It wouldn’t be a Kiwi kayak trip to Europe if it was without a trip on the train with the kayak! After a nice dinner at the Slovak Pub in Bratislava with my Canadian friend Thea, her parents, Mike, Ciaran and Vavra I was London bound. It was a smooth check-in with Ryanair and we were off to the land of double decker buses, Big Ben and the home of the 2012 Olympics- London! On arrival at the airport I jumped on the Liverpool express with my kayak and trained out to the near suburbs of the white-water stadium and Canoe Slalom 2012 Olympic venue. I was met by my good British friend Lizzie and Luuka. We decided to hit London town and were treated to an awesome meal in the centre of London at a food chain called ‘Leon’, the food was delicious and a nice change from the Eastern European cuisine. Paula Volkmer, a stylee creeker from here in Great Britain has kindly offered to put Luuka and I up for the week so we are staying in her home 20minutes from the course, which is totally preemo! Last night we had home-made pizza which was the most Kiwi meal I have had since I have been away, was amazing!
The London Olympic Canoe Slalom venue is awesome, the facilities include a big white-water course that is challenging-even to the best paddlers of the world, a smaller channel for the less advanced paddlers (but still a descent training channel with good features), a flatwater pool and great showers and other facilities. Training on the course is really fun and you must be really attentive as the white-water is very continuous with holes, waves and other features that demand attention. I am really happy to be here and paddling on the Olympic course, the event next weekend is a test event for the Olympics next year so will be run in a very similar format. I am really glad I came here, it is going to be a good week.
No comments:
Post a Comment