Louise Jull- White Water Kayaker

SUP!

2012-02-07T18:45:00.001-08:00

In September this year I went to the biggest Kayaking tradeshow in Europe, Kanumesse and SUP Expo. Kanumesse showcases the kayaking industries top gear and businesses that are on the market. This year SUP-Stand Up Paddle boards were also taking part in the expo. I was really interested in this as it looks like really good fun and awesome cross-training for kayaking! So I had a go, and it turned out it was really fun!!! 'Pau-Hana' are based in the USA and manufacture boards for surfing, racing and flatwater cruising. They were at the expo and let me try out their boards.

Since arriving back in NZL I have been doing a lot of kayaking and thanks to Pau-Hana I am now able to do some cross-training on my SUP!!!On the weekend I went to Raglan where my sister is based and I have been using it in our local beach- Maketu. I went out this morning for about 2hours on the lake and it is an awesome workout, I feel exhausted but totally stoked! Heres some pics from my little mission with my flatmate Shilo up to the Hamurana Springs:)

NZ Slalom Team- NZ Open

2012-01-29T14:16:00.001-08:00

NZ Selections

My expectation going into the 2012 NZ Canoe Slalom Selections was definitely not what I would call high. However I knew my fitness is still reasonable and I have continued to paddle white-water on a daily basis so was not too concerned. Day 1’s race was no major surprise when I struggled to perform well, I felt tired and out of touch with the idea of poles again. After a good river run in my slalom boat on the Kaituna that night I felt fired up and ready to go for Selection Race 2. I pulled out 2 okay runs on the Sunday and placed 2^nd New Zealander. My runs had errors but all in all I was okay with my performances considering the little amount of slalom I have been doing.

The NZ Open was held the following weekend on the Mangahau Slalom course just out of Shannon. Mangahau is a really good white-water course with a lot of really good features. Placing 3^rdwoman (2^nd NZ) on the Saturday I was pretty relaxed going into Sundays racing. I put down a solid semi-final run to place in 3^rd going into the final. Finishing with a 5^th place(2^nd NZ) in the final after picking up a touch and a few minor mistakes. I have once again secured myself a spot on the NZ Senior Canoe Slalom Team as 2^nd boat.

Mike Kurt of Switzerland took out the mens class with Fabian Dorfler of Germany in a close 2^nd and John Hastings of Canada placing in 3^rd. The Womens event was won by Czech 17year old Caro with Luuka Jones less than a second behind her.

Checkout Mike's pre edit of the event:

Mangahoe pre edit from Kiwi Creations on Vimeo.

NZ Slalom Selections 2012

2012-01-18T16:36:00.000-08:00

The last time I sat on the startline for a slalom race was in September last year at the 2011 Canoe Slalom World Championships. Since this time I have not been training for slalom much at all and can probably count the number of slalom sessions I have done post the event on one hand. This summer here in New Zealand my days have been occupied with a lot of river-running, work and other activities.
On the weekend it will be Selection races 1 and 2 for the New Zealand Junior and Senior Teams. Initially I was not planning on racing but have decided that it will be good fun to compete again! I have been working long hours this week and feel exhausted already, but excited to sit on the startline once again!

Mangarewa

2012-01-09T22:44:00.000-08:00

The new year has had a wet start with plenty of rain to full the rivers!

On Sunday a large international crew headed to the Kaimai ranges and jumped on the Mangakarangaranga and Wairoa runs- checkout Mikes blog for a better update on this run. Then on Monday Sam Sutton kindly transported another epic crew of around 10 of us over to the Mangarewa- a very scenic and good 4hour run that was loaded with a lot of good drops and white water. Cheers to LU Urwin, T Fox, Kenny Mutton, Brendan B, Martina Wegman, Maxi, Mikey D, Sam n Jamie Sutton, Severin, Julian, Paula and anyone else I have missed that was on the crew on Sun/Mon.
Also checkout Martina's blog for her update!

Kaimai Creeking!

2012-01-01T22:22:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately not every day on the river is a good one. For me the New Year was celebrated in good company with many of my friends from here in Okere Falls at Soph’s bach in Ohope. The party was great and a good way to see in the new year although the rain was continuous. This meant the many rivers around rose to high levels. So new year’s day the Kaimai Ranges were at the top of our destination hit list! Severin, Julian, Sammy Sutton, Tim Pickering, Maxi and I cruised over to jump on to the Waipapa. This is a really sweet run and one that provides many good drops and waterfalls, including one massive one that is a no go. I was not in good form however and paddled in a sloppy style. The combination of my hangover and tiredness were not good ingredients.

Today we once again headed to the Tauranga area to do some more boating. Maxi, Paula, Nini, Severin, myself and some other Norwegians put on at the Ngamuwahine River bridge and ran the Manga and went all the way down to the bottom of the Wairoa run. Another hard day on the river for me as I am still working on getting my energy levels back up! Fun day however with a sweet crew:)

West Coast Vid

2012-01-01T01:04:00.000-08:00

Video made by Dyl and Benji from our West Coast Trip!

Wild Wild West!

