Teams Race

2008

Otago

Its crazy to believe but Ive now been at Otago Uni for several months and its already the 2nd half of the 1st semester..

So I thought id put up some pics of what ive been up to.....Arana, Bullerfest, Kayak Nats, Murchison Boating trip etc..

So far the year has been rad as! Arana rox and the people make for some good times. My room is one of the old small ones but the people on my floor are pretty sweet so its all good. Kayak Nats was a wicked event!Me Aby and Luuka took out the Open womens Teams which was a big highlight. The Murch Boating trip was fun times with lotsa drinking and lotsa good times on the water, I survived the Maruia Falls which was the big excitement of the trip for me.

For now...Im back to study and hoping to sort out some training programme for the cold that is hitting Dunedin. Sweet thats all for now, Lata

AYOF, OCEANIA CHAMPS, UNI!

Ok so its been a while since I last updated my blog and a lots been hapening so.... The Youth Olympics were awesome!We had loadsa fun at the opening ceremony and staying at the Uni complex/villiage type thing for the games. On the day of racing it was super hot being up in the high 40s. My first run of racing was going mint, I was clean until..I missed the last gate! this was followed by a crappy 2nd run. So racing didnt go quite to plan but all was good.I had a wicked time and learnt lots.

Now im back in NZL, we have just had the Oceania Championships. About 10 Australians came over for the race, 5 of which are chicks. I ended up in 6th place being the 1st kiwi girl after all the Auzzies. It was a good race and was a good result for me to have after the last month of solid training and racing.

And as for now Im getting ready to head down South on the 16th of Feb to go to Otago Uni and study Surveying. Im pretty amped and am looking forward to a new year of adventures!

Sweet, thats all for now

Count down

Today we are having a rest day!We all got into our massive team bus and headed for Manly beach to chill and have a swim. The weather has been super hot lately with up to over 40degrees!!Walking for more then 5minutes leaves you in a sweat, but today is nice and cool. Training is good although the sessions are filling up with internationals with the arrivals of people for Youth Olimpics. We tripped into Sydney centre yesterday which made for lots of entertainment, some of us went to the maritime museum which was not the best choice, but all good! We move into the Olympic Village tommorrow which will be wicked and then theres the opening ceremony. We have the NZL Youth Olympic Physio staying with us at the moment which is great. Only 4days till racing!!!exciting! Anyways paddling is good and we are having a sweet time, I hope NZL is getting a bit of sun too!
Lata days...

Auzzy!!!!

After a 3hour flight I finally arrived in Sydney!!!After being greeted by Malcolm who very kindly picked up me and my boat, we headed back to a air conditioned apartment that Malcolm now lives in in Darling Harbor. We had a great night out as Mal took me to some wicked dance clubs. The next day we carried on to Penrith! After hours of walking in the 30degree heat with our gear in a supermarket trolley we made it to the BnB were staying at!!It was crazy, Ive never walked so far in my life...well thats what I claimed anyways. So finally we made it onto the almighty Penrith White water course! Im not going to lie me and Abby were a bit scared of the raging holes and the bollards that jump out at you, but we quickly got into the flow of things and became confident. The next few days we caught rides to the course with the friendly Canadian crew and used our Kiwi charm to catch a rade with a few randoms. Paddling has been wicked and every day gets better and better. We have now moved in to another place and were with the whole Kiwi Team so all is good! Saawwweeeet.Thats all for now,
Chow

Training for Auz

We got up bright and early this morning for our speed session which went better then I thought after last nights Lactic sess.Its another beautiful day here which is great!
Quote of the day: The pain of effort is temporary, the pain of failure is not
Nearly finished sorting my stuff for Auz so all goo!

Wanaka!!

Heres some pics of me in the snow!!!and up the mt!!!

