James Munro
NZRD, BSc, MDiet (Dist)
Sport has been a big part of my life for as long as I remember. From a young age, my dream was to race in Formula One. As an 11 year old I started in go-karts, and ultimately was fortunate to travel the world with motorsport. In my time I drove against many of todays stars such as Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc. I had a strong desire to improve and this was the beginning of my systematic approach to performance. Motorsport is an unforgiving world where the smallest of margins determine your fate.
Motorsport is also where my interest in nutrition first began. As a driver in open wheel cars, I always struggled with weight. I starved and trained myself to extremes to reach 71kg, which still saw me 5kg over the minimum weight limit, costing me valuable lap time. Unfortunately the way I went about this was extremely damaging to my health and performance. Realising this led to my desire to learn how to properly manage nutrition and optimise my health and performance.
I enrolled in the University of Otago as my racing career came to an end at age 20. My competitive nature, and desire to apply what I was learning led me to search for a new sport. I never imagined at this stage of my life that I might reach an international level in another sport, I figured my opportunity was gone. I set my sights on the Coast to Coast, an awesome physical challenge which saw me cross the South Island on my bike, feet and kayak.
Of the three disciplines, I particularly fell in love with kayaking. This led me to try sprint kayaking. I trained hard while I completed my Masters, seeking guidance from Ben Fouhy one of our greatest ever paddlers. This resulted in an invitation to join the New Zealand men’s squad and I have since been fortunate enough to represent New Zealand on the world stage several times. My own paddling journey still continues, watch this space!
An interesting part of my shift to sprint paddling was gaining ~13kg of muscle mass, an exciting change from my days of trying to restrict my weight! Nutrition played a key role to maximise my gains from the strength and conditioning.
To me, sport isn’t all about winning. It’s about finding your own potential, whatever that may be. My personal journey has taught many valuable lessons in training and nutrition. I’m passionate about translating this experience to help others find their own potential.
Sporting Achievements
- 2024 K2 500 National Champion
- 2024 Mixed K2 200 National Champion
- 2022 K1 500 National Champion
- 2022 K1 1000, K4 500 World Championship Representative
- 2022 K1 500 World Cup A-Finalist
- 2022 Waimakariri Classic River Race Winner
- 2018 + 2019 Coast to Coast Two Day Individual finisher
- 2014+2015 Steel Memorial Trophy winner for top NZ U21 driver
- 2014 Formula Masters China Series Champion
- 2013 Formula Ford National Champion
- 2013 Elite Motorsport Academy Winner
James Munro Performance 