2012-01-01T00:33:00.000-08:00

The West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand is a well known kayaking mecca! A few weeks ago I decided it was time to step it up and get some solid boating in and I knew the West Coast would provide. Benjamen Hjort of Norway happened to be in town so together we ventured down the North Island via my parents place for a quick Xmas catchup and across the Cook Straight to the South Island. We came to rest in Hokitika, a true West Coaster town which put on the sunshine! Dylan Thomson, Severin Haberling and Julian Stocker also happened to be in town and were also fired up for some Christmas Creeking, it was game time! After settling in to Justin Vanubles wicked barn in the Hokitika outback it was time to hit the waters. We started with a short trip down the Upper Kakapotahi- a good 1hour kayak run that was easily accessible with a car shuttle and provided some nice drops and clean boof moves. The next day the 5 of us(Julian(Swiss), Severin(SWISS), Dylan(NZ), Benji(Norway) and I flew into the high Southern terrain of the Alps and began our descent down the Mungo river. An epic 6hour day was filled with sick drops, burly white-water and some epic must make moves. It was an awesome day on the river and one I have many good memories from! The day ended in style as we arrived in Serpentine Hut, a small hut sitting at the foot of a valley on the Hokitika river and overlooking the fierce rapids of Viagra. Danny Ready our helicopter driver had kindly dropped all of our food and warm gear at the hut. So Benji got straight to work on the outside fire and after covering the roast lamb in dough it was cooked to perfection. Our Christmas Eve feast was incredible with mushrooms and blue cheese, roast lamb and red wine to compliment it. After roasting marsh-mellows on the fire we were treated to an amazing starry night that made for a good ceiling for a good night’s sleep. Christmas morning was kicked off with a strong coffee to see us in to a nice warm-up on the rapids of Viagra. I was stoked to fire these up as I had portaged the rapid earlier in the year. 5hours of good boating was to be had on our Christmas day on the Hokitika river, a perfect present that we all enjoyed. Once we returned to Hokitika that night we had a quick Christmas feed and headed to the beach to soak up the last of the sun with wine and beer.

Boxing day came and after a lazy morning Dylan, Jarrod Mitchell and myself walked for a solid hour in to the Tuaroa valley to enjoy a nice float down the Tuaroa creek(1hour out), it was nice and relaxing after the two previous days of full on stouts! Jarrod continued to join our crew on the next days adventure up the Waitaha, and an adventure it sure was! After a long flight to the top of the Waitaha river we were treated to another super sweet sunny day on a great river! The Waitaha was loaded with awesome sections of white-water, slides, drops and boulder gardens. We boosted through the top section with little scouting yet at a comfortable pace. We were all on a bit of a high as there were a lot of fast and fun sections, it took us around 3hours! On arrival at the swing bridge overlooking Morgan gorge we got out for a lunch break and it was time for the group to split in two. Morgan Gorge is a very full on rowdy section of the Waitaha that is not for the faint hearted! It has only been run by a select few and in the guide book are warnings that it is not a destination for many. Dylan, Severin and Benji all decided to take on the gorge. While Julian, Jarrod and myself took to the hike. Unfortunately we had not read the guide book quite so vigorously and a minor detail was missed...After crossing the swingbridge and scrambling basically straight uphill through coarse bush an hour went by. The markers we followed were hard to spot and there were several occasions we seemed lost in the wilderness. 5hours of sweating and scrambling with our boats through the bush went by and we decided to try and get back down to the river. We approached the bank to find ourselves still in the midst of the gorge! It was getting late, we were all very tired and it was time to make some big decisions and move fast if we were to make it out before dark. Unfortunately I happened to have forgotten my drybag that was equipped with lunch, a lighter and an emergency blanket this day. I scouted the last few rapids in the gorge from our high position and then went bush waking to checkout the potential walk out option. We weren’t far from the end so we gathered our gear and got moving out of the forest. Within the next hour we had made it out of the bush and back to the river! It was 8pm and after a few muesili bars courtesy of Jarrod we were refuelled and continued our descent down the Waitaha river and out to the car by 845pm! We were so happy to arrive and find Severin, Benji and Dylan awaiting us at the car!!! They were about to send out a search party so were over the moon to see us! It had taken them a mere 4hours in the gorge, and us a 6hour portage! Had we exited on the correct side of the river we would have faced a 1-2hour walk...gutted! We quickly hit the pub to stock up on some carbs and then to bed for a much needed sleep.

There is a saying, no rest for the wicked, and in our case this applied. The next day Dylan, Severin, Benji and I flew up to the upper section of the Whitcombe River. We were now accompanied by some West Coast locals Keith Riley and Jordy Searle. Another solid 4hour day of stout boating was to be had, although after 1hour my body and mind hit the wall and for me it was hard work to pull myself together as I was soo tired. Determination pulled me through and we made it in to Prices Hut that night for another well needed sleep. We paddled out the next day in 4hours through Prices and Colleirs Gorges. Prices Gorge was full on but quite exciting! Colliers Gorge was wicked fun and a good boulder garden with 8-10 good little drops along the way. It was an awesome way to end our epic week long adventure and one of the best weeks of boating in my life!!! The crew was really awesome! It made me realise how important a good crew really is! We are lucky here in New Zealand as there are many amazing boaters and many amazing boaters that come to visit. I always felt safe on the water and we had some really good systems that rocked! We were also really lucky with the weather, it was sunny nearly all week and the rivers had a descent amount of water to make for some good flows. The other thing that made my trip epic was the gear I used. My Bliss-Stick ‘Tuna’ was really good on the creeks! It was awesome to boof and popped out of drops and waterfalls with ease, it made for easy and enjoyable boating and even when I was tired in the last days I felt so comfortable and able to perform as it sits so nicely on top of the water. My DuemStuff gear held up really well too, the dry pants and top were really effective on the long days on the river and when I needed to walk though the water they kept me warm and dry. My decks had no issues and were watertight! I am really stoked to have quality gear, it makes a big difference and all of these factors contributed to making such an incredible week of kayaking! Big thanks to JV for having us to stay in his Barn, it was a wicked spot and such a nice place to hang. Also big thanks to all of the boys in our crew!!!Everyone was a pleasure to paddle with and made my time on the water very enjoyable! Also big thanks to our helicopter driver Danny who hooked us up with a mean feed of whitebait and a box of beers on our final day!Stoked, one of the best Christmas’s ever!

Xmas at the Kaituna!