Home Time

Its finaly all over! I ended up in 35th place which I was happy with. My run was good but I unfortunately touched two gates and was a bit shaky at the start but otherwise it was sweet. The afterparty was wicked and a good end for the trip.
After 40hours of flying we arrived back in New Zealand!
Thanx heaps to Johann, (our coach), Kidda, (another coach) and Sue (manager). This trip wouldnt have ran so smoothly without you guys! I can't thankyou enough!
See you on the river!
Louise

Junior worlds Qualification race

Today we had the qualification race. The 1st 40 make it through to the semifinals. My first run was ok but I came a bit low into one of the gates which lost me a few seconds and i had three touches. My 2nd run went a lot better. It was 10seconds faster and clean!So I ended up in 39th place...just made the cut. Luuka also made the semifinals with a placing of 33. But Abby and Hamish are fortunate enough to start drinking tonight and head out to the loosers party.Which me and Luuka will go to but cant drink at. O and we got 10th or so in the teams which was cool!We bet the Auzies which we were pretty stoked about!
Anyways everything is going pretty well. We went into town the other night to watch the German versus Italy(soccer world cup) game which was super exciting. It was unfortunate that Germany didnt end up making the final as we will be in Germany on the night of the final and the atmosphere would have been wicked!
I betta go,
From
Louise

The big race!

This Friday we have the qualification race. It consists of two runs and will determine whether I race in the Semifinals on Sunday! Tommorrow night we have the opening ceremony which im really looking forward to!!! The are 35 flagpoles to represent the countries here and it is pretty crazy hearing so many different accents and languages!
Im looking forward to the race but am quite nervous too. It will be good though and a good experience.
will cathya lata
Louise

NZ Junior Team

Kayak Pics

1. A pic looking down the drop at Tacen
2. The flat slalom race at Ljubjana

Bovec

At the moment we are in Bovec, about 1-2hrs from Solkan. We are just here chilling out and having a break!!it has been wicked. We went on a river run yesterday and for the first time in so long i felt cold!!!We had hired creek boats and when we started off on our journey it started to hail!!!And really big hail like actual golf ball size..no word of a lie!!! Then today we went roadtripping to find a lake for a easy flatwater paddle!!!I was the navigator in Kiddas van...and you have probly already geussed that we never got to the 1st lake!When we went for plan B(the 2nd lake) it was when we got to the Italian boarder(without our passports) that we had to go all the way bak to Bovec!! Luckily we found a easy patch of water to do some sprints on.
It was at the final destination that we found a dead snake that the boys quickly used to scare me and Abby out of the water! So it has been quite an eventful last few days for sure!
I better go..
love Louise

Solkan!!!

We have finaly arrived in Solkan!!!The venue for the junior worlds. The course is not big water but its not very flat either. It has fast flowing water and so far I like it.
The major action for today was when me and Luuka got left behind at the place we are staying while the team van took off to the river for training!!!But lucky for us the Slovenian National Basketball team were round and seeing too kiwis girls in distress they very kindly gave us a ride down the the river!!They were really nice and we were extemely greatful!
For now were into some solid training at the course along with some sweet sun tanning!

Tacen

Today we went and watched the seniors race on Tacen. It was great fun as we got to see some of the top paddlers in the world! Two New Zealand seniors raced, Jared and Johann and they both did pretty good. It was a real hard course and every second paddler seemed to be getting a fifty! This one chick missed 4gates!It was crazy.
Tommorrow we are heading for Slokan which is about 2hrs away. It is the venue of the junior worlds and where the 2week countdown will begin! So it will be good to the course!

T......T....T...Tacen

After 10hours driving we finaly arrived in Ljubljana the capital city of Slovenja. And yes over the past few days now we have been facing up to the almighty Tacen course. Which after several runs of rolling for me...I eventually got it sorted.
Then last night we went out to a concert that they have on to celebrate the start of their holidays and the beginning of their summer!! It was wicked! We did some sweet moshing then we watched the male dancers dancing to Bad Boys...and they sure did show a bit of skin, Luuka got it all on vid!!!
So after another day of training we are heading out tonight to watch a slalom race on (j;Hamishs input) the flat water section in the middle of town. Then tommorrow we watch the seniors race on Tacen.
I better go have dinner
catchya lata
Louise

Team NZ in Czech

Augsburg

Some pics of the trip so far

At the airport with mum and Heath

Me, Abby and Luuka with our hats!