Tacen World Cup Video & Pictures
2nd July, 2008.
I have just uploaded a video from the Tacen World Cup race from last weekend. The video is of my semi-finals run which left me lying in 2nd place going into the finals.
**TACEN VIDEO**
I Also received some pictures from Tomaž Hožič, a Slovenian freelance photographer. He took many more pictures at the World Cup and they can be found on his website.
**Tomaž Hožič**
**TACEN PICTURES**
3rd @ Tacen World Cup
29th June, 2008.
Today I won my first medal at a major competition, finishing 3rd at Tacen World Cup. But the day belong to Peter Kauzer, who put on a near perfect display of canoe slalom to take the win by nearly 5 seconds!
I was really happy with my 1st run, with very few mistakes I was lying in 2nd place 2 seconds back from Kauzer. I pushed hard on the second run to try and close the gap and at the half way split I was doing well. Unfortunately a few little errors in the last few upstreams cost me time and I ended up 3rd, 3 tenths of a second behind 2nd.
**RESULTS**
After the disappointment of Olympic selection and then the European Championships, I have been really happy with the way I have attacked the world cups. I am two for two in finals and now I can add a bronze world cup medal to my name. Unfortunately I won't be able to keep the momentum going next weekend in Augsburg because it is a released race to the under 23's. My next race isn't too far off though, the following weekend I will be competing at the pre-world championships in Seu, Spain.
8th in Tacen WC Qualification
28th June, 2008.
It was all about conserving myself today in world cup 2 qualification, and a pretty solid performance put me through into the semi-finals in 8th position.
The only errors on my 1st run were a silly touch at gate 6 and then a wrong line call at the bottom. I chose to go below the rock, when in fact it was 2 seconds quicker to go above.
My 2nd run as a whole was a little better, going from a high 97 to a low 97. My only real time losses were in upstream gate 11 and the move at the bottom again. I still had the plan for going below the rock stuck in my head, so I was a little late in getting back above, causing a slightly loopy line.
**RESULTS**
Tacen World Cup #2
27th June, 2008.
Tomorrow the 2nd World Cup of the year kicks off here in Tacen, Slovenia. Its been a blisteringly hot week since leaving Prague behind, with temperatures cruising around the mid thirties everyday. Thankfully its supposed to be cooling off a little with chilly temperatures of 26-27 degrees over the race!!
I have competed here in several div C internationals, a European Champs and now this will be my 4th World Cup. I enjoy paddling here a lot and quickly got back into the routine of the tricky top drop and the inconsistent water on the rest of the course. With it being such a tough place to paddle, tomorrow will be all about making sure of qualifying through to the semi-finals.
After a little searching I have found that there will once again be live results over the internet, so sit back, relax and enjoy the weekends racing.
**LIVE RESULTS**
10th @ Prague World Cup
22nd June, 2008.
In my first finals in a World Cup race, I finished up 10th having taken a 50 second penalty on the penultimate gate.
After qualifying in 7th position with a 2 second time loss, I was confident of climbing the leader board after the finals. Unfortunately I picked up a 2 second penalty at gate 12 and then a 50 at gate 19. The touch was a little annoying because looking back at it I should have been able to dodge the pole. The 50 was a close call, but it was given and I have to accept that.
Although the penalties on my finals run cost me a silver medal, I am pleased with the way I attacked the race today. I opted for the riskier, but quicker moves on some of the ups and pulled them off really well.
RESULTS
Its now off to Tacen for my second and final World Cup where I will be looking to keep the momentum going whilst doing away with some unwelcome penalties!!!
21st in Prague Qualification
20th June, 2008.
The World Cup series got under way today in Prague. I qualified in 21st place on a tricky course that scalped some of the top paddlers.
Things were looking fairly solid after 1st runs, with a run that had a few time errors placing me in 12th position. I was confident of pulling some easy time out on my 2nd run, but it wasn't to be. I ended up going 2 seconds slower as well as picking up a 2 second penalty, dropping me to 21st.
Although the result wasn't great, I was reasonably happy today. I didn't feel that great on the start line and lacked in snappiness and attacking throughout the day and so was happy to be in contact with the rest of the field. Tomorrow I will do a bit of a flat water speed season to try and force a bit of pace out of the arms, ready for the semi-finals on Sunday.
1st @ Nottingham Prem Race
10th June, 2008.
On Saturday I won my 2nd premier division competition of the year in Nottingham. It was a closely fought race, with Huw Swetnam only half a second back in 2nd place and Nathan Stevenson not much further back in 3rd.
I was happy with most of my first run. The only considerable time loss was in the last upstream, where I hit my tail off the bank on the downstream prior and so went in low.
Taking into account the time loss on my first run, I crossed the line on my second run thinking I might have gone a little quicker and that the win would easily be wrapped up. Unfortunately a few little errors added up to me going 1.5 seconds slower and only just sneaking in front of Swetnam.
I now have the 5 results needed to finish the 2008 British Ranking Series in a pretty good position with 4 races still to go. Your best 5 results count and so far I have 2 wins, 2 seconds and a third. Campbell Walsh is in a good position to move ahead of me when he gets his 5th result, but it is likely that I will not fall down further than 2nd. A good improvement from 17th last year, having only competed in 4 races. Due to other commitments, it is likely that will not be competing in the final 4 races.
European Champs After Thoughts
24th May, 2008
Its been 2 weeks now since the European Champs and I've had a little time to get over the disappointment of my final result. Things were looking good from the qualification, which only added to my despair at throwing away any chance of getting a good result.
I was feeling good for my semi-finals run, but taking a touch at the first upstream was the beginning of the end for me. I knew I would need to push that little bit harder and take a few risks to make the finals with a touch, but I pushed a little too hard and the mistakes built up. My first big push came at the upstream gate 9, which was low, but I took it under the inside pole on the back of the blade. This was quick, but put me on a tight line to the next gate which I hit. It was going to be a long shot from here, but I continued to push, but again this caused a mistake. Exiting the penultimate upstream I caught an edge and struggled to keep my balance as I passed through gate 19, causing me to take yet another touch.
I don't know my final position, but with 3 touches it was well down the field. What I can take away from the race is my qualification result and that my pace in the semi-finals was good enough for a top 10 placing. I'm determined now not to let this season go to waste and to pull some good results out at the upcoming world cups and the pre-worlds
9th in Euro's Team Event
9th May, 2008.
It was a bit of a poor day at the office today as a bad 2nd run saw us slip from 5th to 9th in the team event.
We managed a solid 1st run, with our only downfall being 2 penalties leaving us down in 5th place but well in contention for the medals.
On 2nd runs it all went a bit wrong from the start. Campbell struggled to get his bows under the very low gate 2 and took a touch, after which we had a bit of a collision. Apart from Campbell nearly falling in at gate 4 we managed to get ourselves back on track, but it didn't last. By the finish we managed to rack up a disappointing 14 seconds worth of penalty points between us, leaving us trailing in 9th position.
I can take a lot away from today's racing still. I had a solid, clean 1st run and the the mistakes on the 2nd were only minor and easily sorted for Sunday.
Congratulations to the girls, who won our usual bronze team medal!
Euro Champs Qualification: 5th
8th May, 2008.
Today saw the start of the international season, with qualification for the European championships. I am pleased with how things have started, finishing 5th and passing easily through into the semi-finals.
I couldn't have asked for more after 1st runs, posting the fastest run and leading the way at the halfway point. My 2nd run got off to a good start and I was up on my 1st run by gate 9. I then took a touch at gate 10, but put it behind me quickly so as get back on track. Unfortunately I took an even more stupid touch on the penultimate gate, leaving me with a slightly slower run with 4 seconds of penalties.