2011-12-17T15:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday here in Okere Falls we celebrated Christmas in true style. The day was filled with 4 events- Individual downriver sprint, downriver freestyle, a mass float and freestyle in the bottom hole.
It was hot competition with big names such as Sam Sutton, Brendan Bayley, Louise Urwin, Jamie Sutton, Courtney Kerin, Toni George and many more of NZ's top paddlers.
The first event was the Individual sprint race that ensured everyone had aching muscles and the game of endurance began!
In the Mens Sam Sutton won with a time of 6min 38sec and was followed closely by Jamie Sutton with a Slovak dude in 3rd.
I took out the Womens class with a time of 7min 12sec(11th overall) and was followed closely by Toni George and Louise Urwin- both less than 10secs behind me! It was awesome to have such a tight race in the Womans and we definately showed our game all placing in the top 15 of the mens class!
In the Junior class Cole O'Conner Stratton dominated most events! Jamie Sutton owned the Mens combined events so overall trophy and Toni won the womens overall(Freestyle, time trial and downriver freestyle combined.

Big Thanks to Louise Urwin for organising such a wicked event! It was a huge success once again!!! Thanks to all the sponsors of the event also! There were heaps of wicked spotprizes and this made for some happy faces to kickstart the party!
Photo Courtesy: Martin Hammer.

Huka Falls!

2011-12-12T19:47:00.000-08:00

The Huka Falls are a set of waterfalls on the Waikato River that drains Lake Taupo in New Zealand. At the top of the falls is a set of small waterfalls dropping over about 8 metres. The most impressive, final stage of the falls is an 11 metre drop. This 11metre drop is a large mass of clear blue water and a great spectacle wonder for many. It is a well known section of pushy white-water to not just the kayaking community but to most Kiwi's and tourists.

When at low flows (50-75cumecs) it is quite runnable and not a very technically demanding piece of work. A large number of white water kayakers that are able enough have run it at these flows. At higher flows (100-200cumecs) it becomes quite the maneater and it should be left to only a select few such as the Ryan Lukus's of the world.

I have been meaning to run Huka falls for years now, but everytime I go to Taupo I either don't have my gear or the river is too high! On Friday night Luuka Jones and I roadtripped to Taupo to meet my parents for dinner. On arrival we stopped in at CanoeandKayak Taupo only to hear that Huka Falls was running at a nice low flow of 50! Unfortunately earlier in the day Luuka had damaged her AC joint while we were out mountain biking in the redwoods so this put her out of action! I was not super keen to run it for my first time so Laura and Dave (owners of Canoeandkayak) rung up a young local boy named Scotty to come and join me. I was a little unprepared as I didn't have my kayak with me but lukily Canoeandkayak had a few spare:). They gave me a Bliss-Stick Huka, a kayak I had never paddled in my life but was stoked to try out!!:) It seemed quite suitable to use on Huka Falls too!

So me and Scotty were off to the falls only to realise on arrival that it was flowing slightly higher then 50...a bit more like 75 or 80. But I wasn't going to miss the chance so jumped on and boosted down anyway. Scotty led the way and after a little surf in the top ware I decided to maybe take my own lines:). All went well in the end and I was stoked to finally run it, its been a long time coming! My parents even rocked up just in time to watch too! Pictures are from the lead in rapids.
Checkout the video of me on Luuka Jone's blog- www.luukayaker.blogspot.com

Wish Si was here as he would have been stoked as always!:)

Big thanks to Canoeandkayak Taupo for sussing me the boat and Scotty for hitting it with me!

Whangamata surfing

2011-12-10T23:52:00.000-08:00

Time here in NZD is going quite fast!
With stand-up paddle boarding to the hot-pools, kayaking, early morning surfs and work, I have been pretty busy. Last week I headed up to Whangamata to babysit and it was a wicked opportunity to get in some good surfing and beach time! I have also picked up some work on PureCruise's sailing yaght, it is a beautiful and enjoyable place to work. I have been trying to work hard and save up lots of money as I have big ideas for 2012! But look forward to getting more active on the water and pushing my physical elements!

December

2011-12-08T16:21:00.000-08:00

December 2011 is now upon us and so summer here in New Zealand is official! With the Kaituna River dropping down to 200-300's a crew of around 10 of us (John S, Jamie G, Ryan, Ben J, Dan, Willz, France etc) did a full river run and 4 of the boys descended the Knarley section and declared it good to go- clean of logs and other threatening features. At this lower flow I found 'Awesome Falls' was a lot stickier but the 3 drops in Smokey were a lot easier.
Here are some pictures from Simon's Birthday last weekend, taken by Imanol Garcia Badiola of Argentina.

Si's 21st Memorial

2011-11-27T23:49:00.000-08:00

It has been just over 5months since one of my kayaking brothers Si passed, and yesterday was his 21st Birthday.
A couple of car loads of people from Okere Falls missioned it down to Taupo to meet with some of his family and remember in a place where Simon loved to kayak- Huka Falls! It was a beautiful day with lots of sun and we enjoyed a picnic with the Huka Falls in the backround. This was followed by a mass kayak down the Kaituna River with over 60 kayakers and a few rafts (including 1 with his family). The turnout was really wicked and the day was ended with a mass booty skull! Simon would have been stoked!
photo credit- Lou Urwin and Tyler Fox

Waiariki Academy of Sport Training Camp- Ohope Beach!

2011-11-25T18:33:00.000-08:00

This week Waiariki Academy of Sport held their annual beach training camp!
The strongest members of the Bike, Kayak, Golf and general squads all attended and brought good form for the organised events, activities and challenges that were set by the camp leaders, Sam Thompson and Rebecca. It was a wicked three days on Ohope beach filled with mini surf comps, morning runs, orienteering and sports seminars. A great opportunity to mix and mingle with different athletes from different sports and chill out at the beach:)

Summer Missions!

2011-11-25T02:59:00.000-08:00

Summer missions continue! Last week I made it down the full Kaituna River twice with different groups each time. It was good times paddling with Lou Urwin, Maxi, Severin, Joe and the Scotsman. Some Mountain Biking with Leela was also a good way to get back into the aerobic fitness;). And a trip to the hotpools in Elsy's boat was a very wicked way to rest and recover:).

Troutpool Road!

