The duo visited Blacksmiths Beach in their position as Engine athletes and were happy to reflect on that time not so long ago when they too were competing at the New South Wales Titles.
Higginson began her journey to the elite level at Nowra-Culburra and has fond memories of often being one of only a handful of club competitors, while Poole was a member of Queenscliff.
In fact, Poole was returning to the beach where he has plenty of fond memories “In the U14s I was able to win the Ironman in a sprint finish, and I won the board as well. Through Nippers I wasn’t much of a swimmer.”
Both athletes enjoyed the chance to engage with the young Nippers.
Poole himself enjoyed a breakout season after he claimed his maiden Ironman title at Cronulla last month.
“It’s amazing to get that first title and it was certainly a really tough few days of racing, so to get that win was special. In the three-day format you need to be on your game every race,” he said.
Both Higginson and Poole are continuing their training as they build towards State and Aussies, but not before they had one piece of advice for the aspiring champions of tomorrow.
“I think the most important thing is to tell them to have fun and it doesn’t matter where you finish. Neither of us were winning everything as Nippers and got better as we got older so you’ve got to dream big and continue to work really hard,” Higginson said.
Saturday 4 March 2017