All in all in wasn't a bad day for the Brits, we qualified all boats through into the semi-finals. For all results, follow the link below:
RESULTS
Tomorrow will see us contest the team even, where we will be looking to go 2 spots higher than last year!
European Champs on Eurosport
30th April, 2008.
Just a quick note to let everyone know that the European Championships will be shown on Eurosport.
All times below are CET:
Saturday 10 May 2008
08.45 - 09.45 Highlights From the K1W, C1, K1M & C2 Team Championships
10.00 - 13.00 K1 Women & C1 Semi-Finals
Sunday 11 May 2008
08.45 - 10.30 K1W & C1 Finals
17.30 - 18.30 K1M & C2 Finals
Monday 12 May 2008
11.15 -12.15 K1M + C2 Finals
Poland Training Camp and Beijing Olympic News
22nd April, 2008.
Its been a quick turnaround since selection, but I'm now out in Poland for a short 5 day training camp in Krakow to prepare for the upcoming European Championships. I haven't paddled here since 2004 and the site has undergone a bit of a face lift recently, so this weeks training will be all about getting to know the site again.
There will be no rest on my return home, as I will only get a week in Nottingham before heading back out here for the Euro's.
On another note, a slightly sore one for me, the World Series Website has all the latest news on the Beijing Olympic Selection events happening around the world.
Canoe World Series
GB Team for Beijing Olympics
19th April, 2008.
Just thought I should put up the GB Team that is, subject to B.O.A ratification, selected for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games:
K1M: Campbell Walsh
C1M: David Florence
K1W: Fiona Pennie
Congratulations to all 3 of these paddlers, I have every confidence in their abilities to go to Beijing and to each bring home a medal!
The C2's will still have to race at the European Championships to gain their place in Beijing, something I also feel is easily in their grasp.
Good luck to all and I hope its a good year for Team GB.
Olympic Selection Race 3: 1st
19th April, 2008.
Although it wasn't possible for me to get the Olympic spot in Beijing, it was nice to take a victory in the final race in the series.
After 1st runs I had a good 3 second lead over Campbell Walsh, having made the best of the windy conditions.
My 2nd run didn't go quite as well, picking up a touch at gate 5 and dropping just over a second compared to my 1st run due to windier conditions. It was enough though to take the win ahead of Robert Neave by just over 3 seconds.
RESULTS
I now have the rest of the weekend off, but then its back to the grind as the 2008 GB Team head out to Krakow, Poland. We will spend a week there training for the European Championships which are to be held there in May.
Olympic Selection Race 2: 3rd
13th April, 2008.
Unfortunately Olympic Selection for me is over. I'm still in shock and am gutted because I easily had the pace to make it. The most annoying thing about it all is that I didn't loose it, I threw it away!
The second race started well for me, but I came unstuck as I took an unplanned spin between gates 7 and 8. Even with this, I was only 0.8s off the lead after 1st runs behind Andrew Hadfield, Huw Swetnam and Campbell Walsh. I new I had the pace to pick my way back up the field and so went hard on my 2nd run. All was going well until I took a touch at gate 12 and although I went quick enough to take the win, the touch cost me. Andrew Hadfield took the win ahead of Campbell Walsh.
Click HERE for results.
Olympic Selection is now between Campbell Walsh and Andrew Hadield. I will still be racing hard as my place in the Euro's and World Cup Team is still not guaranteed.
Olympic Selection Race 1: 2nd
12th April, 2008
Race 1 of Olympic Selection is done and dusted and two silly touches saw me slip into 2nd place behind Campbell Walsh.
After first runs I was down in 3rd position having made a mistake at gate 13 (unlucky for some!), dropping a little time and taking a touch. Huw Swetnam was the leader ahead of Campbell Walsh.
I went into 2nd runs confident, having had the fastest run on the 1st runs. An early slip up at gate 4 saw me pick up yet another touch, but I pulled myself together to put down the fastest British time of the day (Forerunner Alexander Grimm was quickest). However, Campbell Walsh's 2nd run was also quick and clean so I was only good enough for 2nd place.
Click HERE for results.
Click HERE for the World Class write up.
Tomorrow will see the second and final race out here at Dutch Water Dreams. I will have to pick myself back up if I'm to take the Olympic Selection on to a 3rd race in Nottingham next weekend.
Olympic Selection is Upon Us!
10th April, 2008.
I'm out in Holland once again at Dutch Water Dreams, but this time its the real deal. The first two races of Olympic Selection will take place here on the weekend.
Its been a good week of training for me, even though my coach, Paul Ratcliffe, only arrived today due to illness. I've only been training once a day to make sure that I'm going into the races fully fresh.
Not much more to say really, just going to have to wait and see what happens over the weekend!!.
2nd at Premier Race 3.
30th March, 2008.
After a bit of a bumpy start, I managed to pull myself back to 2nd place in the final race of the double header in Grandtully, Scotland.
My first run was solid, but I took a touch trying to slide under the pole of upstream gate 3. On checking out the first run results, I was surprised to learn I had been given another touch at the upstream gate 2. A quick look at the video showed a water touch on the outside pole, but my protesting luck had run out and I found myself languishing down in 6th position!
My first thoughts for my second run were to just go out there and give it everything, but things took an interesting turn. The long bearers holding up the gates began sagging as the day went on leaving a lot of low poles. I changed my plan and decided a solid clean run would more than likely pull back a few places as others would take touches. I managed just that, and even though my clean lines caused me to go slower than my first run, I finished up in 2nd place.
1st........Walsh: 82(2) / 82(2) - 169(4)
2nd.Hounslow: 83(4) / 85(0) - 172(4)
3rd.....Caffery: 86(0) / 86(0) - 173(0)
1st at Grandtully Prem.
29th March, 2008.
Today was the second premier race of the year and the first of the double event in Grandtully Scotland. It was a good day for me, taking the win ahead of Campbell Walsh by 0.13 second, with Huw Swetnam taking 3rd place.
My first run was pretty good, but definitely had time in it which was just as well because I was trailing Walsh by about 0.2 seconds. I found time on my second run, but also lost a little by slipping low in the upstream gate 7. My target was to try and break the 100 second barrier, but this little error cost me! However, it was enough to just pip Walsh into 1st place and take my first premier division win since 2006!
1st.Hounslow: 101(0) / 100(0) - 202.15(0)
2nd......Walsh: 101(0) / 101(0) - 202.28(0)
3rd. Swetnam: 104(0) / 105(0) - 209(0)
Olympic Selection Nearing!
22nd March, 2008.
I have just returned home from my final training camp at Dutch Water Dreams before I head back out for Olympic Selection in 2 weeks. Its nice to be home for a rest weekend before the final phase of my training gets under way.
I struggled a little with consistency at the camp, producing some of my best paddling with silly mistakes. The errors don't worry me too much, because I know that with the extra focus of a competition, I can eradicate them.
Before I head back to Holland, I will be travelling up to Scotland for the 2nd and 3rd races of the British National Ranking Series.
2nd at the first domestic race of the season
15th March, 2008.
Today saw the 2008 premier division season kick off with a race on the Tryweren in North Wales. It was a fairly miserable day, with the rain flowing down, making sure everyone was wet on the bank as well as the water!
I had a pretty good first run, but before I could look at my result, I was pulled aside by one of the organisers and informed that they had missed my time. There wasn't much I could do about it, so with a little rest, I headed back to the start for my second first run. As it turned out, the run felt a little better and ended up being the fastest run of the day. Unfortunately it also included a 2second time penalty, leaving me in 2nd place behind Campbell Walsh.