2011-11-17T21:48:00.000-08:00

We are now fully moved in to our home for the next 6months or so! With four ladies- Leela, Shilo, Laura and myself and Lauras Argentinian man Ima! Its halfway between the put in and get out of the Kaituna river and is perfect for living!Tommorrow I am planning to head down the lower Kaituna Gorges again with Lou Urwin, Francey, Severin and maybe some others! Getting fit again and missions are back on the agenda now exams are out of the way!:)

Tuna!

2011-11-17T03:43:00.000-08:00

After getting my final exam done for the year I cruised back North via the Outback of Taihape where I picked up a brand new very hot Red Bliss-Stick kayak! Currently the fastest Extreme boat in the World and on the market, the 'Tuna'. On arrival back in Okere Falls I didn't even make it back to my flat, I saw Kenny Mutton at the put in and so busted out a sweet run in my shiny new boat!

It felt amazing! The Tuna is a very wicked boat and although it caters for the heavier build I findit carries me on top of the water very effectively and its speed pickup is great. It boofs nicely and shoots wickedly out of drops!

On the Sunday Ryan L, Ricketts, Maxi and I boosted to the Wairoa for a couple of laps which was good fun. There we met up with Swiss born and bred Severin and kidnapped him to bring back to Okere Falls!

On the Monday Maxi, Severin and I boosted down the lower Kaituna Gorges! It seemed very suitable with my new 'Tuna' kayak! And it was a really awesome day! The river was at around 500's so the flow was quite descent and pushy, we walked Knarley. The Tuna performed super well and flew out of the 3 Smokey drops:)

Lower Kaituna Gorges- Awesome and Smokey!

2011-10-30T23:45:00.001-07:00

Summer days are rolling on in here in NZD! Yesterday Tilzy, Ricketts and I decided to go for a river run in the lower Kaituna Gorges. The flow was at 500’s so we decided to give Knarly a miss and got out just below ‘Awesome Gorge’ and then hopped in below it and into ‘smokey’ gorge. It took us 4hours from the Kaituna control gates to the get out and this included the small hike around knarly gorge. It was soo good to get back on this run, I would definitely rate it as one of the best river runs in the North Island. There are several drops in each section and the run is very continuous with many good features.It was a good way to start the season here and my new Duemstuff gear held up really well so I was stoked! The Dry top is primo and the pants are super nice and lightweight. Checkout Sam Ricketts blog for a good report of our paddle: www.rickettskayaking.blogspot.com

Cruising Kiwi style

2011-10-23T19:47:00.000-07:00

Summer seems to have arrived with nearly all of the season travellers arriving back for another one here in the falls. I have been enjoying the sunny days with some running in the redwoods, river runs, and I have been back doing laps in my slalom kayak. Work at the resort has been going well and this last week was celebrated by the locals here with the Okere Falls Bier Fest. Last night we all crowded around the screen here at the store to watch NZ win the Rugby World Cup against France, a very close and nerve racking game but stoked we pulled through in the end! My Czech friend Martin Hammer is here in New Zealand at the moment and as you can see he is a talented photographer. Pics include- Me on the Kaituna, Night Sky at Blue Lake, Sunset at Lake Rotorua and the Redwoods forest.

Okere Falls- Summer is coming...

2011-10-19T12:52:00.001-07:00

So after a week or so of catching up with family and getting in some epic snowboarding with my sister Heather it was time to head North back to ‘Never Never land’, aka Okere Falls! To be fair the weather has been cold and my first few runs down the Kaituna were at Open Gates as the rain gods have been letting loose. It has been really good to be home and catching up with everybody and I have been using the last of the October month to do some out of the boat exercise, such as running, swimming and snowboarding. I am back waitressing again at the Resort on the lake here and soon I will be moving into our all chick flat that rests halfway between the put in and get out of the Kaituna river, spa pool included! Bring on Summer and many kayaking missions!

NEW ZEALAND!!!

2011-10-09T22:48:00.001-07:00

After Sickline a bunch of the kayakers made our way to Octoberfest in Munich! It was, as always, Epic! Theme park, never-ending food stalls and wasted people everywhere! Inside the tent where one of the Worlds most dominant female kayakers (Mariann Seather) works is a table that gets taken over by kayakers! We drank till midnight then made stumbled our way home. The next day I caught a train to Prague and recovered in my European Base- Zbuzany. A few days later I celebrated my 23rd Birthday with home delivery pizza, movies and chillean wine and chocolate! It was really nice and chilled and just what I felt like after the crazy week before. Then Thursday came and I was delivered back to the Islands in the South Pacific- New Zealand. On my arrival I was met by my good friend Abby! We cruised Auckland for a bit and then hit the road and headed to Ohakune to meet with my parents and sister Heather and stay in our bach. Sunday was unlimited vis, blue sky's, now wind and an awesome day up Mt Ruapehu!!!Stoked! And very stoked to be home!

Adidas Sickline Extreme Race 2011!

2011-10-03T12:18:00.000-07:00

142 competitors and 26 Nations were on the start of the 2011 Adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Champs! With a competitive field the race was off to a great start with qualifications on the Friday, this saw the field cut down to the top 46men and the women cut completely as they do not have any semi or finals race on the Wellebruke section- a real shame! The Womens racing was tight this year with a small field of 8 chickas from 8 different Nations! Going in

to the race I was pretty fired up and keen to give it heaps! My first run was a 132seconds and placed me in 2^nd equal with Roz from Auz and Caro from France as were all on the same second, and this put Martina Wegman of the Netherlands with a dominant 2second lead! I needed to fix my line on the ‘Champions Killer’ drop as I hit the left eddy after it which lost me a lot of time. Unfortunately my second run I lost my edge at the bottom of the drop and lost some time so finished with the same time and was pushed into 4^th position behind Martina Wegman, Caro Loir and Anne Hubner who pulled through a fast time in her 2^nd run to beat my by less than a second. Big ups to Martina Wegman for laying down two solid runs and taking out the Chicks div for the 4^th year in a row! She totally nailed it and had a well deserved win! I am super keen to come back next year and hopefully we can push for the Women to race finals on the top section! Martina, Roz and Caro and I(in 93^rd) were all placed in the top 90 of the men after 1^st runs, in order to go through to the top we would have needed to be in the top 48.

