The Central App sits down for a Q&A with Cromwell rally driver Hayden Paddon to take stock of the year that was 2021. 

What can you tell me about the year that was, from your perspective?  

Like many, there have been many challenges with travel restrictions, cancelled events and constant plan changing. But we have stayed positive and planned around the things that we can control and from a sporting perspective, it was a successful year. Winning the NZ championship and a debut win for our EV Kona rally car with our small team meant we still ticked a lot of boxes. As a team we are continuing to grow.

What were your personal and professional highlights? 

It's hard to go past the debut win of our Hyundai EV Kona. Our team have poured over 10,000 hours of sweat and tears into a project that we all believe in, and for it to perform successfully and its first time of asking made everything all the worth while. A hugely proud moment for myself and our team.

What were your challenges? 

There have been many challenges around postponed events and plans constantly changing. The biggest challenge this year has not being able to get off shore where we have had 2-3 opportunities to return back to the WRC. But due to travel restrictions, we have been unable to make any of these opportunities work which has been personally challenging, but has only fuelled the fire further to make it work going forward.

What are you hoping for in 2022? 

We have some big plans both in NZ and internationally. The increased development of our EV Kona will continue while we also look to take our Kiwi team to the world stage to continue our team's growth.

However in the current climate, we also need to adapt and have different scenarios to be able to work in.

What is your message to others after this year, and looking forward to next? 

There are challenges facing everyone in the current climate, for different reasons, and while its easy to get stuck in a rut, for me its always about looking ahead, planning and trying to stay positive. 

At present I find it good now even more so than ever to have a Plan A and a Plan B. Positivity is a mindset shift and helps to work towards a productive future, ticking small steps/goals off along the way. Normally I would work to 5 year micro plans, but now I have adjusted to work to 2 year micro plans just as so many things are changing so quickly in the world.

Advertisement