For Lia Chalmers, this week's Maadi Cup is more than just a rowing event.
The teenager has been on a remarkable journey to make it to Cambridge, after she was diagnosed with a rare form of stage three Hodgkin's lymphoma at just 15.
After complaining of pain in both sides of her neck, her mother Jill fortunately took her to a doctor, receiving the diagnosis days later.
"It's not really something you expect," Lia said.
"For me it was like cancer is something that happens to everyone else. You hear about people that have it but never thought it would be something that happened to me."
Months of radiation meant big weight fluctuations, temporarily losing feeling in her limbs, as well as losing her hair.
But throughout the intensive treatment, Lia kept rowing alongside her Tauranga Girls College teammates.
"I think rowing actually helped me get through it in a way," Lia said.
"I kept rowing for as long as I could when I was getting treated and then when I couldn't row anymore I started coxing."
A proud mum, Jill said her daughter was a "different type of person".
"I think that is a testament to most rowers instead of being sick with cancer and fighting cancer - and it was an incredibly hard cancer to fight - she tried to be as normal as possible."
The fighting paid off, as in 2019 Lia received the news she was in remission.
"It was the best thing I've ever heard," she said.
"It was just like everything I'd gone through has paid off and finally I'm here, I'm done with it all and I can get back to doing what I love."
That is exactly what she is doing, competing in four different events and making the most of every day in the sport she cannot live without.
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