World Champs

I have been a bit slack in updating but here it is. The World Champs in Bratislava was the most amazing experience for me. My first race didn't go as planned, i think i was a bit overwhelmed by it all. I was sitting at the start line after a 15minute delay from the wind with 100 things going through my mind. Finally the wind died down and i could race, the first half of my run was going really well no penalties and good lines. However about half way down i hit a gate then got off line, and got caught in a hole this slowed me down a lot and meant i had to paddle up for 3 gates giving me a slow time, a lot of other people had also got penalties.

Fortunately for me the first day of racing was cancelled as the wind was blowing the gates around making it really hard to race. Two days later the forcast had settled a bit. I was racing in the afternoon. My first run went really well however i was too focused on where i had screwed up the last time that i paddled straight passed a gate...whoops.I got to the bottom of the course wondering why the score board said i had a penalty i hadn't realised i missed a gate.

So i was pretty fired up for my next race i was feeling good and had a clear head. I had a fantastic run no penalties and good lines i got to the bottom and felt happy with my race. There were a few places i could've made up some time but the perfect race is hard to achieve. The competition was very hard and the nature of the course made it difficult to make semi-finals. There were 71 women racing and i came 52nd. I was the 2nd New Zealander. Overall i am happy with how my first world champs went. It has opened my eyes to what it takes to be at the top. I have met some awesome people and seen some amazing places.

I really enjoyed racing in Cunovo our teams run was fun, unfortunatley we got tangled up and incurred a penalty but i got the gates at the bottom better than i did in my individual race. The atmosphere at the race was incredible. Slovakia has really good paddlers so the whole city was there to watch with thier hooters and the whether was really hot. The athletes got free red bull and a lounge to hang out in which was good. The finals were really exciting with a tough course making it close competition. Congratulations to Luuka, Mike and Ella from New Zealand making the Olympic spots!

                                             Not very photogenic....

                                          Walking the course with our coaches before training

                                          A cool montage of the New Zealand Team Paul made.

                                            more fantastic facials
      

                                           In the start pool before my race 

                                            Talking about the course with my coach Jergus

                                           Opening ceremony was really cool got to see some
                                                                  hip hop dancing

For the following 5 days after the racing had finished we spent some time sight seeing. We spent a night in Salzburg and 3 nights in Munich which was alot of fun. The plane ride home was long and Shaun one of the boys i was travelling with had food poisoning for the first leg of the trip, but we got home eventually. Now I'm straight back into uni with lots of assignments due.

Budapest

We had a rest day on Wednesday so decided to go to Budapest on Tuesday after our training. We booked some last minute accommodation on whatif.com and stayed in the Carat motel Tuesday night. The traffic was pretty bad getting into Hungary but eventually we found our accommodation, checked in and walked down to the Danube waterfront as we were pretty Hungry. Budapest is an amazing city and looks spectacular at night time with all the buildings lit up. We decided to have dinner on one of the boats it was a bit flasher than expected and we got a few funny looks rocking up in our jandals. It was a delicious meal and a fantastic view.

The following day we had a sweet buffet breakfast and then went on a bike tour for 3.5hrs around Budapest. Our hungarian tour guide Kinga was very knowlegable and told us a lot of the history, there are two halves to the city Buda and Pest seperated by the river. We biked all over, we saw a massive lake that is an ice skating rink in the winter, lots of statues, old buildings and thermal baths then we biked accross the bridge and up castle hill. Bike tours are an awesome way to see a city faster than walking.

We are now down to one session a day as there are so many nations training and with only 4 days til i race. I am feeling pretty good and loving my new boat and paddle. The course is challenging but i am really enjoying it, the drop at the bottom is still a bit interesting but I'm loving it. I am now staying at an apartment closer to the Danube in Bratislava. This week hasn't been as hot only about 30 degrees so thats been better for training. Here are some pictures from our time in Budapest.

                                                        Photos taken by Aaron Osbourne

                                                              Photos by Ben Gibb

Back in Brat

Only two weeks today until i race at the World Champs! Very exciting. So i have been back in Bratislava training now for over a week. We have two Slovakian coaches Jana and Jergus coaching some of the New Zealand team. I have found it very beneficial having someone to give me feedback, set courses and different combinations of gates to try and someone to video me and then review the video after the session. Their english is getting better too which is a bonus. I feel i have improved since i got here and it has been great using my own boat. It turns so good. However there are a few more scratches than i would like and two cracks one of them has been fixed and the other one might have to wait for Dad when i get home. But i reckon you're not trying hard enough if your boat doesn't get a few scratchs...

The course has a drop at the bottom that the coaches call Niagara this is where i cracked the tail of my boat so i have been working on getting the gates in there better. Its such a good course i am loving training here everyday. The days have been getting super hot we have had fantastic sunny weather and today the temperature got up to 40 degrees!! Luckily we have sessions early in the morning and late in the evening which helps to avoid the heat. Although today we had a rest day so walked up to the Bratislava castle and around town. This was extremely HOT! I then had a chocolate chilli flavoured ice cream to cool down.

We have found some really nice places around town, we had dinner down at the river front the other night with some of the teams parents. There are bean bags on the grass and lots of people just hanging out. We also had a New Zealand team dinner so that was good to see everyone. On our walk home we saw this guy in the street floating i really want to know how he does it now.


                                                             Photos by Ben Gibb

                                                           
                                                               Bratislava Hrad Castle

Photos by Paul Roozendaal

                                                                          Niagara

                                                         
                                                           Photos by Aaron Osbourne

                                                       Wheres wally....oh i mean Nikki

The sessions are getting much more crowded now and unfortunately we have the same time slot as the chinese there are so many of them and they just seem to pull out in front you constantly this get a bit frustrating but we haven't had any really bad carnage yet. Well i better go now full runs in the morning and we're leavin at 6.30am.