Sunday, September 28, 2008

Nottingham

This past week I have spent getting to know my way around Nottingham. I am living in the meadows and its only 10mins walk from the centre of town. The White water course here flows constantly and its only 10mins by bike from the Meadows!! Lizzy gave me her bike to use well I am here which is awesome!
I have a job at the National Water Sports Centre here working mainly serving in the cafe.
Today I went wakeboarding behind the boat. It was so much fun!I also went on the massive tube which was out of control!!
It has been a pretty chilled out week settleing in here and getting to know my way around.
Unfortunately my camera is a bit dead due to water submersion.
I will try get some pics soon.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

England!!!!

After many many many hours of driving two of the British chicks (Hannah and Sarah) and I arrived at the ferry terminal in France, ready to catch the 6am ferry to England.
2hours later we walked onto the freezing deck to see the cloud covered countryside of England. We drove North up past London and finally back to the town of Robin Hood, Nottingham.
I moved into my new home in what is known as the 'meadows' area. I live at the end of Woolmer street with 2 guys, Joe and Pete and a girl Vicky. I met Joe when kayaking in central Europe and he was kind enough to offer me a room in his house. Its a very cool house and my room is sweet.
I have been paddling at the course, chilling out and looking for a job. Today Luuka took me down to the National water sports centre and we went wakeboarding by wire. It was super fun and I am keen as to get right into it.
I will try get some pics up soon. My camara is not working so well anymore unfortunately.

Monday, September 22, 2008

The Racing

Race Day- Leipzig

Qualifications: My first run was very average. I had 6 touches causing 12seconds worth of penalties and a spin that lost me a bit of time. My 2nd run I stepped it up and only had 1 touch. I got every move direct and was online for pretty much the whole run. I qualified into the semi final in 14th position. I felt that I was really well prepared for the race. It was really good having a coach to walk the course with and having video review.
The next day we had the Semi finals. The course was a lot trickier then the previous day. I somehow lost focus half way down the course and this lost me time. My bottom section was slow and off line. I finished up in 17th place.

The update






The other day we drove for an hour to the coast of Slovenja to get some kayak gear from the Sandiline factory and then on to Ljubliana. In the centre of Ljubliana town there is a river. They held a night time flat water 1 on 1 dual slalom race on the river. It was a very cool atmosphere! There was only 8 Women entered though so we went straight to Semi finals. And unfortunately for me I was up against the 2006 World Champion Jana Dukatova. So for obvious reasons I got my ass kicked. She ended up winning the race overall.
The K1 and C1 Men’s was more competitive with time trials and then the top 16 going on to Semifinals. Peter Kauzer took out the K1M and Jana Dukatova the K1W.

On the weekend we had qualifications for World Series race No.2.at Solkan. The weather in Solkan was really nice all week but unfortunately on race day the winds picked up and the competition got cancelled. So on the Sunday morning I managed to get a ride to Leipzig in Germany with the Canadians. Leipzig is a pretty new course 143km from Berlin. It is suppose to have a similar design to the slalom course in Beijing, just a bit smaller. They have really kindly let me stay with them in the houses that they are living in right by the course. They are really nice and warm and at a really good price. They have also said that I can train with them and will be coaching me for the week for a small cost. So thanks heaps to the Canadians!!! I really appreciate it.
I think I am saying goodbye to my European summer though because it is really cold here! I have been wearing pants and my down jacket the last few days. The place we are staying has a sauna though too which is awesome!Its been great hanging out here too as all the paddlers are staying in the houses here which makes it like a kayak villiage!
This weekend we have the last World Series race here in Leipzig! After the race I will be catching a ride with the British to England!


Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Brat Semis and then on to Solkan

The Semi finals were on the Sunday and for me they were yet again very average!!!I had a few wee recircs and this caused me to loose a fair bit of time. I finished up in 19th place. I look forward to going back to Bratislava again one day but would like to do a fair bit of training there before any races!! It was a pretty crazy race with at least 2 ppl in every final getting a 50, So many fifties were given out!!
Mike finished 13th, Mark 22nd.
Nina M from Slovenja=1st (1000 Euro!!)
Dana B of Slovakia=2nd(500Euro!!)
Elena K of Slovakia=3rd(400Euro!)
K1M= Peter K of Slovenja=1st
C1M= Martikan 1st

On Monday we slowly packed up and drove to Ljubiana and then on to Solkan. Being back in Solkan brings back a lot of memories of my Junior Worlds here. It is a very mellow course here compared to Bratislava. We will be training up this week here for the 2nd World Series race this weekend.
Solkan is right on the border of Slovenja and Italy so we are looking at heading in to Italy 1 night for dinner!!Italian food is the best!

Sweet, better cruize

Ciao

Saturday, September 06, 2008

World Series- Slovak Open Quals

Today was the Qualifications for the Slovak Open. The course was once again very tricky!!! 
The amount of fifties given out today was pretty huge, esp. for Women.
I had one of the worst runs of my life. I started off by missing gate 2(Probably the easiest gate on the course) and it went bad from there resulting in a very slow run. My 2nd run was a lot better with only a few touches. I ended up in 25th place out of the small contingent of 27 Women. There are a lot of good paddlers here but many picked up fifties. In the womens class you could make the Top 10 with a fifty!!Crazy. luckily for me all Women go through to tommorrow's Semi- Finals. 
In the K1Men there was around 80 competitors, top 40 going on to the Semi-Finals. Mike had two fast run times which would have placed him in the top 5. But he picked up a fifty so ended up in 35th place. Luckily still making it through to the semis with a fifty. 
Mark had 2 reasonable runs and placed 2oth, top 30 went through for C1Men out of the 40 competitors. 
Mark and I spent the afternoon on the quad bikes and trying out the free shit!!Was sweet. 
Hopefully tommorrows racing goes a lot better!!
Ciao

Slovakia









Friday, September 05, 2008

Lead up to World Series no.1

This week has been real fun. On Wednesday Dana and Matej took us for a trip down the Danube river in Canadian style canoes. Half way down we came across a sandy beach!!It was a really nice beach with lots of trees and was totally deserted, we could see the Bratislava town in the distance. Real Awesome!!! Then the Italians cooked us some Italian style pasta which was totally sweet.
Then last night we went to Matej and Danas knew home for a BBQ. Was really nice:)
Tommorrow we have Qualifications for the Slovak Open, the 1st event of the World Series. We have been training on the course here in Bratislava all week and are looking forward to the race. It looks like there will be television coverage for the event(Showing on Eurosport). The event is going to be big and there is going to be jet skis, quadbikes and paintball to entertain the kids and stuff. I am keen as to go for a ride on the jetskis inbetween runs!
I am quite sure the course will be as challenging as last weekend!!
I will put some pics up in the next few days.
Off to watch demos,
Ciao

Tuesday, September 02, 2008




Semi Finals Day

On Sunday we had the Semi finals. The course was not quite as tricky as the previous days but was still challenging enough. Mark was the first Kiwi off and put down a solid run to finish in 27th. I was next and had an okay run with no major screw ups but I lost time with a few unnecessary spins at the top and middle of the course. I ended up in 23rd. Mike had a bit of trouble in gate 1 and a sweet run after that but ended up in 24th.
Last night we cooked a feed for some Slovaks(Matej and Dana) and some Italians(Stefano and Omar). We cooked a traditional Kiwi meal of Chicken pie and Pavlova.
I will try get some pics of the kayaking and the course up soon.
This coming weekend is the Slovak open and there is a lot of hype. It is going to be a big race here with lots of Television coverage. As Slovakia dominated in the olympics winning three of the 4 classes. There is big prize money up for grabs along with cars and other expensive items.
Today Matej and Dana are taking us to check out some old castle and a beach!!!sweet.