My second run had its moments too. I was on another really good run until the penultimate upstream, where I got the front of my boat stuck the wrong side of a rock! This dropped me a good 3 seconds, but I was also deemed to have passed back through the gate and so given a 50 second penalty! I protested the decision and had the penalty removed. These were the final results:
1st....Walsh: 88(0) / 89(0) - 177.77(0)
2nd.Hounslow: 87(2) / 90(0) - 179.76(2)
3rd....Neave: 92(0) / 89(0) - 182(0)
Next up is the double prem up in Grandtully, Scotland, but not before another training camp at Dutch Water Dreams next week.
Last Week in Australia + Other News
06/02/08: I'm well into my final week out here in Australia and I'm pleased with the way I have been progressing over the last 3 weeks. Training has been hard and at times I have been close to burning out, but I have managed my training well and am now on the home straight.
I will fly home on Saturday with the rest of the team and am looking forward to a relatively easy week before hitting the training hard again in Nottingham.
On another note, over the past year or so I have put a bit of thought into what I would like to do after I have finished canoeing. With the help of a few ex-paddlers, since the end of 2006 I have been going through the application process to become an Officer in the British Army.
Its a very thorough process and involves filling out lots of forms and attending several interviews. My final interview was a 4 day epic, the Army Officer Selection Board (AOSB), which I completed the week before I left for Australia. I was pleased to receive a phone call just before I left to inform me that I had been accepted to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. My plan now is to compete in the 2008 season and then go to Sandhurst in September. The course is 11 months long and so would mean I would not be able to compete internationally in 2009, but that doesn't mean I will be down and out. The Army are very supportive of individuals involvement in sport, especially at an international level.
Nothing is set in stone as yet, but it is a very good opportunity for me to take up. At the moment though, my full focus is on my canoeing, and Olympic selection!
BBC Sport Online
27/01/08: With the Beijing Olympics fast approaching, the BBC have reorganised the sporting section of their website, including a section on all of the summer Olympic sports.
There have already been a few articles in the canoeing section, with the latest article being an interview with Andrew Hadfield. With Olympic selection just round the corner you can be sure there will be plenty more articles, so make it a regular stop-off when you do the rounds on the net!
BBC Sport: Canoeing
8th at Australian Open
26/01/08: Today I competed in the finals of the 2008 Australian Open and finished up 8th. The number 8 seemed to be the number of the race for me, having qualified 8th, placed 8th in the semi-finals and then finishing 8th overall. A superstitious person could read into that, with the number 8 being lucky in China and the Beijing Olympics kicking off on 08/08/08!
Both of my runs were quite steady, with small time errors adding up to make for a larger impact on my time. Overall though, I'm pretty happy because I'm paddling much better than I was this time last year.
To watch some video of the race, go to the Australian Open website, where they have footage of all the finals racing.
I now have two weeks left of training out here in Australia and they will be a very hard two weeks! I will get little rest between now and going home to maximise the benefits of training in the warm weather.
2008 Australia Open
25/01/08: Today saw the 2008 World Series kick off with the qualification for the Australian Open. The men's kayak race is well represented, with 7 of the 2007 World Championship finalists competing and 4 world champions.
It was a fairly open course, but it's never easy here at the Sydney Olympic course. I finished in a respectable 8th position, with two clean runs. Both had errors, but nothing that can't be sorted between now and the semi-finals tomorrow.
I'm not sure if the results are online yet, but they should be up on the Australian Open website soon enough. They are also advertising live video streaming on 26/01/08 at 10:00am CET. From the schedule, I believe this will be the A finals only.
Training in Australia
17/01/08: After a relatively easy flight, I arrived in Australia on Sunday evening. I'm spending 4 weeks here for a bit of warm weather training, avoiding the worst of the cold, wet and windy Nottingham winter!
This first week is primarily for acclimatising and once my coach arrives on Sunday, I can start with some real quality white water training. On the second weekend out here, I will be competing in the first World Series race of the year. This will be good to see how my winter training as been going so far.
This is also the debut of my new canoe! It was designed along with the World Class Programme Boat Design Project. So far I'm really liking the boat, it runs better and accelerates away from gates quicker. I'll have to wait until the race though to see if the good feeling of the boat actually converts to true speed.
The Guardian Newspaper Article
2008 is upon us and now the countdown to the Beijing Olympics can really start. Just before the new year I had an interview with the Guardian Newspaper. The article is a brief summary of 20 athletes who's achievements in 2007 would have passed most people by, but leave them in a good position for the Olympics this year. Click here to see the full article.
Merry Christmas & a new video
24/12/07: Our good friend John Hastings had a little accident recently. Check out the new video in the media section.
Happy Christmas everyone, I hope you all have a very merry time!
New Video's and Photo's
21/12/07: I have finally updated the media section of the website! There are two new video's, one is my semi-finals run from the world championships and the other is a little montage from the China training camp in October.
There are also a few pictures from the after worlds party in Brazil. I have a few pictures from the week leading into the race and will sort and upload them as soon as possible.
DWD Training
18/12/07: I have to admit that I've been a little slack in updating my website recently! I'm hoping to get a few new video's and some photo's up soon (maybe!!).
I spent Monday to Friday of last week at Dutch Water Dreams in Holland. It was a week of intense white water technique training. Having been doing mostly flat water training in Nottingham, it took me a little while to find my way. Once I was up and running though, I was happy with the way things are going so far this winter.
I'm back in Nottingham now and just soldiering on until I get a few days off the water over Christmas. Then its back to the cold grind until I head out to Australia for a spot of warm weather training on January 12th.......25 days and counting!!
Back home for a while
19/11/07: Last week I travelled to Holland for a 5 day training camp on the dutch water dreams site in Zoetermeer. I will be travelling there quite a it this year because 2 out of the 3 selection races will be held there in April next year.
I'm back home now and will be for a whole 4 weeks, probably the longest I have spent at home for the whole year! It will be a good oppurtunity to get some good quality training in. There are also a few international paddlers coming over to Nottingham for a bit of training. Mike Kurt is already here and will be staying with me until Thursday this week. Other paddlers will include Doerfler, Kralj and Molmenti.
China Camp Update
23/10/07: I am now into the 2nd and final week of training out here in China and things have been going really well. The course is fantastic and will only need a little tweaking to get the best configuration for next years Olympic Games.
Last week we had a day with only one session so we took the time in the afternoon to go to the Great Wall of China. It is a must see for anyone who happens to be in China. Although, they could have made it a little less steep in places, It was like we were doing a step aerobics session!!
On our complete rest day on Sunday we took a trip into Beijing, visiting Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the markets for a bit of bartering!
I have made a video of my time here so far, but due to the Great Firewall of China I am unable to upload it to any of my normal video hosting sites. For those of you who are my friends on facebook, I was able to get it on there. I have also made a video from the World Championships, but will upload that when I get home on the weekend.
China Training Camp
15/10/07: I arrived in Beijing, China yesterday for a 2 week training camp on the new Olympic training course. On the journey out here I managed about 30 minutes of sleep in 30 hours! I finally had to give into my body at 6:30pm China time and slept through to the morning!
Our hotel is at the opposite end of the 2000 meter regatta lake, so instead of hiring a bus and a driver for the 2 weeks (we are not allowed to drive in China), the team have bought bikes! We have already realised that a bit of drafting goes a long way to get too and from the course quickly!
Our first session was this morning, and my first impresions are mostly positive. They could do with playing around with the bollards positions a little, but on the whole it is a good, fun course to paddle.
I will try and get some pictures and video up by the end of the first week. Fiona Pennie is doing a video diary for her Team Visa sponsorship, so I will get a bit of footage from that too so people can get a better idea of what its like here.
Possible Relocation for 2012 Olympic Venue
08/10/07: An article on the BBC website reports that the site that was to be used to build the new canoe slalom course for the 2012 Olympics might have to be changed.
The article is here, but the general gist is that there are contamination issues at the current site in Broxbourne. Due to the budget problems the 2012 Olympics are already having, the cost to clean up the site might just be too much. An alternative site has already been identified.
