The national dragon boat team, the Auroras, are about to compete at the 13th World Nations Championships in Kunming, China. Two of our own have the honour of donning the green and gold. They are Ardish Basty and Kaizer Austin. Kaizer is well-known to the PDs community, so let’s meet Ardish!
No doubt you’ve seen Ardish working hard, doing extra paddling sessions on top of club DB training, in order to get into tip-top shape for the Championships.
We had wanted to create a whole paddler profile for Ardish, but with Ardish in transit and then busy settling into Kunming with his representative team mates, we’ve only got a snippet of Ardish for now. We’ll complete his profile when he gets back.
What are you passionate about?
I love water sports and competing major events nationally and internationally
I see. What sort of water sports do you participate in?
OC1/6 and dragon boat
Anything else?
I’m interested also in other sports like Martial arts.
Just sports?
Traveling and tasting different foods watching movies are also my favourite things to do. I like Game of Thrones, action/fantasy/crime/mystery movies. I’m a family man and try to spend enough time with my partner and my daughter. My favourite drink is whisky (Albert: oh you better talk to Craig then).
When did you join the PDs?
I joined PDs 2014. We went to Italy and it was one of my best trip and best moment with PDs.
When did you first become involved with national representation?
My first Auroras was 2015 in Canada, so I’m still very new on the international scene. The current campaign in China is only my second.
Thanks Ardish! We wish you all the best in China, and the PDs are behind you and Kaizer all the way. For the folks at home, here is a live stream link for the World Nations Championships.
