Newcastle

Ok so after a long time of nothing on here thought id update some stuff...Im now living in Newcastle in Australia working and hanging out. Life is all good here...lots of beaches and things to do. I havn't been back in the boat almost since my last post but instead have been getting out there mountain biking, running, swimming and surfing!!

Tacen

Final result for me, 34th... and 17th nation, so not enough to satisfy the NZOC requirement of top 16 nations, so its all over.
My runs were not bad, my competition just paddled faster, and went clean!! First run i was online and kept the boat moving but got a little off line in two gates and picked up touches, and then on 2nd run i was paddling well but got off line in one section and picked up 3 touches in a row and that was it, all over for me!!
So it is pretty gutting to be so close...but yet not do enough, training was going well all week and i was feeling strong and ready to race, but it was always going to be hard to get into the top 16 nations, especially when competing against much more funded teams and athletes.
So finally thanks to everyone who has supported me so far and maybe the NZOC can be convinced that top 17 nations is maybe enough...
Other kiwis C2 boys, 24th/25, Louise, 45th/45, Luuka 35th/45 (but luuka is through to semis and can hopefully lift her performance tomorrow and secure that spot for NZ in the K1 womens)

prague

so the racing for me is over here, i had a very average run on the course and ended up in 38th place. so not a good result for me after placing 30th yesterday, i was hopeing to improve but was unable too. Now i will travel to tacen where i have one last chanceto get into the top 16 nations!!
luuka, the other kiwi going for olympic selection had a bad run too, ending up in 39th, so she too will travel to tacen and hope to secure that spot next weekend.
this afternoon is the finals, tony is winning the c1s and mandy planert is winning the k1W

prague

well quals has just finished, i made it comfortably through to tomorrow, 30th place, and in 17th nation place. Need to lift it a little tomorrow to ensure i make it into the top 16 nation place.
Both the kiwi girls made it through, luuka 38th and louise 39th, so they have a chance tomorrow to lift themselves up a few places. the C2 is still on at the mo.
demos are tonight for semifinals course so will be exciting to see what they set!!

prague world cup

The course has just been set here for the qualification runs starting at 9 am tomorrow for me, 10ish for the girls and in the arvo for the c2 boys. the course looks good, not to bad, a few tricky bits but overall pretty standard.
live results can be found on results.cz and live tv coverage of the event, including qual runs, supposably, can be found on the link from slalomtroja.cz
So tomorrow i have to make it into the top 40 boats, and then i get to race off on saturday for a final placing!!

Back in prague

The "Devils" foot + pics of the course at augsburg




Yesterday we left augsburg and made the journey back to prague. we arrived at about 7 and managed to fit in a session back on the course before it got dark! We also met up with the rest of the team last night, the c2 arrived and our other k1 women. the c2 came from NZ and our K1 women flew in from Nottingham, London.
It is starting to seem more like a world cup here each day, today there are session times and we are training with the aussies, belgiums and bulgerians.
This morning the guys did a session with kidda, progressives and are looking pretty sharp, obviously been doing lots of training!!
Well there are 3 more days of training, and then the course closes for the racing on friday, should be a good race, am really looking forward to it. here are some pics from our week in augsburg