4th at World Champs!!!
22/09/07: Ater qualifying 9th to the finals, I finished up 4th! I'm really happy with the result, but its a shame I didn't end up in the medals.
I had a really solid 1st run and had a nail biting wait to see if I would get into the fianls. Touches ended up being costly for people and I went into the finals in 9th position.
My 2nd run got off to a really good start, but it slipped a little after gate 15 and I dropped time in a few places. After such a dissappointing year previous to this race I can't be anything but happy though.
Congratulations to Campbell Walsh who took the bronze medal. That, along with my 4th and Huw Swetnams great 12th place finish meant that the GB K1M had the best results at this years World Championships.
In the C1's, David Florence was close to the medals but had to settle for 5th, with Stuart McIntosh in 8th.
Only one more day left of these championships and all thats left to say is good luck to the girls and the C2's.
World Champs Team Race
21/09/07: Myself, Campbell and Huw finished up 7th in the team race today. A bit of dodgy judging and some careless touches dropped us out of the medals.
After 1st runs we were lying in 6th position, with Campbell having been given a harsh penalty on gate 18 which we felt was a water touch. The medals were still well within our grasp, with just over a second from us to 3rd.
Our 2nd run didn't get off to the best of starts, with myself slipping wide in gate 6 and taking a touch. Campbell shortly after took a touch on gate 9. The rest of the run went ok, but again we were given what we felt was a water touch on gate 21. We aren't sure who was given the touch, but it was either myself or Campbell.
Well done to the girls, who once again took bronze in the team event.
Tomorrow kicks of the main event, with the first of the individual medals up for grabs. Although my second team run today wasn't great, I was happy with the way I paddled in the first run, and also in both individual qualification runs. I am therefore looking forward to a fast and furious days racing!
World Champs Qualification
20/09/07: Yesterday was my first day of racing here at the World Championships in Foz Do Iguacu, Brazil. I finished a solid 15th to qualify through to the semi-finals which will be held on Saturday.
Having missed the qualification in the last world cup race of 2007 in Augsburg, I was fairly nervous going into the racing, so was happy with the performance I put in. Looking back at the runs there is still plenty of time to come out, and so am now looking forward to the semi-finals.
Before the individual racing, we still have the team runs to contend on Friday. As a team, myself, Campbell and Huw are feeling confident for this following our recent bronze medal at the European Championships.
You can follow all the racing live on the internet by clicking here.
NEW VIDEO- Training in Brazil
17/09/07: Its taken a while due to the seriously temperamental internet connection we have here in Brazil, but I have finally managed to upload a video. Its only about a minute long so it won't take you away from your work for too long (or is it better to make them longer!).
Click here to go to the video
As for the actual world championships preparations, they are pretty much over. No more paddling on the course until my 1st qualification run on Wednesday. I'm feeling good about the way I have been paddling out here so am now looking forward to the racing.
World Champs TV Schedule
13/09/07: After a little searching through the eurosport website, I have found the tv schedule for the 2007 World Championships.
British Eurosport (BST):
Fri 21st- 18:45-20:15 (LIVE team racing)
Sat 22nd- 18:30-19:00 (highlights of K1M & C1 finals??)
Sun 23rd-
International Eurosport (GMT):
Fri 21st- 16:30-17:15 (LIVE team racing)
Sat 22nd- 15:30-16:00 (highlights of K1M & C1 finals??)
Sun 23rd- 17:00-18:00 (highlights of K1W & C2 finals??)
The British and International Eurosport schedules showed the times in different formats. As you can see the LIVE team coverage doesn't even sink up if you take this into account.
Don't forget that in the past eurosport have altered the times of some of their schedules at the last minute, so hang in there if it doesn't start when stated!
World Champs Preparation in Brazil
11/09/07: Preparations are going well here in Foz Do Iguacu, the site for the 2007 Canoe Slalom World Championships.
I arrived here in Brazil on Saturday with the rest of the GB Team. The busy training schedule gives us just one training session on the course a day, but this is ok because we had two solid weeks of training on the course here in March prior to the Pan-American Chmpionships. That being said, there have been a few changes made to the course, but these are quite small and simply reduce the stop-start nature of the water flow.
I now have 5 more training session on the course prior to the start of my racing on Wednesday 19th. This will be qualification, with team races on the Friday and semi-final/finals on the Saturday. For any information on the upcoming racing visit the official race website.
Off to Brazil
07/09/07: Today I head off to Brazil with the rest of the GB team for the World Championships. Training has been going well over the last few weeks since returning from Bratislava, even though I have not had my race boat. It was sent to Brazil by cargo a week before our departure and so I have had to use my brothers old slingshot! It will certainly be a good feeling to get back into my race boat!!
2nd at Danube Cup, Bratislava
26/08/07: I have been out in Bratislava since Monday now, preparing for the Danube Cup this weekend. The training went well apart from breaking my boat. The race was always going to be hard, with several top boats racing including Lefevre, Kauzer and Molmenti.
In the semi's, I was quick enough to absorb the touch I took at gate 7 to qualify to the finals in 4th place. That was mainly thanks to nailing the move on the bottom drop, which was an up right into a low up left. I new there was time in the run, with Lefevre posting a run almost 2 seconds faster and clean. Word on the street for the 2nd runs was that there was a beer in it for anyone who could break the 100 second barrier. I pushed hard, going over a second faster than my 1st run and clean, but I only managed a 102. This ended up being the fastest run in the finals, pushing me up to 2nd place overall behind Lefevre, with Molmenti in 3rd. The prizes were pretty cool, 1st place won a 4gb mp3 player, 2nd place 2gb and 3rd place 1gb. Good for me seeing as mine has packed in! Check out the results here.
I should also mention that due to two major injuries from there top boats, this was also the Italian team 3rd boat selection for the World Championships in Brazil. Molmenti was the only Italian in the finals, gaining him selection. Congratulations and see you out there in a couple of weeks my friend!
I'm still here!!
08/08/08: Its been a while since I last updated my website, but I am still here!! After returning home from the world cup series I took a little time off to reflect on the season so far. I realised that although the results had been a little disappointing, on the whole I have been paddling very well.
I'm now nearly 3 weeks into a very heavy block of training, and I'm about ready for another rest! Most of the GB team are away at the moment in Beijing, China, for the Olympic test event. I decided not to attend this training/race camp so that I could concentrate on my preparations for the world champs in Brazil. I wasn't keen on travelling to China which is 9 hours in front of us, and then a few weeks later going to Brazil which is 5 hours behind! Instead I will be joining up with a few of the GB juniors on a trip to Bratislava for the Danube Cup race (I think I'm supposed to be one of the responsible adults!).
Right, I been putting off training for long enough now, I suppose the sooner I go, the sooner the pain will be over. Ciao for now!
Augsburg World Cup: Qualification
13/07/07: They say friday the 13th is an unlucky day, it certainly was for me! You may have noticed that I didn't put my final position in the title of this post, that's because I didn't even qualify to the semi-finals and I finished in a position that doesn't deserved to be published!
My 1st run was going really well until just before the halfway split where I took and touch on gate 13 (that unlucky number again!). That was ok because the run was going well and I could absorb that in qualification. But my run fell to pieces pretty quickly after that. I took another touch on the upstream 16, then another on 18. To make things worse, I was late to gate 19 and had to go back round for it. To finish things off, I took another touch on gate 21.
Although my 2nd run was pretty quick, I was chasing the near on impossible the whole way. I was also given a touch which I didn't think I got, but it didn't matter anyway. This has left me with a long weekend to think long and hard about the way I have been paddling recently and what I can do to sort it out!!
