Summer time!

It is definately summer time here now! We have been paddling in skins and soaking up the 25+ degree heat, hopefully it lasts. All the summer fruits have been blossoming in the Benus's garden! We have cherrys and strawberrys for Africa! Last night we enjoyed a grill! Johann is here at moment so he has been joining in on the hardcore Kiwi trainings. Off to train in Bratislava now...

Slovenija!

This week has been full on! We have been training hard at the course in Cunovo and I have been working on assignments. On Thursday Mike, Danka and myself cruised in the van to Ljubiana. We enjoyed a pizza in the city centre and paddled on the white water course there. The next day we drove up to a small town in the Slovenian mountains, near Bovec. It was a very scenic drive! Slovenia is a very beautiful country!! In the valley rested a quant wee village that was holding a sports festival with an extreme kayak race down the Soca river, mountain biking, rock climbing and parachuting. On the Saturday Danka and I cheered on Mike as he kicked ass in the kayak race! After several head to head rounds he was crowned champion! Was an awesome race with good competition, and it was awesome for Mike, esp. Since there was prize money!
It was a beautiful clear night with lots of stars so we slept outside on the grass after the concert that was held in the centre of the village. On the Sunday we travelled on to Solkan for some training on the fast white water, and then back to the land where beer is cheaper then water and our second home with the Benus’s, Slovakia!!!

Life in Bratislava

It has been a week now that we have been staying in Bratislava. At the start of the week I was really sick with a sore throat and some kind of cold/flu, so I was stuck in bed on Monday and Tuesday drinking lots of tea and taking heaps of pills. Thanks so much to the Benus’s for taking care of me! Esp. their father who came and bought me lots of medication. On Wednesday I felt a bit better and was back in action and training! So I wasn’t in the best shape for the weekends racing with only a few sessions on the course, but feeling much better so it was all on. The Slovak 2nd lot of selection races began on Saturday. My runs were both horrible. My first run I had a stupid 50 near the end of the course and my 2nd run I got caught in a few spots and lost heaps of time. Mike had 2 solid runs. His 2nd run was really quick but he had 2touches. Then on Sunday I had one ok run and another shocker. All good racing experience though. Mike had a 1 sweet run and 1 not so sweet run!
It was pretty tight racing, im glad it wasn't my team selection races thats for sure! We are pretty lucky in NZ!
It is super fun here chilling with our mates the Benus's and going rock climbing and skating and scootering and just paddling on the wicked whitewater that Bratislava has to offer. These next few weeks here are going to be good.

Semi Final

My Semi Final run went ok but was definately not my best. Right from gate 1 I felt slightly offline. I ended up getting two touches and being quite low in a lot of the Upstream gates. I finished up in 14th position.
We are now in Bratislava training and it is all good.

Tatra Slalom Race

On Friday we had the first race of this event. My first run was clean but had a few errors and put me in 20th, 2nd run had different errors but the same run time as my first so I ended up in 27th. Mike was fast and would have placed in the top 10 however he had a touch so this knocked him down to 21st. There were about 90K1M and 60K1W.
On the Saturday it was the qualifications for the Tatra Slalom. I had a good first run, that was clean but had a few minor errors. This put me in 15th, then my 2nd run was worse so I moved into 20th, just making it through to Sundays Semifinal(Top 20). It was very tight in the K1M and Mike missed Semi. After the race our Slovak mates, the Benus's took me up the low Tatra Mountains on a chairlift into the snow!!!was awesome, such a sweet view!
Today I have the Semi finals. Then tonight after the race we will head to Bratislava.

Pics from Trnavka, Witch party

Tatra Slalom

It will be a three day racing event this weekend here in Liptovsky. For results and info check out www.ktklm.sk It even has a live webcame of the bottom of the course!

Praha- Liptovsky

Time seems to be going pretty quickly! We have been travelling for just over a month now, everything thus far has been super sweet! On the weekend we went to the Czechs final selection races and went down the course as forerunners. On the Saturday the course was pretty easy, and on the Sunday it was quite challenging! Vavra dominated the K1men both days!!!It was cool to watch all the Czechs battle it out for the Czech team, a very highly contested competition!
We have now journeyed back to settle once again in the High Tatra Mountains of Slovakia. It was sad to leave Praha, we had such an awesome time there, the Czechs were very hospitable, especially Vavra and his family in Zbuzany!
There is a race here in Liptovsky this weekend and it is going to be big! We think it will be just as hard to make the semis here as it will be in the World Cups. A lot of the countries present have bought big teams. Unfortunately the water is freezing and the air temperature is not much better!
Check out Mikes blog for some really sweet pics of the witch party and kayaking!www.mikekayak.blogspot.com

Week in Praha

This week has been pretty busy here in Praha! We have been training at Troja and Trnavka. Tuesday we went to a concert(United Flavour) it was epic! Then Thursday night we celebrated out in the wop wops of Zbuzany with a witch party. There was a big bonfire, loads of people, food cooked on the fire, jumping over the fire! It was awesome!
Today we are going to Trnavka, this weekend it is the Czech's final selection races. We will be racing this weekend also.