Mens Race=KIWI DOMINATION!!!

I have to say I was really really stoked to be there to watch Mike Dawson and Sam Sutton kill the competition on the Wellebrucke rapids! The Mens racing was very tight and the final was awesome to watch. With Fabian Dorfler, Michelle Ramazza, Issac Livingstone and superstar slalom racer Vavra the field was incredible and some very smooth performances were layed down. There was about 4dudes on 98seconds and this put Vavra in 4^th, Paul Brockelman in 3^rd and Mike Dawson with a 98.10 in 2^nd, with Sam Sutton laying down an absolutely epic run of 95seconds! Hell yea! Super motivating and I was very happy for these guys!

To follow came the inaugural Sickline Party at the Mexican restaurant, it was a great celebration and good way to end the event. This was followed the next day by a swim in the lake, macdonalds and then to Munich to join in the Octoberfest celebrations!!!It was wild. In the morning I cruised to the train station and then journeyed for 8hours (by car its 4hours!) back to my European Base here in Prague! I have an assignment due tomorrow and then I fly home on Thursday! The plan is to be skiing with my beautiful family by Saturday afternoon!

Big Thanks to all the Super Amazingly Awesome European (and Worldwide) people that have helped me out this year here in Europa! You all totally rock and make my trip and travel here a breeze, dreamlike even at times! Cheeers, Dajkuim, Gracias, Dunke! Photo credit- Adidas Website and Martin Hammer: Sam Sutton, Mikey D, Boys on the podium and myself on the bottom drop:)

To see results checkout: Results here

Adidas Sickline Extreme Race- Extreme Kayak World Champs!

2011-09-28T05:05:00.000-07:00

Two years ago I came here to Austria to watch the Kiwi boys dominate in the competition that has been labelled the ‘Extreme Kayak World Champs’. This year I am here to once again watch the boys dominate but also compete myself. There is a small womens class of around 10 that includes Martina Wegman of the Netherlands, Ros Lawrence of Australia, Anne Hubner from Germany, Nina Halasova of Slovakia and Caro Loir from France, along with a few others. For us the race will be only down the Qualification section of the course which includes two descent sized drops that are followed by a 1-2min class 2/3 section of white water. The river has been dropping lower each day and the weather remains nice and sunny each day. Its good to have sunny weather here in the Valley as otherwise it can be quite cold! Today I hit up the main race course- thanks to my sweet safety by Jamie Sutton it was all good:). I managed to get the drop well on my last run but am afraid I now owe two booty beers! Enjoying the paddling anyway and stoked to be here!Checkout some of last year’s racing here and for info on the event checkout this website: www.adidas-sickline.com

Austria!

2011-09-27T04:27:00.000-07:00

Since arriving in the beautiful Tirol Valley and resting here in the Austrian village Oetz, life has been sweet. I have been enjoying the daily kayaking trips on the various sections of the Oetztal River, walks around the scenic lake and dinner with the many good people rolling in the area. On Sunday a crew of around 10 of us decided to head up the valley to the Glacier in Solden. Solden Glacier has just opened for skiing and provided a few really nice runs, including one amazing section with thick powder to butter our way down. I even tried out skis for a bit, but think I will stick to snowboarding! It was an awesome day and pretty reasonably priced. Other than that the training for the Sickline Extreme Race is on! Martina and I have been busting out a few solid runs down the Qualification course and building our confidence for the harder section. The river has been really high and this has meant the Wellebrucke section has been at quite a pushy flow. I have had a few really good runs down the quals course and a few not so good, with a casual swim in the big drop today. I was trying a new line and took a heavy beating on the 'Champions Killer' Waterfall! Feeling good generally though and really excited for the next few days of training before the race on Friday! Hoping to get the last drop dialled! My new DuemStuff Gear is holding up really well and has been keeping me warm on the icy waters, and it looks great too!

Kanumesse- DuemStuff Team- Austria!!!

2011-09-21T12:23:00.000-07:00

After an epic unwind week in Prague it was time to venture on to the direction of the Adidas Sickline Extreme Race that will be held in just under 2weeks in Austria. First however, I stopped in at Europes biggest Kayaking Tradeshow held in Nurnburg- Kanumesse. As always this is a great place to go if you are interested in kayaking! It showcases the many companies, brands and manufacturers that drive the kayaking industry. It was great to checkout the latest gear from many of the retailers and the party was well worth it with plenty of good beer and wine on offer. I was fortunate enough well I was there to meet up with the DuemStuff team. Duemstuff in a Slovenian based company that retail in really sweet and styley kayaking gear. I have bought some of their items in the past and have found their gear to be really good quality. They have now accepted me onto their proteam! I am really excited to work with them and look forward to using their gear in my up and coming adventures!

After a successful time at Kanumesse Mike, Martina and I hit the road once again and headed for the Austrian Alps. We stopped off at Kats for the night in Kaufburn before heading off to Oetz in the morning in convoy with the Sutton brothers. On arrival into the Tirol valley we headed straight for the Middle Oetz section of the Oztal river and busted out a nice run along with Jakub Nemec, Issac L and Miha. It was soo nice to be back in this beautiful Austrian Valley and back paddling on descent white-water. I feel so relaxed here and I am really happy to be back in my Mystik creek boat, totally ready for a good week of boating before the Extreme Race next weekend!

Checkout DuemStuff’s website to see their sweet gear: www.duemstuff.com

Also checkout their blog with updates from their current team members:
here

Olympic Selection for NZ! 2011 World Champs Fineto.