After we fly home on Sunday, I will be training in Nottingham for quite a while before going to the Danube Cup in Brataslavia and then the World Champs in Brazil.
Tacen World Cup- Semi-Finals: 18th
08/07/07: Its not what I wanted, but its actually my best world cup result to date. I finished up 18th today, suffering badly with the unpredictable Tacen waters!
I started well and was approaching the second drop when it all went wrong. It was a down on the left above the second drop to an up right, so you had to drive in on the back of the stopper. Unfortunately for me the stopper was a beautiful green wave when I got to it, so slid really low into the upstream gate 6. I picked it up from there and paddled really well until the dreaded last up which I lost a bit of time on again. Check out the result here.
Things are looking up a little now as we head into the 3rd and final world cup race. I was quick in Augsburg last year, so I'm hoping for a repeat performance, but clean this time!
Well done to Tim and Etienne for a brilliant race, placing 2nd. Campbell was unlucky not to win today, picking up a dubious 50 second penalty on the second to last gate.
C1 Results
Just a quick one for those of you who are looking for the C1 results from qualification, click here.
Tacen World Cup- Qualification: 28th
07/07/07: The water was back to normal for the start of the 2nd world cup of the year here in Tacen, Slovenia. I did enough to qualify in 28th position for tomorrows semi-finals.
My first run didn't start so well, planning to take the right line over the start drop into the up left but actually taking the middle line straight through the big hole! There were just little time losses after that, one of which was being late on a spin and then touching it. To finish off, the last up was tricky to get into and I dropped a little low. After the first runs I was placed 35th.
My second run was much better, with probably only two areas that I lost any major time. I was over 3 seconds faster and clean, but it was only enough to push me up to 28th. Check out the result here.
Tacen in Flood + Video!!
05/07/07: After 3 days of heavy storms, the river here in Tacen has finally reacted! We woke up this morning to be told that the official training slots had been cancelled due to the river being in flood. We went down for our slot anyway and I couldn't hold myself back. I was like a little kid, getting change and running up to get on the water. It was great fun to paddle on big water again, something I haven't done in some time. I only got a kick-in once, when I got back looped for no apparent reason after the main drop!
Some of the other lads jumped on after I had finished so I took some video footage with my digital camera. Here is a video of the fun that followed!!
The weather is forcast to be much better over the next few days so the river should go down to pretty much its usual level for the world cup.
4 European Capital Cities in 24hrs!
02/07/07: We left Prague, capital city of the Czech Republic yesterday and headed for our over night stay in Vienna, the capital of Austria. On the way we didn't take a wrong turning, we just didn't turn! We therefore ended up going via Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. We have now arrived at our final destination for World Cup 2 in Ljubljana, the capiatal of Slovenia!
We now have 5 days of training before the start of the race on Saturday.
Prague World Cup- Semi-Finals: 25th
01/07/07: The first world cup of 2007 is over, and I finished 25th with a touch and an average run.
Apart from the touch it didn't look like a terrible run, but it felt like hard work. Nothing really flowed like it should, so little bits of time slipped here and there. I was then a little low in the last up and that sealed my 25th position.
The GB team as a whole did ok, with David Florence and Fiona Pennie picking up bronze medals.
We are now packing up and about to head over to Tacen, Slovenia, breaking the journey up with an overnight stay in Vienna. I'll be looking to find my form again, which has been very sporadic this year, to put the finals demon to rest!!
Prague World Cup- Qualification: 28th
29/06/07: The 2007 World Cup Series is underway and I'm through to the first semi-finals.
I was lying 13th after first runs with a pretty solid run with only a few small time losses. The racing was really tight, with myself less than 3 seconds from the lead, but also only 4 seconds from 40th!!
My second run went really good until the last upright, where I broke out about 2 metres above it. I sorted myself out to finish the run, but not before hitting the same up.
Check out the results here and see just how close the racing was. My touch alone dropped me from 14th to 28th!
Its a rest day for the mens kayak tomorrow and then the semi's on Sunday. I'll be looking to put in a nice clean run like my first run today, but a little quicker to get into the top 10!!!!
Prague World Cup Training
27/06/07: I've been in Prague now for 3 days, training for the 1st world cup of the year this coming weekend. Qualification for all classes is on the Friday, then its semi's for the C1's and K1 women on Saturday leaving the K1 men and C2's to go on Sunday.
Training has been going ok, but the weather conditions have been less than helpful. We may as well be back home in Nottingham, with the wind causing all sorts of problems. It doesn't help that the gates are very light and move around easily, but what makes it really bad is that the gates have a tendency to slide along the bearers!!
Luckily the river is still fresh in my mind from training here so much last year for the world champs.
Nottingham Course Changes
20/06/07: Since 'Omnifloat System' was bulit into the top section of the course in Nottingham, very little has been done to change the course. This is mainly due to the time taken to turn the water off and drain the course. However, since we got back from the European Champs the course has only been open from 8am-10am due to flooding. The afternoons have therefore been free to turn the water off and do a bit of tinkering, and thats exactly what Mr Mark Delaney did.
Very little has changed on the first little drop, but the drop leading into the pyramid pool is drastically different. There is now an up left behind the bollards and the drop creates a 'v-wave' instead of a big stopper. This in turn speeds up the water into the pyramid pool and has made the left eddy much faster.
All in all the changes have been good, it would be nice now if the water levels would drop to allow us to paddle in the afternoons. Unfortunately its looking like the level isn't dropping quick enough, and with the GB team leaving for Prague on Monday, we will have to make do with the morning sessions.
European Champs: 26th
19/06/07: It was a bit of a dissapointing end to the Euro Champs in Liptovsky Mikulas, after finishing down in 26th position.
Those of you who watched the race on Eurosport will know that I had a big time loss on the main drop. I was a little far out from the up right as I came down the drop and as I edged in, I nearly fell in. My blade scrapped along the bottom for a few seconds while I struggled to get myself back on track.
I had a few other smaller errors, but nothing that would have lost me huge amounts of time.
Congrats to Campbell for his bronze in the individual event.
Now I'm back home in Nottingham, its back to the grind stone to prepare for the world cup races. Its good to have them coming up so soon, hopefully I can redeem myself!
European Champs- Team: Bronze Medal!
15/06/07: Some might say it was a team effort, and they would be right! Campbell Walsh, Myself and Huw Swetnam finished 3rd today in the European Champs Team Race.
We were lying 4th after first runs, less than a second from the medals, so we new with a solid second run we could nip into the medals. The French, who were in 3rd after first runs, blew there second run so left it wide open for us. We still had it all to do, but managed to put down a good, solid, clean second run. The Slovenians had a blinder of a second run to take the gold, whilst the Germans were pushed back to silver.
In the womens, Team GB (Blakeman, Neave, Pennie) also took the bronze. The GB C1 team (Florence, McIntosh, Radmore) finished 8th.
I have a rest day tomorrow before the semi's on Sunday. I paddled much more consistant on my second run of the team event, so I am going into the race feeling confident.
European Champs- Qualification: 23rd
14/06/07: Not a great day at the office, but enought to finish 23rd and qualify to the semi-finals.
It took me 5 gates to get into my first run, by which time I had taken 2 touches and stalled out pretty bad in the first up. I pulled it back together and flew down the rest of the course until the second to last gate, where I caught an edge and had to back off to the last gate. That cost me about 4.5secs.
My second run started off much better, but I was being a little cautious on the rest of the course to make sure of qualification. It was therefore not quite as quick in sections as the first run, but quicker in total. Unfortunately I also picked up a touch at the bottom. Check out the results here.
As for the other Brits, Campbell Walsh had a bit of a hard day of it, falling foul of the big drop on both runs and finishing 35th. Huw Swetnam was just ahead of me in 21st.
