Jess Fox swaps roles for different perspective

NSWIS: So good to see Jess Fox doing some judging duties today. How was it?

Jess Fox (JF): Yeah, it was good. I raced this morning and then for the canoe races and I jumped in the judging seat and helped out. Always nice to volunteer and see . . .  you see so much more when you’re judging. You only see a small section, but it was good. 

NSWIS: So, Jess,what did you see of the young talent like Codie Davidson today while doing your judging duties?

JF: Yeah, I mean, it was good to see some of the young ones that I don’t get to see all the time. They had age nationals just before the open nationals, so it was nice to see their confidence growing throughout the weekend. And, you know, Penrith is such a big course that it can be quite intimidating. It was great to just see them having a crack, having a go. The girls who qualified for the junior world champs were out there. I only saw a small section of the course, so I’m not sure about the results or what happened down the bottom, but it was good.

NSWIS: And nationals? you’ve won six Olympic medals, heaps of world championships . . . what does it mean to you? 

 JF: The nationals is always a good hit out, a good race domestically. Sometimes it’s at the start of the year, sometimes it’s just after Easter. And I think for us, it’s our last event before we go overseas for our World Cup races. So it’s always important to race it and to connect to the community and to see the younger athletes and see the kids who are, you know, from Tassie and WA coming out here and being able to engage with them is really special. 

Daniel Lane, NSWIS