Hi, my name is Haico Aaldering. I'm an IT consultant with a Professional Services firm in the Brisbane area in Queensland, Australia.

I moved to Australia in 2005 but originally I'm from the Netherlands.

Since my teens I've always been active and competing in some sort of sport - mostly athletics (shotput, discus, hammer) until my late twenties, then some martial arts and freediving for a couple of years. I was the Dutch national free-diving champion in 2003 and competed at the World Free-Diving Championships in Vancouver, Canada the following year. Since I arrived in Australia I took up masters swimming in 2005 and indoor rowing a bit later. I even dabbled in mini-triathlons for a year or so but unfortunately I can't really run due to some achilles issue that doesn't seem to go away.

I've been indoor rowing on and off since 2007 and a few years ago I started taking it a bit more seriously as I couldn't swim anymore due to a chronic shoulder injury. I wasn't really following a structured program and wasn't progressing as much as I liked. At that stage a good coach seemed the best solution and that's where Q-Power came in.

So in the second half of last year I contacted James from Q-Power to see if he was interested in having me in the Development Squad. My 2k wasn't particularly good but my 500m was reasonable. Fortunately he was interested and we decided to start the training early 2016, after a 30-day oversees holiday. I'm very happy to say he invited me to become a full member of the team in late May 2016 after some decent progression (good PBs in the 10k, 30min, 2k, 500m and 1k).

The initial plan was to compete at the 2017 CRASH-B's, hoping that they would be held after the 15th of February (when I would turn 50). Unfortunately they'll be held at the 12th of February so I'll have to wait another year before I can compete in the 50plus age group. On the plus side, at least that will give me the time to hopefully get to the level required for a medal.

So here I am, very stoked to be part of the Q-Power team and hoping to prove myself worthy in the future.