In the C1's, David Florence had a good day, finishing 2nd, with McIntosh in 6th and Radmore in 22nd. The women didn't have a bad day either, Blakeman 5th, Neave 9th and Pennie 10th. In the C2 category, Baillie/Stott finished a good 4th and Goddard/Smith had a few costly touches pushing them down to 14th.
All in all it wasn't a bad day for the Brits. All boats qualified to the semi's, but before that, the first medals of the competition will be up for grabs in the team event (which Etienne Stott will be commentating on for Eurosport!).
Euro Champs update & New Guestbook
12/06/07: I have been in Liptovsky Mikulas now for 2 full days and things are going well. I trained on the course 3 times and I am really happy with my paddling and looking forward to the racing.
On another note, I have changed my guestbook so that it matches the rest of the website. Before I was using a guestbook that I signed up to on another website, now its all my own guestbook!
Premier Race 5- Nottingham: 2nd
09/06/07: Today was my 4th British Premier race of the year and I finished up 2nd behind Neil Caffery.
Neil had a 1 second lead after 1st runs, but I knew I had plenty of time to pull out of my run. I managed to go 4 seconds faster on my second run, but 3 silly touches cost me the race!
Caffery: 90.9+0/91.9+0
Hounslow:92.0+0/87.9+6
I was pretty happy with the result considering I was having to use an old boat, as mine is on the road to Slovakia for the Euro Champs. I will join my boat tomorrow as we fly out for the European Championships to held at Liptovsky Mikulas next weekend.
Bala Mill Prem: Cancelled
01/06/07: This weekend was suppossed to be my 4th National Ranking race of the year, but unfortunately it has been cancelled due to lack of water. It was to be held at Bala Mill, a site not often used and one that I have not raced on in many years. Hopefully it will be rearranged for later in the year, otherwise I will struggle to race in 5 ranking races this year due to the hectic international racing/training season(overall ranking is taken from your best 5 races).
Next weekend will be what should have been the 5th ranking race of the year, here in Nottingham. Lack of water is rarely a problem in Notingham, but too much water can be an issue! That race will be on Saturday 9th June, and then I will leave with the GB Senior Team on the Sunday for the Euro Champs, which are being held in Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia. Do not forget this race will be televised on British Eurosport.
Baillie & Stotts new website online
23/05/07: Its been a long time in the making, but Tim Baillie has finally finished www.bailliestottc2.co.uk, the official website of Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott, GB Slalom Team C2 crew.
With Tim being a bit of a pro at web designing, it was always going to be one of the better canoeing websites out there. He has not failed to live up to his past designs which include www.peakuk.com and System BKB.
Euro Champs on Eurosport!
19/05/07: The European Champs, which are being held in Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia on 16th-17th June are to get the best tv coverage canoe slalom has had in quite a while. Over 2 days, there will be a total of 6hrs 15mins of coverage! It will be screened on British Eurosport, but I am guessing it will also be on International Eurosport . Below is the schedule (all times BST):
Saturday 16 June 2007
09.00 - 10.15: K1W Semi-Finals
10.15 - 11.00: Highlights from the Team Championships
12.00 - 13.00: Highlights from the C1 Semi-Finals
13.00 - 13.30: Live coverage of the K1W Final
Sunday 17 June 2007
09.30 - 10.30: K1M Semi-Finals
10.30 - 10.45: Highlights from Saturday C1 Finals
13.00 - 14.30: Live coverage of the K1M & C2 Finals
New Links
15/05/07: I have updated my links page with a few new athletes pages:
John Hastings
Eoin Rheinisch
Julien Billaut
Guillermo Diez Canedo
Helen Barnes
Jana Dukatova
59th International Tatra Race: 9th
13/05/07: What started as an exciting prospect for a medal, ended rather dissapointingly today. I finished up 9th, after getting a 50 second penalty in the last upstream!
My 1st run started off a little shakey, and I picked up a touch at gate 3. I then tried to pick the pace up by cutting a few lines to try and still make it to the finals. Soon after I picked up another touch at gate 7, so it was time to go for broke! I paddled really well after that until I came to last 2 downs where I lost 2-3s. I thought that there was not a chance that I would make the finals, but I was quick enough to finish up joint 7th with my budyy John Hastings.
2nd runs got off to a much better start and I paddled the top half of the course really well. Although I was not quite as good on the main drop as my 1st run, it was acceptable with it being so hard. I then only just nipped inside one of the next downs, at which point things staretd to go downhill! I took a touch on gate 16 which was the last gate of a tricky stagger, but it was what happened next that was the final nail in the coffin. Gate 18 was a tricky upstream that was hard to get into, and out of. I cut in under the pole and went for the punt to take a quick exit, but managed to take the pole with me. As luck would have, or lack of luck should I say, the pole slipped the wrong side of my head giving me a 50.
In the other categories, Tim and Etienne had a flyer of a 2nd run to finished up 3rd. It was an added achievement given the fact that the course was bias to back rights, they are back left. David Florence slipped a little today, finishing 4th, with Martikan the eventual winner. In the womens, it was looking like Fiona Pennie was going to take over from Laura Blakeman in the top 3, but a poor 2nd run dropped her down the field. Laura finished 5th, which she did not seem overly happy about. Click here to see the final results.
We now have two and a half days of training to pepare for the Europeans which will be held here in Liptovsky Mikulas in June.
59th International Tatra Race- Qualification: 8th
12/05/07: Well, another day and another race. This time it was the qualification for the 59th International Tatra Race. Finished 8th today, not great, but it was enough so I will take it and move on.
After 1st runs I was down in 18th place with a run that was either really good, or really bad! I had 3 major mistakes, dropping me about 6 seconds in total. The first was at gate 4, where I slipped wide on a stagger and then had to go through some really bad swirly water to get to gate 5, loosing a lot of running speed. The next mistake was on the maain drop, where I was a little slow in getting from gate 11 to 12. If that was not bad enough, I managed to breakout above the last upstream!
My 2nd run was much better, it would have run completely to plan if it was not for one little error. The mistake was in an upstream halfway down the course, where I managed to get my bows caught the wrong side of a rock! It probably cost me the fastest run of the day homours!. For the full results, click here.
Now that the qualification is over, its down to the business end of the weekend. I have been putting down some good runs, so I hope to tidy things up and maybe bring home some silverware (or plastic as its more likely to be!).
Race 1 in Liptovsky Mikulas: 4th
11/05/07: Barely a week after selection and I am already abroad racing. We are in Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia for the 59th International Tatra Slalom. It consists of 2 races, the 1st being today and then qualification tomorrow for race 2 on Sunday.
In short, I finished 4th today. I am pretty happy with the result considering I only had 1 session on the course before the race. There were also some top quality paddlers here, including Cipressi and Oblinger.
My 1st run was really good, apart from taking a big hit on the main drop and then hitting the downstram after it. It left me 9th, 3 seonds from the lead of Oblinger.
I attacked hard again on the 2nd run and went really well until the last breakout. Lost a good chunk in it, and then nearly fell in on the way to the finish!!
In the other categories, Laura Blakeman had a stormer of a 1st run to win the ladies by over 6 seconds. David Florence had a tough fight with Martikan, and was just pipped into 2nd place. Full results can be found here.
What Next?
07/05/07: Its a good question, and I am not exactly sure! I know that as part of the newly selected GB team, I will be heading off to Liptovsky Mikulas on Wednesday. We will spend a week there training, and competing in a race over the weekend, to prepare for the Euro Champs which will be held there in June. After that, I am not so sure what I am up to.
The Euro Champs is the first major competition I will be competing in, and that will be followed by atleast 2 world cup races and then the World Champs in September. In between the races we will no doubt have training camps at these various venues.
All thats left for me to do now is to knuckle down with some more heavy training and to work on the things that myself and my coach identified as weak areas at selection.
