South Island Missions

After an awesome week of training in Australia with unlimited free water due to the fact that they kept the white water course running 24/7 some reasons to do with the algae in the lake I went out to dinner with all my Czech and some Slovaks to a CZE/Slovak Pub. Then flew home to Rotorua direct from Sydney, it was awesome! Within 20mins of landing at Rotorua airport I was on the Kaituna doing a riverrun! This was followed by a trip in Ryans boat to the hotpools. I arrived to find my Auzzy mate Jonno had taken over my whare in Okere Falls, we were joined a few days later by my good Canadian friend Katrina Van Wilk (also known by most as Canada!). We spent a few days rocking it in the falls doing riverruns and for me I caught up on a bit of Uni work and finished off the week of training with my French Coach Thomas Masuy. Katrina, Jono and I then drove to Otaki to spend a night with my parents. I was fortunate enough to catch up with two of my oldest and really good friends Skye and Ashleigh, it was great!
Canada, Jono and I then headed on the 2am ferry South. We drove to Murchison and arrived just in time for the Bullerfest! Bullerfest is an awesome kayaking event that is run every year on the Buller river in Murchison. I aced the first race which was a head to head time trial with 6 other chicks. But unfortunately got pushed out of contention when I failed to make the eddy at the bottom with the finish banner:(. It was really gutting. Canada was 2nd! and Niki Whitehead took the honours. Sam Sutton won the Mens, closely followed by Johann Roosenburg and Brad Lauder in 3rd. On the Saturday we had the Slalom race. My 2nd run was my better run being clean, I just lost a bit of time in the last upstream to the finish. Canada took out the Chicks and I was 2nd! Johann won the boys. Party that night with a theme of Rubix Cube...so lots of colour! The next day we did a riverrun on the lower Matukituki river which was pretty chilled!Fortunately too because Canada had forgotten her spraydeck!Then we headed to the coast for some epic Helicopter boating. We caught a helicopter into the deep wilderness of the West Coast valleys, amazing!Canada, Jono and I along with Niki, Toni, Sam, and Pete ran the Whitcome River the 1st day. Then Canada and I along with 5 other Canadians ran the Perth river, really really cool run, I must do it again, 6hour venture! It was a dramatic day too as Canadas boat leaked and proved to be pretty dangerous!! Then along with Sarge and Nick Hoffman, Canada, my sister Izzy and a few others we ran the Whataroa River, really fun and cool! Then we packed up our tent and drove across Mountains and through some amazing valleys to Wanaka! We stopped along the way in Okarito where an old paddling friend Sara Jane is now living!Totally wicked little spot on the Werst Coast with a total of 36 residents! We also checked out the gates of Haast along the way...Knarly!
We are now staying with Roy, Kelly, Jess and Holly Bailey in Wanaka! It is really awesome! They are taking such good care of us and feeding us up well with some amazing meals!They Rock! Today we ran Nevis Bluff and did one practice run down the Citroen Rapid! Was really so much fun! Loving this trip, it has been so awesome and everyone involved has been amazing!
Check these photos from the coast and Bullerfest!
Tommorrow is the Citroen Extreme Race 2010! I will be out in full force to defend my 2009 title!

Oceania Championships

It has been a rather hectic week here in Penrith for me to be honest. I had a few trips to the airport trying to get my kayak from the Cargo place, and was finally successful on the Thursday, the afternoon before the race. I borrowed boats to train in up until the race which was okay, except for the big crack I put in Paul (Canadians) boat and the fact that paddling other peoples boats just isn’t the same as training in your own! Anyway by Friday all was okay and I felt okay for the race. I qualified for the Semi-final (top 30) in 21st place. My 1st run I got given a 50 second penalty. My 2nd run was 2 seconds faster than my first run and I had 1 touch. My time was 113.00+2. The fasted Qualifier was Corrina from Austria with a 101 I think. Luuka was the only other Kiwi girl to qualify and was in 23rd. Shaun Higgins qualified for the C1M.
In my semi-final I was feeling a bit nervous and screwed up the first move. I had to do a back off and lost time. I took a touch in gate 15 and lost a bit of time leading into gate 16. I need to work on my edges and core stability a lot along with keeping my paddle vertical and my top arm straight. I ended up in 23rd place with a time of 125+2. The fastest was about a 112. Corrina the Austrian won. Edern Le Ruyet from France won the C1M.
For C1W I had some pretty messy qualification runs which were a reflection of my lack of training. In the Semi-final I managed to get all the gates which was enough to put me through to the Finals in 8th position. I was hoping to improve a lot in my Final run however this was not to be the case. I had a bit of an unfocused moment at the top of the course and this caused for me to miss a stroke and power flip in the 1st hole! I then proceeded to Miss Gates 2 and 3. It was disappointing as the bottom half of my run was not so bad.
Now I am resting in Penrith for the rest of the week training. Our French coach Thomas is here until Thursday so will be coaching me, Mike, Aaron and Calum.
I am going for a sleep now as I am super tired!

