Hamish Lovemore of Team South Africa competes during the Men’s Kayak Single 1000m Final B on day 15 of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Vaires-Sur-Marne Nautical Stadium on 10 August 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo: Justin Setterfield / Getty Images) 
There are only a handful of things that Hamish Lovemore loves more in life than canoeing. The fact that the sport has taken him to different parts of the world and brought him countless memories is an added bonus.
As is the fact that the former U-23 Canoe Marathon world champion has the privilege to be mentored by two greats of the canoeing world – Hank McGregor and Andy Birkett.
McGregor and Birkett have won multiple world titles between them, and Lovemore says it is an honour to learn about the sport from the pair, with whom he shares a close relationship.
“Hank and Andy have both been incredible in leading from the front, winning races and world titles, and doing it from South Africa. Hank is actually my main training partner. So, I train with him pretty much every day,” Lovemore told Daily Maverick.
“And with Andy being my doubles partner, I seem to have the best opportunities to learn from both these guys. I just turned 26 last week (19 August), so I’m still at the beginning of my career. To learn from them has been amazing,” the KwaZulu-Natal resident said.
Apply the knowledge
Lovemore has been applying those priceless lessons immaculately in competition, which has yielded some wonderful results for him in 2025. Following two silvers at the World Games in Chengdu, China, earlier in August, he earned a silver at the Canoe Sprint World Championships in Milan as a birthday gift to himself.
It’s great preparation for the upcoming Canoe Marathon World Championships, which take place from 4 to 7 September in Hungary.
“It’s been an incredible year so far. I’ve been juggling between racing in sprint events and racing in marathon events. It’s always been one of my goals to compete in the World Games. And I managed to get the silver medal in the short course and the full-distance marathon,” Lovemore stated.
“So, that was a great momentum builder. We’ve got one week to go until the Marathon World Championships in Hungary, and that was a good little pre-World Championships preparation,” he said.
Juggling act
The marathon has long been Lovemore’s preferred discipline since he fell in love with canoeing as a teenager. Nevertheless, his aspirations to win a medal at the Olympic Games have forced the 26-year-old to rejig his priorities. Only the canoe sprint is offered as a discipline at the quadrennial multi-sport event.
As a result, Lovemore has been intentional about improving that aspect of his canoeing.
“There’s quite a lot of different training for each discipline. And this year it’s been a bit tricky because they put the World Games and the Sprint World Championships just under two weeks apart. So, I was basically trying to prepare for both of them at the same time, which was a bit difficult,” explained Lovemore.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2165693737.jpg "Hamish Lovemore of Team South Africa competes during the Men’s Kayak Single 1000m Quarterfinal on day 12 of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Vaires-Sur-Marne Nautical Stadium on 7 August 2024. (Photo: Charles McQuillan / Getty Images)")
“I’ve been experimenting a bit over the past few years. From my training, I found that the more sprint-focused and explosive work I’ve done, it’s actually helped my marathons a bit,” the eMdloti resident continued.
“So, now that I’ve gone full on into the sprints [as preparation for Los Angeles 2028], it definitely helps with your positioning, your start and all the intervals in the marathon. The trick is to try to last the distance in the marathon. But definitely, having the extra speed from the sprints has been a big benefit.”
Chilled guy with big dreams
When he is not trotting around the globe and proudly representing his country, Lovemore enjoys spending time with family and friends. His favourite downtime activities include relaxing on the beach, and a bit of surfing.
As a way to pass the baton on to youngsters who aspire to emulate him and McGregor and Birkett, Lovemore is the facilitator of Zini Camps. These training camps take place in Mtunzini, in KwaZulu-Natal. These have grown to the point that they even attract some of Lovemore’s international opponents.
“We had about five guys from the UK come out and join for the first one. Now we’ve had guys from all over Europe come out this year, at different periods, to join our training. It has also taken away the need to go and train in Europe,” Lovemore said.
“It’s also just to create the feeling for the younger guys that they can do it from here. We have so much young talent coming through the junior ranks. If they can learn a bit from the senior guys like Hank and Andy, it’s all great,” he added.
Lovemore says his U-23 gold medal success at the 2022 Canoe Marathon Championships was one of his career highlights. When he competes in Hungary next month, he will be out to repeat the trick as a fully fledged senior, which would be a continuation of his sensational form in 2025.
Brotherly love
With all his success, one of the things Lovemore still wishes to tick off his bucket list is to race in a doubles event with his older brother Thomas. The elder sibling is also a canoeist and is in the business of building canoes.
“To race with my brother on the international stage would be a dream. We still have the potential to do that. He’s only 28 and I’m 26. So, one of these upcoming years, we’re going to give it a go,” Lovemore said. DM