UK Champs: 4th
06/05/07: Well, what can I say, I threw the win away today. I had a clear lead of over 2 seconds after first runs and then slipped to 4th after a poor finals run.
My first run was pretty average, but clean so I had a comfortable lead going into the finals. In the finals I managed to hit 3 out of 6 upstream gates! Gate 1, 12 and 15. I never really got into the racing and although I would have won without the touches, my times were pretty poor for where I should have been.
Congrats to Huw Swetnam, who managed to put down 2 clean runs in windy conditions to take the win. Andrew Hadfield was a close 2nd and Robert Neave 3rd. Huws win always puts him into the team.
I have to mention it, David Florence had the fastest single run of the day. The usually solid Florence messed up on his first run and had to dig deep to try and win the UK Champs. He went 16 seconds faster but still fell 2 seconds short of the win. I will try and get hold of the run and put it up on my website. If you are wondering what happend to Mr. Walsh, he had an unfortunate mistake on his first run and picked up 2 50 second penalties.
The 2007 Great Britain Team will be as follows:
K1M: C. Walsh, H. Swetnam, R. Hounslow
K1W: F. Pennie, L. Blakeman, E. Neave
C1: S. McIntosh, D. Florence, C. Radmore
C2: Baillie/Stott, Goddard/Smith, Marshall/Marshall
UK Champs: Qualification
05/05/07: Today was the qualification stage for the final selection race/UK Champs. Fortunately for me, I do not have the pressure of selection on my shoulders, thanks to the two wins in the first two races.
After the first runs I was winning with a run I was pretty happy with. The only mistake I made was in the looping pool, and it cost me 3-4s. I also drifted to the finish to conserve a bit of energy, and still had nearly a 1 second lead.
My second run was much the same up until the looping pool, and although I still lost a bit of time there, it was better than my first run. But I picked up a touch in the second last upstrem blowing the time that I had made up. I then messed up the last stagger and had to spin, as well as taking another touch on the last gate. Again, a leisurely stroll to the finish put me in a final placing of 4th.
Tomorrows will be another day, and its finals day! Campbell Walsh will be looking to put down a better first run than he did today, having to pull a quick time out of the back on his second run to qualify. I am looking forward to some fast, close racing.
Selection Race 2: 1st
29/04/07: Again, it was a case of job done, but only just! Rob Neave pushed hard to try and knock me off the top spot, and would have if it was not for a touch on his first run.
My first run was very similar to the previous days, solid. There were a few points that I could improve on, but on the whole it was not too bad. Rob was 0.16s behind me with a touch, so he was going well just like in yesterdays race. It was all set for some good racing on the second runs.
Having received a fair bit of stick about looking like I was taking it a little too easy on my first run, I thought it best to attack hard on the second. But that little bit of extra energy I put into the run made for an interesting run. For starters I got a little eager jumping a wave at gate six and sent the bows sky high! Then I miss timed my jump over the next stopper and took a big hit. If that was not enough, I nearly back looped between gates 7 and 8! All in all it was a good run for the spectators.
Even with all the excitement it was a quicker run and enough to take the win by 0.53s.
Hounslow: 98.97-/98.35-
Neave: 97.13+2/98.72-
Stevenson: 101.48-/101.19-
The two wins mean that I am now selected for the 2007 GB Senior Team and with Campbell Walsh who was pre-selected in the K1Ms class.
In the other classes, David Florence is already selected in the C1 class with two wins, along with Stuart McIntosh with two 2nds. In the womens, Laura Blakemans joins the pre-selected Fiona Pennie in the womens team with two wins out of two. Finally, Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott take two wins in the C2 class to secure their spot on this years team.
Selection Race 1: 1st
28/04/07: First selection race done and dusted and 30 points in the bag. It was not the most convincing win, but it was a win none the less.
I had a fairly solid first run, taking it pretty steady because I was feeling the selection nerves and did not want to take any touches in the windy conditions. It was enough for a 1 second lead going into second runs.
Most of my second run was actually better, taking time out on the top and the bottom. But 2 time errors in the middle, one due to the wind and the other due to a bad line, put me 0.5s slower overall. That, together with Rob Neave putting in the fastest time of the day with a nice run, meant that I only took the win by 0.18s.
Hounslow: 94.1-/94.6-
Neave: 95.1-/93.8-
Swetnam: 99.?-/96.?-
Now that the 1st race nerves are out of the way, I am hoping to attack a little more in tomorrows race to secure the second win, along with selection to the GB team. Fingers crossed!!
Premier Races 2 & 3: Grandtully
16/04/07: The racing season is well and truely under way, with Premier races 2 and 3 done and dusted. The double race is held every year up in Grandtully, Scotland, and is often a good change from the artificial course in Nottingham. Unfortunately due to a serious lack of rain, the river was very low and rocky, and so not much fun.
Race 1: With the water so low, there were not too many options for the course design. It was therefore a bit of a sprint, with any little errors causing larger than usual time losses, very unforgiving!
I was fairly avergae on day 1, and with two touches on my second run, I finished back in 5th place.
1st Caffrey 90.7, 89.6
2nd Walsh 90.2, 88.3+2
4th Backhouse 91.7, 92.7
5th Neave
6th Hounslow 92.2, 90.2+4
Race 2: The second day ended up being an even quicker race than the previous days course, and so any penalties were very costly. A touch on my 1st run left me in 6th place with a lot of work to do. A better second run picked me back to 3rd place.
I have to say well done to Campbell, who had a very good weekend, and topped in off with a pretty sweet run at the end of the day.
1st Walsh 86.7, 84.9
2nd Caffrey 88.8+2, 86.5
3rd Hounslow 89.6+2, 88.2
Next up is selection in 2 weeks time. I have another half a week of heavy training and then its time to start tapering down.
Premier Race 1: Tyweren
01/04/07: It was the first national ranking race of the season today, and if this race is anything to go by, it will be a tight year.
The race was in north Wales at Tyweren on the Graveyard section, a site which I have not paddled on in several years. Its name comes from the fact that there are rocks everywhere, so it is a very tricky site to paddle.
My first run was very solid and steady, but it left me back in 3rd place, 2.6s off the lead. Considering the fact that everyone else in the top 10 had at least done a days training on the course in the lead up to the race, I was pretty happy with the run.
Having got to grips with the course, I was ready for the second run and was desperate to close the gap on the top two. I did just that with the fastest time of the day, but it was only enough to stay in 3rd place, 0.49s from the lead. The final results were:
Neil C: 94/94
Campbel W: 93/95
Richard H: 96/93
The next race will be up in Scotland, and I am looking forward to another close race.
Course Alterations
29/03/07: The course in Nottingham has been closed for nearly two weeks now and the work is almost complete. For those of you who do not know what happened, the EDF omnifloat system has been used to allow alteration to be made to the course quickly and easily. The changes have currently only been made to the top section of the course, but if successful and the funding can be raised, then the whole course will eventually under go an over haul. The pictures below show the changes.
As you can see, we are still using the fibreglass sides to straighten the banks, but it will be the platic omnifloats that do the rest. Once the configuration is sorted, I will put pictures up of finished article.
Pan-American Championships Final Results
18/03/07: Not a bad days work for myself today, making my first major championship finals.
I finished my semi-final run thinking that I would be just out of the finals, but with a few of the top qualifiers picking up touches it left the way for me to pick up the last finals spot.
I had a lot of time to gain on my 2nd run so I attacked right from the start picking up time the whole way down the course. Unfortunately the run was ruined by a very silly touch with my paddle shaft at gate 12. Other than that I was pretty happy with the end result, which was 9th until Helmut Oblinger had a touch removed and so I slipped back to 10th.
Full Results on the Official Website.