Wairoa Extreme Race

After lots of flat water training, summer school exams and some good times living back at home. I then cruised North for the Wairoa Extreme Race. It was an awesome event that was really well run and heaps of fun! I was feeling good and had some good runs but the Ladies champion, Toni, took me out in the Semi-final. Brad Lauder won the mens and Jared meehan was 2nd. I will try get some pics up soon.
On Sunday night I flew to Sydney, it was a mission with the airline refusing to take my kayak! I managed to get my boat on cargo and just made my flight to Sydney!Crazy times.
All good now. I am here and training is good.

Heading to bed as I am wasted!

Training and Study

After an epic week with lots of Internationals I am now doing lots of study!and training:). Its amazing how much cleaning and updating you get done when studying for exams!

NZ Selections 3 & 4 & NZ OPEN

NZ Selection Races 3 and 4: Mangahao
Selection Race 3: My preparation leading up to these races was not what I would call the best! I havn’t had a day of rest in over 10days and I spent Mon-Fri going on kayak missions, in the gym and playing out in the sun! And I have about 15 competitors staying at my house here in Otaki so its been pretty busy. All was good however. And I managed to pull together some okay runs. My 2nd run was 3secs faster than my first, with a 109. I touched 1 gate in each run. My 2nd run was better in most places but I had a spin out in gate 6 which cost me a few seconds, unfortunate because most other parts of my run were good! Luuka’s fastest run was a 107 plus 2. Kate did a 101+2. Roz did a 106sec clean.
My C1 first run wasn’t bad, but I got given a 50sec penalty. My 2nd run was 10sec slower and not in percentage.
So after Ranking Race 3, Luuka and I are confirmed as on the NZ Senior Canoe Slalom Team! I have a lot to take out of the races. I am pretty happy considering I didn’t really taper off much for these races and am feeling good for the up and coming season.
Selection Race 4: So today we had the final races for our NZ Team selection. I was feeling pretty good and confident before my runs. My 1st run went okay, but I was low in the last upstream and lost a bit of time in a spin. My time was 109+2. My 2nd run was better in some places but the places I did really well in my 1st run I screwed up. So my run time remained a 101, and I had 4sec worth of penalty’s. Kate Lawrence from Australia dominated the womens class with a 99+2. Then came Roz L, followed by Jane Nicolas, Jess Groenvald from Canada, Luuka, and then myself in 6th. K1M was Will Forsythe(Auz), Rapheal (Fra), Vavra(CZE), Huw Sweatnam(GBR), Mike Dawson(NZ) and then John Hastings in 6th. For NZ Team its Mike, Aaron and Johann. For C1- Mike, Brent and Shaun Travers.
C2- Ben and Brayden are 1st boat, then Bryden and Andrew.
C1M- Nico(France) was 1st, Edern(Fra) was 2nd.
For more results: www.slalomnz.org.nz
Now I am going to stay in Otaki doing studying and training for the next 2weeks.
Some interesting things to take out of races for me are: Out of the 8 race runs I had 5touches, all of which were this weekend. Out of the 4days of racing, in 3 of the days my 2nd runs were better.
Its sounding like I made the team for C1 too!
I have lots to take out of the races. I felt my performance had improved a lot since last year. I was really clean at the start and this was great, I need to stay clean however! I felt my runs had a lot of good stuff in them but I need to work on holding it together for the whole run! My 2nd runs were mainly better, I think this was because I was more energized and generally paddled more reactivly. It will be good to have a day of rest tommorrow! Its been too long!

