Augsburg and now in Bratislava for Teen Cup.

Training here in Bratislava is starting to get busier and busier with Juniors from all over Europe, America and Oceania have come to race for the Teen Cup which will take place this Sat and Sunday. The weather here has been pretty poor, with days of 12 and 14 degrees, not what I came here for though, the paddling has been awesome! Spent a week in Augsburg recovering and enjoying the course. We picked up Carl Whitehead from Munich (Munchen) who has just got to Europe after a month in America and Canada.

Sorry for the lack of updates but haven't had much internet here at the moment. Alot of seniors at the course at the moment, preparing for the World Championships in September.

Will keep you posted on results from the race.

Salzburg, Innsbruck holiday with out kayaking!

After a 5 day camp in Bratislava on the technical course at Cunovo, Ben heads off to London to compete at the test event for the OG, and Mum and I head off to Austria for a holiday and a few days off paddling. Salzburg, the home of Mozart and the Sound of Music, is packed with tourist (like myself). It's a pretty awesome place to go to, in the mountains with a river running through the middle of town, 1000's of shops and many homeless people.. After our day in Salzburg we drove to Innsbruck, the host City for the 2012 Winter Olympics. We visited the venue that hosted some of the event's at an earlier winter olympics, can't believe people do that, think I'll stick with Slalom.. The rain has arrived here in Europe, with an expected 17 degrees tomorrow with rain should make for very little sight seeing tomorrow and more shops. Mid day we're off to Augsburg to paddle on the Eiskanal, the host for the Slalom at the 1972 Munchen Olympics.

Leipzig, Roudnice, Bratislava

I've been in Bratislava since Sunday training on the course preparing for the first of the Teen Cup races which start in two weeks time. The race in Leipzig was a mare, and I think I'll leave it at that. After the race we went into Leipzig to check out the night life, and morning..Racing for semi's and finals was awesome to watch the next day, with an great result for Pierre Bourilaud winning the race, and he didn't even make the french team! Just goes to show how competitive France is in Canoe Slalom.

We set off on Sunday morning - mid day, across Czech Republic, was mainly highway with Czech mountains on the horizon. We stopped for a paddle at Roudnice, the course which hosted the 2008 Junior Worlds. It has changed a bit since I was there 3 - 4 years ago, I don't think it's been maintained, but the course it's self was still a good course, with some nice eddies and a big drop.

Training at Bratislava is going pretty good with not so many countries showing up for the training meaning more free water for us! The drop at the bottom of the course is pretty intense and requires a good bit of technical skill. Will try get some pictures of the course here up shortly.

After Bratislava, Ben heads off to London to compete at the Pre - Olympic Games, and I'm off to Augsburg, Germany to pick up Carl from Munich airport as we are going to travel around Europe competing at the Teen Cups along with Finn Butcher and Tommy McDowell. It'll be good to have a few days off on our way to Munich, stopping in Austria for a few days and doing some sight seeing and recovering before the race. To check out Carl's blog click on the link.. www.carlkayaker.blogspot.com. Carl and the rest of the NZ Junior Team and Development team raced at the Wassau Open in Wassau which will host the Junior and Under 23 World Championships next year, the first year there is Under 23 Worlds!

The teen cups this year have a bunch of sponsors like VAJDA, Galasport, RAAB and many more so should be some sick spot prizes for results. I heard a rumor that the overall winner receives a boat. I'll keep you posted on Brat.

Tut tut tut.....

Well that didn't go well did it! WC3 is over for me, not a very good reflection on my ability, but it was a slight reflection on how training was going on this course. Coming from L'Arg, a long flat course, to an artifical course with many features, I was struggling to adjust in three/four sessions on the course. More updates coming soon with some pictures, but probably not any video of the race..

Ciao for now

France and Germany training

Here's a short video of my training so far in Germany and France. These are the two courses that hosted the World Cup 2 and will host World Cup 3 this weekend.

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http://vimeo.com/26021755

Misty Markkleeberg

We went to the course here in Markkleeberg, Germany, just out of Leipzig in a large flat land next to what used to be a mining area filled in with water.

The course is more narrow and shallow than I first expected having only seen a video of it. It's got a lot of features with tight narrow eddies, with some larger ones also. Pictures below.

The rain and temperature is still the same, it's supposed to clear up on Wednesday in time for the race

Racing will take place Friday - Sunday with allocated trainings untill Thursday

Race Results WC no. 2

The last couple of days in L'Arg, France the 2nd World Cup took place on a long and quite flat course in the mountains about 15 minutes from Briançon.

On race day I was feeling prepared, with the training going pretty well (except for being absolutely knackered in FLR's) and I was feeling ready to race. The course for the race was quite basic, but was very easy to loose time if you got offline or stopped your boat in the staggers or upstreams. First runs for me, were average, but clean and no major mistakes. I made a lot of little mistakes which ended up costing me a lot of time in the end doing a 105.7 + 0.

I knew I was quite a way down off the leader, as I could of easily made up 3 - 4 seconds on my first run with basic mistakes. I went really well on the top of the course for second runs until around gate 9 and then I begun to make small - medium size mistakes going 0.5 seconds faster in a time of 105.2 + 0. I wasn't overly fussed with the placing or time but wanted to do consistent runs with no major errors, which i achieved, so was a good race where I learnt quite a few things about preparations for my races and runs.

After two days of driving, we arrived in a small town 15 - 20 minutes out of Leipzig, which will host the 3rd World Cup in 3 -4 days time. The course is artificial and I've heard is pretty good, not knowing for my self until tomorrow morning when we have training.

There is a fairly large New Zealand contingency here for the 3rd WC, with 2 K1M, 3 K1W, 2 C1M. It might not sound like a lot but is a decent number for NZ!

Weather in Leipzig here isn't quite what was expected, with rain and a chilly 10 - 14 degrees, which I think is probably quite similar to the weather in New Zealand right now..Website for the race is www.slalomworldcup.com 

Will try put a video of my race up asap.

Auf Wiedersehen!