2011-09-14T23:14:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Canoe Slalom World Championships in Bratislava of Slovakia was a very successful event. The crowds were massive, competition was fierce and the atm0sphere was charged!
For New Zealand it was a successful World Championships with Mike Dawson finishing with a very creditatble result of 16th and qualifying the 2012 Olympic spot as the 12th Nation. Big Congrats to Mike, he totally deserves this spot and is a on good form for doing well at the Games next year.
Luuka Jones also qualified New Zealand a K1W spot as 14th (I think) Nation, placing a creditatble 32nd position in the end, just missing the tight cut of the Semi-Finals.
Although I didn't pull together the dream full runs I had been imagining I had some good racing and was happy with my paddling. The competition was awesome and I really enjoyed the racing.
Now it is time to unwind...I have migrated to Praha and I am staying in my favorite European chillout location with the Hradileks in Zbuzany. Issac, Vavra and I have been chilling out in the city and enjoying our break.
Next up is Kanumesse (Kayak Trade show) that is in Nurnburg, Germany. Then I will be heading to Oetz in Austria to do some kayaking and prepare for the 2011 Addidas Sickline Extreme Race. Some good weeks are to come...

2011 Canoe Slalom World Championships

2011-09-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

This morning the racing continued with the C2men and K1W Semi-finals and Finals. It was a great day of racing with the Hochshorners once again taking gold in the C2men, closely followed by Lafevre and Gaurgand of France and in 3rd was the Slovak Skantar brothers.
In the K1Woman it was the 2010 Chamion Corrina Kuhnle of Austria that once again took the gold! Followed by Slovak Jana Dukatova and Spanish Maialan in 3rd.
In the afternoon the C1Men and Woman had their qualification race. Unfortunately the Kiwi Men did not do so well placing in the late 50's.
Tommorrow afternoon we will have Teams races! But first we will be running down the bank with NZ's top K1Man and good friend, Mike Dawson!

2011 World Champs- Qual Run 2

2011-09-10T07:52:00.000-07:00

Race Day:
After our delayed start racing was finally underway again on Friday morning. I was feeling really nervous by this stage!! The nerves showed in my first run when I dropped low into 2 of the upstreams and lost time. I went into my second run knowing I had to lay it down, I felt a lot more relaxed and was recharged and ready to attack. I attacked my 2nd run well and had some good lines and fast strokes, unfortunately I also had 8seconds worth of penalties and a little time loss in places. I ended up in 55th. My 1st run a 115 clean and my 2nd run a 109+8.
I was pretty gutted, my dream perfomance I had been preparing for was lost and my chances for the Semis were well out. I was quite dissapointed, but sometimes thats the way sport goes.
And so it has come to the end of my 2011 Canoe Slalom season! It has been an awesome journey and I have had a lot of fun along the way. Big big thanks to all my supporters, especially my family, Luuka, Jane Borren, Sam Thompson, Mike, The Dawsons, Sue Clarke and all my European friends that have helped me out soo much! Its been awesome.
I am now going to take a year off slalom to finally finish my degree and focus on some extreme races! I am really happy about this and super excited to venture into what I think will be the raddest year yet! I have already got a few ideas about where I would like to go and have a few plans but they will come out in time:)

Big Congrats to my best mate and fellow team mate Luuka Jones, she lay down two very solid runs to place in 32nd, making the 14th Nation spot and qualifying herself a spot at the 2012 Olympic Games in London!I am really stoked for her and look forward to celebrating her success on Sunday at the final party:)
Also Big congrats to my other mate Mike Dawson, he pulled it together in his 2nd run with an 89sec clean and very smooth run to place 10th and secure his spot in the top 40!!!!!!!

New Schedule

2011-09-08T06:22:00.000-07:00

After another windy day the call was made to postpone the racing for until tomorrow.
Now new startlists have been posted and my new start time is: 10:42am (8:42pm NZ time, 6:42pm Auz time) and 12:42am (10:42pm NZ Time, 8:42pm Auz Time).
For all startlists checkout: www.canoeslalom2011.com
For live video and results:
www.123result.com

Video of My Race

2011-09-08T02:12:00.001-07:00

Canoe Slalom Worlds officially open- Race Day!

2011-09-07T23:01:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday night in the centre of the Slovak capital city Bratislava, the opening ceremony for the 2011 Canoe Slalom World Championships was held! Heather and I made our way down and met up with the rest of the New Zealand team to enjoy the celebrations.
Wednesday the racing began! Kicking off with the C2Men at 1pm, the Women were next to follow at 2. Unfortunately the wind gods were out in force and this caused for some crazy conditions! I was feeling pretty nervous and excited! The course was fairly straightforward and I felt confident on all the moves. Despite the crazy wind conditions the competition continued to run.
I went into my run feeling good and driving hard into the first upstream. My top and middle sections were really smooth, clean and fast! Then at gate 16 I incurred a 50! I carried on to finish strong and ended with a time that would have put me into 1st place, a 109sec. Unfortunately, because of my 50 second penalty I was put well down the list. I lost time when I incurred the 50 and it set me back a lot. Without this I would have placed 14th in the end, which for me would have been an awesome result! As gutted as I was with the 50 it was really good for my confidence to know my paddling was on target and I now know I am fast enough!
Ella Nicholas ended with the best result for the NZ women (although she races for the Cook Islands) placing in 17th!
Due to the crazy wind conditions they ended up cancelling the race. This meant that first runs have been nullified and Qualification runs 1 and 2 will commence today, if weather permits! I am feeling good and know what to do, I just need to have a repeat of my 1st run without the mistake at gate 16 and I will be in the game!

Big thanks to my beautiful sister Heather for helping coach and support me! Also to Jane Borren, Les Dawson, Sue Clarke, and all the others that were out supporting yesterday! And of course my parents and everyone back home, thanks for the messages:)

Pics from our day trip to Vienna, Opening ceremony, dinner with Nouria and the last drop on the course! Photo credit- Heather Jull and Sue Clarke

2011 Canoe Slalom World Championships!

2011-09-02T23:26:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Canoe Slalom World Championships will officially begin on Tuesday the 6th of September at 7pm with the Opening Ceremony. This will take place in downtown Bratislava, here in Slovakia! With 49 Nations on the startlist every class will have the Worlds best and will be hotly contested with 109K1M, 50C2M, 71K1W, 26C1W and 73C1M.