Selection

I have now come to rest at my parents place in Otaki in preperation for the racing this weekend. It is an ICF ranking race this weekend and there will be some hot competition. Competeing countries include: Australia, NZ, Ireland, Czech Republic, Canada, Slovenia, France and Great Britain.
The last three races I have done to kick off the 2010 season I have been clean in. So thats 6 clean racing runs!

New Zealand Selection Races: 1 and 2
For New Zealand’s first two selection races we all cruised down to the Tarawera River slalom course, situated in the town of Kawerau.
Selection No. 1: For race one I felt reasonably relaxed, we had to wait around at the course for ages but eventually had our runs. Both my K1 runs were clean. My first run was unreactive and lacking energy. My second run was a lot more powerful but I lost a bit of time in one of the Ups and at the end of the tight stagger. 1st run= 102 clean. 2nd run= 99 clean. This placed me as 2nd Kiwi, after Luuka who put down a 97 clean. Roz and Kate Lawrence put down some solid runs with fast times of 94sec for Roz and 92sec for Kate. Mike Dawson was the top placed NZ K1M with a time of 83sec. Will was first overall with a 82sec run. C2 was taken out by Brayden and Ben. Mike also won the C1M. Roz ripped up the C1W with a speedy time of 111sec. I did a 131sec in my 2nd run.
Selection No. 2: For race number 2 I was feeling a lot more relaxed. First run I did a 100sec clean. 2nd run I did a 99sec clean. Luuka took out the NZ women with a 96sec, clean run, placing me in 2nd. Kate Lawrence from Australia had the fastest women’s time with 92sec. The fastest K1 Man was Will with 82sec, fastest Kiwi was Aaron with 85sec. C1 Men was taken out by Mike with 97sec. Not sure about C2. My C1 was a bit of a disaster as I had to run straight from the end of my K1 run to do my C1, but all good, there is always next wkd.
Just did a run down Kaituna, awesome and Gnarly Gorges. Heading to Mangahau tonight.

Australia

After a good wkd in Raglan I took off to the land of flys and heat..Australia!!I had a really successful week of training there in both K1 and C1! It was soo good to be back on the course in Penrith again. I stayed with Roz L, Will, Robbie and Edern along with some other Kiwi boys, was good times.
We had a small race on the Friday night which was really fun. Unfortunately I totally screwed up my C1 runs. I had 2 clean K1 run times, I ended up in 6th. I did a 124 and a 122sec. Fastest chick was 108sec. So I was a bit off the pace.
Now I am back in Raglan catching up with Heath and chilling. Heading to Rotorua tommorrow and then over to Kawerau, NZL Selection Races this weekend!

Training, Awesome and Gnarly Gorges, Raglan and im off to Australia

2010 so far has been great. To be honest my training over the New Year period was not super. I felt quite ill for the first few days but seem to have come right. I have started joining the Okere crew doing 630am sprints in creek boats down the Kaituna gorge. It is a great way to start the day. There has been heaps of rain in the Manawatu with both the Otaki and Mangahau Rivers nice and high!
I have been going mountain biking and then to Kawerau to train on the Tarawera River. The sun has been out every day so it has been hard to stay inside studying! However I am off to Auz next week so need to get lots of work done before I go. The other day I rafted the Kaituna with some of the local boys, was pretty crazy, we managed to flip the raft a few times! Yesterday I paddled the whole Kaituna river incl. Awesome, Gnarly and Smokey Gorges! It took about 4hours but was soooo awesome!!! Really fun and beautiful and pretty full on.Then I was back to training. Now I am in Raglan staying with my sister heather, getting some Rehab in with massages, lots of rest and pizza:). Tommorrow morning I will fly to Sydney to train for the week. I will participating in the Ladies C1 training camp too! Sweet, off to check the surf..
adioss

2010!

