Prague

I have been in Prague for a week now. We have been training most days and getting used to the course, it is very different to Bratislava a lot more features to use and a bit flatter, the eddys are different too. So you have to paddle a lot more and be super fit. We have been into the city twice it takes about half an hour on the bus and the train. We walked around the old town and went into the Torture Museum which was very interesting I'm glad i wasn't around in those times. We had subway for lunch and a ice cream. We had a loook around in some of the souveneir shops and clothes stores like H and M, New Yorker which are massive. We also went to the Charles bridge which was as i rembered it packed full of people. We also went into the city after training for dinner one night with a few of the guys from the Australian team. The architecture in Prague is amazing lots of old buildings, a lot of them with scaffolding, it is quite a contrast to the communist buildings in Bratislava. We have a nice restaurant at the place we're staying and an Italian place by the course where we have been eating. We also went to Letnany a big mall about ten minutes away to watch a movie with the Australians it was luckily in English and only had Czech subtitiles. It has been good to do something other than kayaking and have a look around the city.

Torture Museum

Charles Bridge

Torture Museum

I raced my first World Cup yesterday which was awesome. I was a bit nervous not knowing what to expect but my first run went pretty well. I only got one touch however i was pretty slow compared to the others in my class. I felt that i was a bit late in some of the staggers and had to use some back strokes which slowed me down a lot. I had a bit to work on for the next run. It was going well up until gate 10 where I didn't have the right angle of my kayak which meant i dropped into a hole sideways and tipped making me low into gate 10. The rest of my race went pretty good i was a bit low into some of the gates but overall i was happy with my first world cup race. You've got to start somewhere i guess. It has been interesting talking to other athletes about how racing comes down to experience and it usually takes about 6 years to be competitive. I'm glad i had this race and now know what i need to work on for the World Champs. I need to be more focused on what lines i will take in my race preperation. I got my new kayak today which is awesome! I took it for spin on the flat and it turns like a dream.It will be good to not be paddling a test boat that is too big for me any more.We have a training camp in Bratislava next week with a Slovakian coach so that will be really good. We watched the semi-finals on live czech TV this morning and went to the course to watch finals this afternoon. It has been a tough race for everyone none of the athletes from the New Zealand team got through to semi-finals. The Czech paddlers have been dominating you have to be fast and clean to do well on this course. It was an awesome atmosphere today watchin the finals especially the K1 Men it came down to 0.05seconds between 1st and 2nd. Vavrinec won a czech paddler, the woman k1 final and c2 men final is tomorrow. We just had two games of ten pin bowling at the place we're stayin i came 2nd and 3rd. Well I'm off to dinner now ciao.