Startlists can be found here and info for the event can be found at: http://www.canoeslalom2011.com
C2Men will kickoff the racing at 1pm sharp on Wedneday afternoon. K1W will follow close behind commencing at 2pm. Nikki Whitehead is the first of the Kiwis to leave the start pool (racing at 216pm and then again at 5:16pm). My 1st run is at 2:23pm(12:23am NZ time) and my 2nd run is at 5:23pm(3:23am NZ time). Luuka Jones will be the last of the New Zealand woman, racing at 2:36pm and 5:36pm. Link to K1W startlist click here

The K1Men and C1Men do not begin racing until the Thursday morning starting at 10am. To see their startlist checkout: Here for K1M and Here for C1M.

During the racing Online Live Results will be posted here

For now I am finishing off the last few days of training, enjoying the course and having my sister Heather here as support. There will be a very large crew of New Zealander's here supporting for the World Champs. Stoked to now have the likes of Jane Borren also on board! Lets go Team NEW ZEALAND!!!

Training Video

2011-08-31T03:36:00.000-07:00

Bratislava- 1week till World Champs!

2011-08-31T02:38:00.000-07:00

I came back to Bratislava after my time at the Czech Championships and European Extreme Champs on a bit of a high! It was just so awesome to get back on good white water and I really enjoyed my time there.
Thanks to the Slovak Raft team for the ride back to Bratislava! :)
When I arrived back I was greeted by my sister Izzy who is still here in Europe finishing off her Euro summer tour! I was really happy to see her again! Then only days later my oldest sister Heather arrived! I am really happy to have them here, they are awesome sisters and good fun to be around!
On a more serious note...there is now only one week till the Canoe Slalom World Championships here in Bratislava of Slovakia! The course has become a busy place with Nations flooding in from all corners of the World!
I am feeling great and really excited about the racing that will commence in a week! Sweeeet!
For info on the event, checkout: http://www.canoeslalom2011.com/

Lipno, Czech Republic- Slalom and Extreme!

2011-08-29T02:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, what an epic weekend!
After some hard weeks training for the World Champs here in Bratislava it was time for a break from Slovakia and time to hit up the Czech Republic for some white water kayaking and racing!
Lipno is a beautiful scenic village that is just over the Austrian border and lies in some small mountains in the Czech Republic. It has beautiful pristine lakes and an awesome river that is sadly dammed and only flows one weekend per year!
Mike, Luuka, Ciaran, Katrina (Canada), Phill G and myself rocked up and stayed along side all of the Czech paddlers in a nice restaurant/hotel that overlooked the countryside. The first day we relaxed under the sun and enjoyed some nice swimming in the lake.
Friday the river came up and it was game time! After a few runs down the awesome slalom course I jumped into a creek boat and followed Mike, Phill and Vavra down the whole river. An awesome run and it felt soooo good to be back in a plastic boat! The river hosts continuous waves and some really fun weirs and rapids. It really got my adrenalin pumping and I was stoked!
Saturday was race day! I put down a solid run in the slalom to safely qualify through to the finals in 6th. I then boosted to the extreme race to qualify 1st spot in the final of the womans individual. Unfortunately I didn't pull through in the final and placed 2nd to Anne Hubner of Germany. I was very happy with 2nd prize however, big thanks to Teva, Hiko sport and the other sponsors of the event!
I then raced back up for my final run in the slalom which placed me in 7th, I carried a lot of adrenalin from the extreme race into the first half of my run which was primo, but blew out halfway down in one of the upstreams!
Sunday I raced again in the Slalom but didn't quite fire. I just scraped into the finals with a clean run and then when trying to cut the lines I incurred a 50second penalty and it was game over!
I am super happy with the weekend of racing and enjoyed my time in Lipno a lot. It was great to get back in the plastic boat and I feel a lot more confident about my paddling at the moment. Big thanks to all the Czechs for hosting us, especially Vavra! Also to the organisers of the extreme race, you guys made it an awesome event! Check it out: Devils Extreme Race!
Big ups to Mike Dawson who took out the mens individual, Jamie Sutton for winning the head to head and Sam Sutton, Jamie Sutton and Brendan Bayly for placing 3rd in the Teams! Yeah Kiwi domination! It was really awesome to catchup with the Kiwi's too!

In the Slalom Mike made finals both days also and Luuka also made finals on the Sunday!
Photo credit: Ciaran McArdle Heartau and www.devilsextremerace.com, Arnd Schaeftlein and Ladislav Vlcek

Bratislava Sun

2011-08-23T12:54:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough this week to have my sister Izzy come and visit! She is currently coming to the end of her European holiday and will be heading back to work in the UK in a few weeks. It was really nice to have her around and while she was here I took her out to see some of Bratislavas hot spots! the castle, Slovak food and on my rest day we went for a ride out to some beautiful lakes, one of which turned out to be a nudist lake...I wasn't to know. Along the way we met up with some of my Slovak friends that were on skates, skating is a massive sport here in Slovakia! I think it is the reasoning behind all the skinny and tanned beautiful woman here!

Training continues to go well and its not long now till I boost to the Czech Republic!

Training in Bratislava

2011-08-23T03:15:00.001-07:00

V.H The Machine in B.A from Twelve Productions on Vimeo.

Training here in Bratislava is going well.
The 2week countdown has begun till the 2011 Canoe Slalom World Championships!
On thursday I am heading to the outback of the Czech Republic (Lipno) for the Czech Republic Championships and to hit up The Devils Extreme Race!
Checkout this sweet vid of Vavra, made by Mike.

Prague- World Cup 4!