2009 was an awesome year. Full of fun and crazy adventures. Highlights were New Years on East Coast, Europe and Africa!
I saw in 2010 at a concert in the Coromandel, Coro Gold!!It was pretty epic. Heres some pics from the concert and just general boating round the Kaituna.

End of another Epic Year!

Christmas back in Otaki with the parents and my two awesome sisters was really great. We had an awesome time and it was great to be home again. Before Xmas we had a training camp at Mangahau! It was a great success! The Swiss C2 that is currently in NZ came down for it along with Luuka, and Mike and Brent came for a day as well. I felt really good on the water and really enjoyed the training.
I forgot to mention, we had a Slalom Race on the Wairoa the other week. I took out the chicks which was a good feeling. Although my runs were not so smooth and I felt a little weak on the water. All good though. Johann took out the guys, with Bryden and Andrew making a comeback in C2 and Brent winning the C1M.
After Xmas Izzy and I roadtripped up to stay with Heather in Raglan. Its so beautiful there and the surf was epic! We went out to a BOP band, Tahuna Breaks, was really good. We also managed to get in a surf one evening, it was so good to be back out in the surf again!!!
Better cruise. I will be heading to the Coromandel late tonight to celebrate the New Year at Coromandel Gold! Wicked line up... Katchafire, Kora, Shapeshifter, Tiki Taane, Downtown Brown, Recloose and some more wicked bands!

Xmas at the Kaituna

The other day we cruised down the Kaituna on blow up stuff. Was sweet! We had a downriver and freestyle race too. Lou Urwin dominated the Freestyle and I took out the Chicks paddle down the river, Mike took out the Mens Time trial and the Mens freestyle!

Okere Falls-Summertime

I am back living in Okere Falls this summer. It totally rox.
I am living across the road from the river and have been paddling heaps! The other day I followed Sam, Ryan and some of the other boys down the river swimming!It was wicked as.
Heading home to Otaki for Xmas and then Coromandel for New Years!

NEW ZEALAND

Being home has been really good. I have had time to catch up on a lot of things I couldn’t do well I was away. It has been very busy though. I have started Summer school and so have lots of study to do. I have also moved up to Okere Falls and once again managed to find a really cool place to live right opposite the river! I am pretty much living here alone at the moment but it is sweet as. I have only really just moved in. There are chickens out the back so I have an endless supply of eggs which is cool.
I have been back to Otaki a few times and caught up with Ma and Pa. Yesterday I went on a mission with Mike and my Slovak friends Monika and Marcel. We camped overnight next to Lake Waikeremoana and then ran/walked the Waikeremoana Great Walk in one day! It is about 46km through bush and up and down hills. It took us about 10hours but that included stops and stuff. Was really beautiful and such an awesome feeling at the end.
For now I am back into training here in Okere Falls on the Kaituna river.
Off to the pool

HOME

It has been an amazing last 7months away! I am now Home in New Zealand!!! Thanks so much to everyone who was part of my exciting journey this year. Esp. Mike, we travelled together for most of the trip and everything went so well!Cheers. And to everyone else...you know who you are!:)
NZ summer...lets go!

