Competing at the 2023 Oceania and Paddle Australia Canoe Marathon Championships over the Easter long weekend, the young gun competed in eight events, taking home podium positions in seven.
In the TC2 X Open mixed doubles, Graham was victorious alongside Footscray’s Karen Merlo, while also claiming gold in the under-18 doubles, sharing the boat with Thomas Creed of Goldfields Paddlers.
The pairing of Graham and Creed would taste success together again, this time as part of a relay, taking out the TC2 Junior Relay in the Goldfields/Echuca team, as well as the C4 Junior relay, where Graham would race as part of the Goldfields Single Blades team.
Graham’s fifth first-place finish came in the four-man C4 boat, racing with the Echuca plus C4 team, completing the 6km course in 31 minutes and 36 seconds.
In the TC2 men’s open event, the Graham and Creed combination fell 33 seconds short of adding another gold medal, finishing second to the seasoned Geelong pairing of Alex Brunacci and Arnie Shanahan.
Graham performed well in his solo events as well, taking home a third-placed finish in the UC1 M 13km event, and placing fifth in the C1 M open short-course 4km event.
Initially playing a variety of other sports, Graham’s path to championship canoeing was born from a conversation with one of his mother’s work colleagues.
“One of the blokes at mum’s work got me into kayaking first,” he said.
“I bought a surf-ski off him, and then ended up in canoes while I was talking to (current coach) Rod about buying a new boat.”
Graham’s success at the championships continues his impeccable run of form that started on March 6, when he competed at the Victorian Schools Canoe Championships held at Lake Weeroona in Bendigo.
Winning four titles, Graham was crowned champion in the 3km singles marathon and the 200m singles sprint (both in a TC1 canoe), while also claiming the victory in the 3km doubles marathon and 200m doubles sprint, both with Creed.
Backing up the performance a week later, Graham travelled to the Barwon River in Geelong for the Victorian State Canoe Marathon Championships, claiming another two state titles, in the 13km men’s open singles and the 9km under-18 men’s doubles, with partner Creed.
When asked about his remarkable run of results, Graham was understated.
“It’s been good, the training is finally paying off,” he said.
Coach Rod Clark has been a mentor for Graham, guiding him through training for the championships in which he has performed so well this year.
“As a junior in our club he started off paddling kayaks, and then he’s switched over to canoes to give that a bit of a go, and he’s really taken to it,” Clark said.
“This year he’s gotten a little bit stronger, a little bit bigger, and he’s won a couple of races, so he’s going pretty good.”
And while the recent success has been a nice reward for effort, attention has already turned to the next big event.
“He was going to go in the (Massive Murray Paddle) in February and do the whole thing by himself, but with COVID we just couldn’t get the kilometres into him,” Clark said.
“So this November he will do the 415km race on his own, that’s what we are building for.”
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