territory.”
Though traditionally Canoe Marathon specialists, Birkett and Lovemore embraced the challenge of sprint racing as a new frontier.
It has been a busy few months for both. The former won a 15th Dusi Marathon title, one of the most challenging endurance races stretching 120 kilometres.
Lovemore, a world champion in 2022, has been focusing on preparations for The World Games Chengdu 2025, for which he has sealed a ticket.
However, balancing sprint and marathon disciplines — each requiring different training regimes — hasn’t been easy for both.
“I do a lot of longer races, and I love it. It makes you tired, so it's taken me a few weeks after that to try and get back to training hard. But it's been exciting and challenging, refocusing on the other disciplines. I would love to go back to the Games. I enjoyed it last year. It was an awesome opportunity, but I would like to improve. I want to focus on that. It's a hard road to walk and that would probably mean making some sacrifices in other races," Birket said.
“I'm still at the beginning of my career, so I've got a couple of years to give it a full go. And yeah, the Olympic Games and sprint are amazing, but from the beginning my heart has been with the marathon races. I want to see how far I can go, winning multiple world titles. That's the bar here in South Africa. And then obviously with going to the Olympic Games last year and seeing the size of that event, it's only natural you want to go back and try and improve on that result. So, there are two big goals and that's what I'm aiming for," Lovemore added.
With both racing individually, the mutual respect between them is at an all-time high and both know where to draw the line in the sand.
Genuinely happy for one another's success, the competition has only fuelled growth.
“I think it was 2022. I won the U23 world title and Andy won the seniors and that success was because we raced so much locally against each other and it feels like this year it's been quite similar already. We've had so many opportunities to line up and race each other,” Lovemore said.
The 25-year-old Lovemore, who resides in Durban and often flies to East London so he can keep training with Birkett, says they have got a great "connection" and is keen to build on that.
“I live probably a 10-minute drive from the airport and it's a 45-minute flight from where I live to where Andy lives so I can leave in the morning and be there for the afternoon session. It's pretty cool,” he added.
“It's been exciting since we've started racing together, there's probably a lot more respect. We still want to beat each other. He's just been getting the better of me recently. It's mostly beneficial when two athletes are pushing each other all the time. It has just raised our level, and it is a great opportunity,” Birkett said.
Their shared love for cycling has been among the various other aspects that let them ease the pressure and enjoy the company.
“I know Mush (Lovemore) enjoys it, but I'm addicted to watching when it's the Tour de France. We have got to plan our paddle sessions around that. We can't be on the water when there's a mountain stage of the Tour de France. That was a rule,” Birkett said.
Lovemore does get more opportunities to lean into his "cool uncle" role, with surfing and fishing. Another spare time activity along with cycling, Lovemore's secret to draw Birkett to the game was through Dave and Danny.
“I live in Durban and there's a lot of stuff here to keep yourself busy. Surfing and fishing are probably the two things that I love most outside of paddling. Andy's boys are both surfing flat out now and fishing as well, so I think he's going to go down the same path,” he chuckles.
“I just need to learn how to surf. I need to get some lessons from Mush because my boys want to do it. They're four and six years old. Anytime that I'm not busy training, I get roped into anything from a soccer game to fishing, or taking them surfing or cycling," Birkett responded.
With the season already in full swing, both athletes have mapped out ambitious goals. Lovemore is focusing on both Canoe Sprint and Canoe Marathon.
“I'm going to race a test event in sprint in Italy. It's a busy calendar. From The World Games to the Canoe Sprint World Championships in Milan, there is a gap of 10 days. And then from Milan to the Canoe Marathon World Championships, it is two weeks, so it's a stacked month and all the training has got to be done before that. The experience from Paris lit a fire inside me and I want to give it another go. We managed some good races in Paris with about six months of pure sprint training. I'm looking forward to my first sprint competition since Paris,” Lovemore said.
Birkett, on the other hand, has decided to pace himself after a hectic 2024.
“I haven't planned that far ahead. I have just tried to avoid the situation I felt like I was in last year. From Paris to Metkovic to China, I struggled a bit with the travelling and the amount of racing. I am going to train towards the World Championships and then take it as it comes,” Birkett said.
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