Our 2011 International Campaign has got off to a great start here in Prague of the Czech Republic. Training is going really well and our new boats are feeling great on the water. Today it was our rest day and with the advice of our good friend Vavra Hradilek who is currently dominating at the European Champs in Spain (check results at www.123result.com) we were advised to take a back country bike ride out the back of Zbuzany. So we Luuka and I took off on some bikes and a map- courtesy of Jana Hradilek. About 1hour later we arrived in Karlstejn, the home of an absolutely epic castle that was designed by Charles the 4th- A great emperor of the Czech Republic and designer of the famous Charles Bridge and Charles University. After a nice lunch we began the 2hour uphill journey home- which can be compared as the Czech equivalent of the ‘Tour D France’! Yes, it was a bit harder than we had anticipated for our rest day, but none the less a good day out. We are looking forward to sitting around the fire tonight here in Zbuzany and enjoying a bbq and jam on the guitar. We will be back on the white water in Troja tomorrow.
Dobreden! We are now staying in the small village and the home of one of the Czech Republic’s greatest Canoe Slalom athletes Vavra Hradilek- Zbuzany! This morning we rose with the sun at 630am, managed to negotiate our way through the cobbled streets of Prague, and fitted out our brand new racing kayaks. Summer time is definitely dominating the European weather forecast and it was preemo paddling today in the summer heat. Our new boats rock and it was so good to be back paddling on the course here in Troja. It is great to be back here in the Czech Republic, it is an awesome country and I love the way of life here... Tesco- best cheap supermarket in the world- Plunger $11.50NZ!Milk $2. Czech language- every second word is Dobry People- Everyone is super helpful, about 4Czech dudes helped me fit out my kayak Driving- Negotiating is easy, just look for signs to Centrum and the Zoo and remember taking a different route every time ensures you get the full tourist experience! Zbuzany- Rad village on the outskirts of Prague Big Thanks to my friend Martin Hammer and the boys at the Prague boathouse today for helping me drill holes in my kayak and get it sorted! Also to the Hradilek family, its always so nice staying here and they are very accomodating, it feels like home!You guys rock! Ciao
I managed to get my Mystik Creekboat and all my gears onto Korean Air and after an 11hour flight finally arrived in Seuol, South Korea! Korean Air then escorted Luuka Jones and myself to our 5star hotel in the Seuol city centre! The dinner was a cultural experience to say the least and we were then off to see a bit of the cities nightlife. We were early to rise the next morning and in search of a good coffee that was to be followed by a buffet breakfast with pancakes and the works! Feeling rested it was then time to check in for our final destination- Prague.
When the New Zealand weather report issues warnings of heavy rainfall there are not too many people that are super stoked on it, but there are kayakers. This week New Zealand was flooded with grey clouds all across the country. Fortunately this meant there was plenty of water to flood the creeks of the Kaimai mountain range that lies just out of Tauranga. On Friday Gregg Thomas and I cruised over to check the flows and after meeting up with Ben B, Tillzy, Jared M and Dave J we began our hunt for some white-water action. We ended up jumping onto the Upper Ngamuwahine. It turned out to have a long shuttle and a bit of a walk in that added to the mellow lead in section, but this was all in anticipation of a sick run with some very sweet drops! ‘Over the Handle Bars’ was the first and the lead into it was primo with a massive rock slide. The speed was wicked. Next up were a few mellow drops followed by the ‘Double Drop’. I checked it out and could see a sweet line. Unfortunately I did not have such a sweet line however, which sent me plunging over and upside down going into the second drop- not such a good place to be in. I came out of my boat but was lucky and had no injuries! The rest of the run was really sweet, lots of good moves and slides.
A very rad day- big ups to the dudes that I paddled with, all legends and stylee as F**K!
Pics from top-
-View at top of Handle Bars
-Me on 'Handle Bars'
-View looking back up valley
- Ben Brown stying the shit out of 'Double Drop'
- Me on 'Double Drop' about to get my ass kicked!
As the title suggests it is nearly time for me to board Korean Air's 737 and head to Europe. I will be accompanied on the brutal 24hour flight by my partner in crime, Luuka Jone's. I am pumped to go and feeling fired up to get back onto the European continent. We will touchdown in Prague on the 6th of June and from there we will be heading to Slovenja to prepare for the first World Cup in Tacen. This year I will be travelling mainly with Luuka up until the Prague World Cup. Then my sister Heather will be coming over to help coach me and prepare me in my build up to the World Champs in Bratislava. Waiariki will also be providing some wicked support with the input of Antz our super good physio and my current trainer Sam Thompson! Totally stoked to have these guys on board as they are really awesome and will be great to have at the Worlds!For my European Race Schedule check out my calander tab at the top of this page. Check out this wicked video my friend Mike Dawson made of my Czech friend Vavra. It is filmed at the 2011 World Championship course in Bratislava, a very awesome course with a lot of rad features including big drops, waves and meaty holes:)
With only 20days till I depart New Zealand to begin my 2011 Europe Campaign time is flying! I have had about 2weeks out of my kayak due to my eye infection that developed after the scratch I had on my cornea a few months ago got infected- it has cleared up really well now and I have my full vision back again!:)
So Waiariki Training Camp at Mangahau was on! I was amped and ready to come back to the best Canoe Slalom site in New Zealand for some quality training with 5other athletes and Jane and Sam as support.