2011-08-16T13:38:00.000-07:00

Prague always provides an awesome atmosphere and venue for a world cup! The crowds are always big, the racing is always tight and the after party is always raging!
Race day was not great for the Kiwi's with noone moving through to the semi-finals. My 2nd run was my fastest and it was with some small mistakes and a touch. It was good to get another race under my belt and gave me some things to work on in terms of race strategy that I will take into the World Champs that are in just less then a month away now!
I spent the week staying once again in the Hradilek mansion in the outback of Zbuzany (the Otaki of the Czech Republic). Vashek placed 11th in the C2 and Vavra once again showed that he can be the fastest man on the circuit brining home the gold in front of his home crowd! On the Qualification day he was even 4seconds up on Peter Kauzer who was in 2nd!
Roz Lawrence my Auzzy partner in crime dominated the C1W! The young Slovenian pair took the gold in C2Men, Slovaks Elena Kaliska in the womens and Slafkovsky in the C1Men. For full race results checkout:
www.live.results.cz

Photo Credit to my friends Martin Hammer and Ciaran Mc Ardle Heurteau

Bratislava- Prague

2011-08-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

I am now residing in a typical commu tower Slovak style flat in one of Bratislava’s suburbs, known as Petrzalka. It is a 10min walk to Bratislava’s shopping mecca known as ‘Aupark’ and an easy 20-25min drive to the white water course in Cunovo. I live with a Slovak couple- Adrian and his partner (whose name I cannot pronounce yet letalone spell) and another Slovak chick, Emma. I am of course stoked to be back living in Bratislava! I have been treated to games of basketball and bbq’s in the evening with my Slovak friends.
On Monday I headed to Prague with Mike to prepare for the fourth and final World Cup! I am staying here in Zbuzany at my good Czech friend Vavra's place, its really sweet here. I am looking forward to once again getting on the startline a World Cup here in Praha, it is always an awesome atmosphere here with a good crowd!

London-Budapest, Hungary!

2011-08-05T02:09:00.000-07:00

After an epic week in London on the wicked white water course and staying in Luxury home accommodation at Paula’s Mums place it was time to head back to Eastern Europe. Luuka and I flew into Bratislava and it was time to settle into our new homes. For me I moved into a room in a Slovak flat with some other Slovaks. My room is big and I am living in the suburb of Petrazelka that rests in between the course and the city of Bratislava. On arrival at my new flat I was gifted a small plant to lighten up my room! After a nice lunch with some of my Slovak friends and a bbq I was on my way to Hungary’s capital city- Budapest! The idea was that I needed a few days of rest out of the kayak and so I arranged to meet up with my Brother in law Johnny!

Budapest is an amazing city! We walked and walked the streets in search of some interesting sights and we were very satisfied with what we came across. The city is host to an amazing castle and many many amazing buildings, including its parliamentary building that has 365 points to represent every day of the year! I was really stoked to be there and Johnny and I had a blast, we visited the ‘House of Terror’ which was a depressing museum about the history of Hungary and then to end our trip we took a long relaxing dip in the infamous thermal pools.

Now I am back in Bratislava enjoying my final day of rest, tomorrow I will be back in the boat!

London finale

2011-08-01T11:57:00.000-07:00

The London Pre-Olympic Test event was a very successful and enjoyable event to be a part of. I feel privilged to have had the opportunity to race here on the Olympic course and amoung the worlds best! Mike Dawson of NZ was the only Kiwi to move on to the next round of racing and only just missed the semi placing in a creditable 16th place. Here is a video of my friend Vavra Hradilek, he is the man! He not only dominated the mens and won with a 2second penalty but he also helped coach me over the weekend which was super awesome! Big congrats to Vavra:)
Tommorrow morning we will be seizing the day nice and early with a 630am flight to Bratislava! Then I am off to Hungary for a few days of much needed rest and to meet up with my brother in law, Johnny!

Pre Olympic Test Event!

2011-07-29T09:35:00.000-07:00

It has been an awesome week here in London training on the Olympic course! The racing kicked off yesterday with the K1Men and C1Men and Mike Dawson put down two very smooth runs to safely secure himself a spot in the next round that will be tommorrow. Luuka Jones and myself were lucky enough to have the likes of Mike and Vavra to walk the course with us and better prepare us for the racing, however we both missed the cut due to penalties and mistakes.
Although my results are average and I did not perform as I would have liked I really enjoyed the event and racing today. The white-water course here is so awesome and it was a competitive field with only the best few from each Nation being able to compete at this event.

Here are my runs:
1-

And the second run that starts at 2mins on the youtube vid...
2-

London Olympic Course- Training

2011-07-25T06:55:00.000-07:00

London Olympic Course!

2011-07-24T11:26:00.001-07:00

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.

Slovakia

2011-07-19T03:39:00.000-07:00

The last week here in Slovakia has been totally awesome! Training has been super good here on the super sweet white-water course and my time inbetween sessions has been filled with volleyball, table tennis, reading books in the hammocks, drinking kofola, pivo and great coffee with friends:). The other night my Auzzy friend Roz and I slept outside on the trampoline under the stars!It was really nice and a bit of fun, even if it did turn a bit windy! The weather has generally been really hot which has called for swims down the course to cool off! Although last night we experienced some furious thunder and lightning! The training slots have quietened down after the nation training last week which has meant training has not been too crowded and I have been fortunate to join in with some friends from abroad on there sessions, including some sessions with my Slovak mates:). Another few days of training before boarding the plane and hitting up London town on Friday! Sweet!

Bratislava Training!

2011-07-15T06:07:00.000-07:00

5 Continents and 11 Nations are to start in this afternoons white-water training Race here on the course in Bratislava. To wrap up a solid week of training some coaches have put together a race course that provides all the elements of a typical race, including a competitive field. Training here this week has been awesome, I am really glad I came! Although definitely feeling a bit tired, the white-water here is on a much higher level than the mellow flows of the Kaituna. Next stop will be London next Friday night!

World Cup Vid

2011-07-14T22:32:00.000-07:00