The Ugandan Adventure has continued to be super!!As it turns out there are heaps of Kiwi’s here. This place is dominated by mainly British and Kiwi’s. We have been doing heaps of runs down the Silverback section, up until I had a little mishap where I rolled and broke my paddle and bruised my left arm on a rapid called Bujagali. My arm was pretty sore for a few days but came right pretty quickly and I could paddle again after about 2days, my muscle is just still bruised and swollen. We did a mass group day trip down the second section of the river, called Day2 with heaps of rafts and kayakers, it was really fun. We then cruised down to an Island called ‘The Hairy Lemon’ it is at the bottom of the Day2 kayak leg. It has no power in the dorms and long drops for toilets. You get all your meals cooked for you when you stay there and it is 5mins paddle from 2 awesome play holes, ‘Nile Special’ and ‘Club Wave’. We stayed here for a few days playing cards and doing lots of kayaking. Then cruised back to NRE for some relax and chapatti’s! Yesterday Mike and I kayaked from NRE all the way to the Hairy Lemon. It is about 40km and has a lot of flat sections! It took us about 3hours 30mins but we stopped powering it after 2hours and cruised the rest. We ran everything blind, was sweet though. We ran a rapid called Ithunder which is pretty massive and fun!
We are now preparing to fly home to New Zealand!! We have cruised our way to Kampala and are staying in a backpackers here. I am definitely going to miss life here in Uganda, but really am excited for home in New Zealand!!! I will miss the amazing Chapati’s and Samosa’s and smoothies, lovely people, boda boda’s etc. I won’t miss the crazy drivers, slow service and cars breaking down or running out of petrol! But it has definitely been an awesome experience here in Uganda. Such an amazing time and fun rivers. People here are great and the kayakers are all totally sweet.
So it is the end of such a long journey away from home for me. What an adventure it has been. Starting off in England buying our sweet van, heading into Europe, World Cups, World Champs, Trips to Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Holland and back again to the UK and then finally on to Africa! So many people have helped me out along the way and made for such an amazing year! I have memories that will I am sure last forever. There were Up’s and Down’s but definitely more good times then bad.
Cheers to everyone from Europe and Africa that contributed in whatever way to my fun! Now back to NZ for some summer school, Slalom training, catching up with people, work and more fun in the rivers, mountains and ocean!

Uganda

Uganda

As sad as it was to leave Zambia I was pretty excited for Uganda! We have now been here a few days and are quite settled. There is a bit more of a relaxed lifestyle here, that’s for sure. Uganda is situated about 45km from the equator. On arrival in Entebbe airport the first planes we saw were UN planes. We then were treated so some typical crazy African driving. Uganda is an even more underdeveloped country then Zambia and this was quite noticeable as soon as we arrived.
I love it here so much! Paddling is easy and fun and I am even getting the chance to practice some sweet play moves. We are staying right next to the river at a backpackers place called NRE (Nile River Explorers) and it is at the start of a descent play run called ‘Silverback’. I am really loving it here. Everyday is very chilled out! We wake up, go paddling and then just chill at the bar that is here at the backpackers. There are loads of paddlers around which is cool and makes for lots of fun. The part of Uganda we are in is pretty in the wild. We are staying near a place called Jinja. It is beautiful and green here. After kayaking we catch boda boda’s (little motorbikes) back up the track. The drivers are pretty crazy and you count your lucky stars everytime you make it back unscathed! Outside the backpackers all the locals have their little stalls. Best one is the Chapati stand. A chapatti is like a pancake and each one gets full of whatever you want…omelette, nutella, banana etc. They only cost about 1000 ping each(not even $1 Kiwi) which is awesome coz they full you up! People here are pretty friendly. Yesterday we went on a mission to a playhole called ‘Superhole’. About 10 of us caught a matato(van) up there and it was pretty fun. The van unfortunately ran out of gas so we had to wait by one of the local villages for another van to come for 3hours!!!In Africa anything goes and things are never in any hurry! It was a fun wait though because the locals lit a fire that we danced around and chilled by until the van came. They have the funniest adverts here… like ‘Say no to bad Sex’ and ‘Say no to morning Sex, Africa’ and ‘Shagging a virgin does not cure aids’. They are all trying to promote people using condoms but are worded so funny.
Leela and I caught a boda boda into town the other day and my guys bike ran out of gas so we had to sqeeze onto Leela’s. It was pretty fun. We checked out the markets which are really cool. We got a whole lot of pineapple and mangos and passionfruit and some massive avocados! Awesome. All the local black people call us Mazongu’s(White people) and are always yelling Jumbo Mazungu(Hello white person). Food is really cheap here along with everything else! I had fish curry the other night and it was really good. There is even a local chick that is doing Slalom here. She has put up some flat water gates on the river and has a brand new Vajda boat she got from the ICF. She said Mike and I can borrow it while we are here which is awesome. She wants to train up for the next Olympics.
Sweet, I am off to find some dinner then I think there is a wee party going down here, last night we celebrated Halloween and I painted myself green and went as The Incredible Hulk!
I will try get some pics up soon.