My first few sessions back on the white-water were pretty rusty but I soon got back into my groove and am slowly getting good feeling back on the water.
The camp was going really well with lots of nutrition, race prep and video review underway off the water and some preemo sessions on the water! This was until Luuka, Mike and my boats were stolen from the course in Shannon. After the initial shock set in we began our hunt to find the thieves and get our kayaks back! We were determined to not let this unfortunate circumstance set us back.
After a full on day of investigation with the local police we retired our search and hit up Otaki beach for a wicked sunset paddle in the surf. It was a great way to end a stressful day and for me, just what I needed, I was in my element! Lukily for us someone found our kayaks and saw the onenews report so gave us a call and we were reunited with our kayaks! So stoked!
So training was back on and we were back firing on the Mangahau training site!
On the weekend we had the New Zealand Canoe Slalom National Championships. On the Saturday was the Pre-Nationals. The course for this event was quite short and straightforward. I was feeling really good and relaxed on the Saturday, I rocked up checked out the course and then busted out two clean runs of 84sec. Luuka Jones brought her form and put down an 81+2 in her first run to take the win, placing me in 2nd and Nikki W in 3rd. On the Sunday it was Nationals Day, and for me I was not feeling as good going into the race. I blew out completely in my first run going low in all the upstreams and with a brutally slow time of 105sec clean. My second run I tried to step up my tac-tiks and bust it out, well I was high in the upstream gates I lost speed in my weak strokes and had a costly error when trying to cut my line near the bottom of the course. This resulted in a 103sec clean run, which fortunately was enough to secure me a silver medal, but not enough to satisfy myself. Luuka claimed a comfortable win with 6seconds up. Mike Dawson won the Mens race both days and Ben Gibb won the C1Mens both days also For more results checkout: www.slalomnz.org.nz
Yesterday we had the North Island Championships here on the Kaituna river. The weather was great and there was a lot of young talent competing. Nikki Whitehead and myself were the demo runners for the event and I was feeling very relaxed going into the event. My first run was solid and clean but not as fast as I would have liked, I did a 93sec clean. My 2nd run was a 93sec plus 52seconds worth of penalties. Fortunately my 1st run was enough to secure me the win. Calum Gibb was the fastest man on the day with a 79second clean run.
Since I have been back from the South Island I have been back into my next phase of training. I am currently in Otaki at my parents place getting ahead on some University work and training at NZ's best slalom course, Mangahau. Its been a very productive week with the river flowing everyday and lots of sun! I even managed to paddle to Kapiti Island! Along with finishing off two big assignments. I am heading back to Okere Falls on Tuesday where I will commence training and study.
Here is a video made by Mike of our trip to the South...
South: Murchison- The Buller festival is an annual Kayak festival that brings the small Southern town of Murchison alive with kayakers flooding in from the North, the South, the East and the West. Probably one of New Zealand’s biggest kayak events in terms of participation it is always successful and a lot of fun! 2011 once again provided a primo event with a good turnout.
After a scenic journey along the rugged West Coast we came to rest in the small town of Hokitika, with no time to waste Phil, Martina, Collin and I hiked a dreadful 2 and a half hours into the Styx River. It took longer than usual due to landslips. Our same crew then saw Monday in with a Helicopter Kayak trip into the Classic West Coast run- Arahura! A few rapids had changed since the last time I ran it (2years ago), but it was still primo!
There was a big crew staying in Hokitika for the week which was awesome. We had heaps of grills out the beach and hung out with our new mate Don who was quite entertaining to say the least! Wednesday came and a big crew of 10 of us flew into the Hokitika river- Sutton bro’s, Mike D, Martina W, Willz, Ryan L, Fabian (Argentina), Brad L, Issac L (Team America) and myself. It was an awesome day and I loved the run, probably one of the best days I have ever had on the West Coast!
Another long yet beautiful journey along the Western Coastline (via Franz Josef Glacier) landed us in what I call my second home...Wanaka! Stoked as always to be back and back staying in my home away from home, the Bailey household. A bit of casual training on the local slalom course and then on to the Kawerau river and Citroen Rapid (Venue for this weekends Extreme Race).
Citroen Extreme Race: New Zealand Extreme Kayak Nationals- I was feeling super pumped for this event. I love the river here and the atmosphere is always top class! Martina Wegman (Netherlands) and I were the only chicks so we decided to join the 30 strong mens class for a couple of rounds before racing off for the final. This meant my first heat involved myself, Sam Sutton, Bryden Nicolas and Martina- very sweet! The river was flowing at about twice the level of last year, pumping a solid 200+ cumecs down the valley, this created some massive waves and holes and some very entertaining races! There was a lot of tight racing and our women’s final was no less. It was a wicked race, both Matina and I had a pretty solid run, I managed to just take her out at the end of the run to be crowned Women’s Citroen and New Zealand Woman Extreme Race Champion! Stoked! Big ups to Lukus P(Poland) who took out the mens race, followed by 1st New Zealander Willz Martin and then the Sutton bros. Now I am resting up in Wanaka alongside some training with the future of NZ Women’s kayaking- Holly and Jess Bailey!