To top the day off, myself, Campbell Walsh and Andrew Hadfield raced in the one run team run, and won!! We had the fastest time by 2 seconds and also had a touch so we were all chuffed. It added to the golds from the womens and the C1 teams, the only teams we competed in!
Anyway, we are all looking forward to returning to the snow that has been forcast for next week back in Nottingham.
Qualification in Brazil
17/03/07: Today was the qualification for the Pan Am Championships, which is also the only Continental race this year that will count for World Cup ranking points (something we only found out about this week!).
My 1st run was a little poor, but it was clean so I was happy about that. I was feeling a little residual fatigue from the previous days training so I did not really have any zip, and then a mistake in the middle and the bottom cost me some easy time.
I felt much better for my 2nd run and was able to attack much harder, but I think I got a little over excited with my new found pace! I took slightly too tight a line into the gate 5 upstream, took a touch and also got stuck with my back end down. I got it back on line after that and was pulling more time out of my 1st run until I hit the upstream 16. It was a move in of a stopper and you could take the up on a sweep so long as you did not put the back end down too much, needless to say I did and again stalled out pretty badly.
In the end I finished 24th, not too bad considering it is basically a full World Cup strength field. Tomorrow is another day and another race and I will be looking to take the good bits out of todays racing and pull it back together.
1st: 90.60/90.92
24th: 96.61/95.45+2
Brazil Training Camp
09/03/07: Another month, and another warm weather training camp. This time we have the pleasure of training on the new course in Brazil that is to be used for the 2007 World Championships. The site is situated West of Sao Paulo, in Foz Do Iguacu, which is famous for the Iguacu Falls and the Itaipu Dam.
The journey out here was not too bad, except for a 10 hour wait for our connecting flight from Sao Paulo to Foz Do Iguacu. The weather has been very hot and humid, so much so that it is very hard to dry yourself after the sessions! The course itself is quite small, but nice to paddle, even if it is very physical. You just have to look out for the crocdile that lives at the bottom of the course and be careful not to disturb him!
We have just over a week left here in Brazil, and at the end of the camp is the Pan Am Championships which is open to all. We will therefore have a race at the end to nicely round it off the camp. I will try and get some pictures and video up asap.......bye for now.
Back in the UK
18/02/07: I have been back in the UK now for just under a week, and my body is starting to get back to good old Greenwich Mean Time!
The Australia trip finished up with a race, which unfortunately I did not do so well in. There was a bit of a farse surrounding the first run results, but put simply, I was in the A final until about 30 minutes before my second run when they decided to change some peoples times and bump me into the B final. I had a better second run and I think I should have won the B final, but I am apparetly not even on the results list any more! Oh well. Well done to Campbell though for winning the race, along with $1000!
I have had a relatively easy week since getting home, but next week kicks off with some dreaded testing. I will then continue on with 2 weeks of hard training up until I go off to Brazil for a training camp, which will again finish up with a race which I hope to do much better in!.
Swimming Pool Kneeboarding
The end of another week in Australia
27/01/06: Its been another hard weeks training in Australia and I am glad its over! I had to take an afternoon off and take it a little easier on some of my later sessions to stop from burning out. On the positive side, I have been enjoying paddling my new Caiman Ranger which I flew out to Prague to pick up just afew days before I flew out.
I am sure you will be happy to hear that the weather took a turn for the worse this week, with 3 days of clouds and rain. But to be honest, it was a welcome change from the scorching heat!
Some of you may have noticed a video appear here in the news section. As you can see I have taken it down due to the adult language used at the end. Tim "computer guru" Baillie is currently working on a censored version suitable for all ages. I might also try and put together a canoeing video at some point.
Week 1 in Australia
20/01/07: It has been a hard week, but it is finally at an end. Having to recover from the long journey and the jet lag has meant that training has been at a steadier pace than normal. It is also hard getting used to the heat, but it is much better than the wind and rain I have been hearing about back in Nottingham!!
Today we will go and cheer on the lads who are competing in the Youth Olympics, and then tomorrow it will be off to the beach for some down time! The rest will be needed, as the camp officially starts next week, with 3 weeks of intensive training to look forward to.
Australia Training Camp
12/01/07: I am currently relaxing in the British Airways lounge at Heathrow Airport, thanks to one of Campbell Walshs perks from the Athens Olympics. In a couple of hours we will be jetting off to the sun down under in Australia. We will be training at the White Water Stadium in Penrith, the site of the Olympics in 2000.
We have a 4 week training camp planned, with a race at the end to top it off. It will be a good oppurtunity to get in some good quality technique training in the warm weather.
Dutch Water Dreams- Training Camp
16/12/06: I spent the last week in Holland again with the British Senior Squad for some good quality technique training.
The journey out was interesting as we travelled via overnight ferry in gale force 9 winds! It was recommended that we stay inside, which of course meant we went outside to check out the windy conditions. A fairly sleepless night later and we were in Holland with only a short drive to the white water course. We were looking forward to paddling the newly configured course, mainly because it should have been releasing on 4 pumps. Unfortunately it was felt that the 4 pumps made the course worse, so we trained most of the week on just the 3 pumps. However the course was much better than before and it made for some good training, even with the windy conditions. The only downside for me was that I was nursing a neck injury which was not helped by the heavy training!
On the last day it was decided that we would try out the course on 4 pumps, and it was the most fun I have had in a long time. Everyone seemed to enjoy the more laid back session on the big water, especially the coaches. They were loving setting the hardest moves possible on the biggest stoppers!
Check out the photos section for some pictures of the course and of the week. I also hope to get some video footage of some of the sessions and put it up some time in the next week.
BOA Gold Passport
30/11/06: I received my British Olympic Association Gold Passport today! This gives me access to National Sports Centres free of charge, along with discounts from the various BOA sponsors.
Having just watched the new James Bond film the 25% discount on Omega watches caught my eye! So I went on the internet to see if I could find the Bond watch. Well, after a little looking I soon realised that the 25% discount would give me a very big saving, the cheapest watch I found was Ł2000!! Looks like I have a bit of saving to do before I can be like Bond!
The other BOA sponsors include Panasonic, Microsoft, LifeFitness, Adidas, Sweatshop, the Sports Cafe and Transport for London.
Dutch Water Dreams- Kick Off Camp
09/11/06: I returned to the new Dutch Water Dreams course for the second time this last week for the Senior Squad kick off camp. It was 5 days of intense training and meetings!
It was good to go back to Europes newest pumped course because the last time we were not able to paddle as much as we would have liked. No such problem this time round! I have not been paddling so well lately, but the good quality technique sessions helped me back to form.
The only downer on the week was snapping a blade in the meaty bottom drop stopper! With the course still only releasing on 3 pumps instead of the intended 4, it is a little shallow in places. I hope that by the next Dutch Water Dreams camp in December the course will be releasing on max flow (16 cumecs).
British Open & Oscars
29/10/06: This weekend saw the return of the British Open Championships to its home in Llangollen. It also saw the return of the Oscars Party.
Having a bit of a cold, I decided to take it pretty easy in qualification and finished with two steady runs with few mistakes (apart from 3 tocuhes!). This qualified me in 11th place for the semi-finals.
With the way I was feeling on Sunday I was not expecting huge things, but I felt that it was not going to be too hard to make the finals. However, a touch and a big time loss dropped me out of contention and out of the finals in 14th place. The overall winner was Campbell Walsh, with Neil Caffery in 2nd and Fabien Doerfler in 3rd.
On the Saturday night, Ettiene, Tim and Mark D put on the 2nd Oscars Party. It was another great success and I am sure everyone is already looking forward to its return in another 2 years!!
I also had another test of the new boat I have been working on with Nomad. Things are moving along well and we haope to have a proper boat ready to paddle before Christmas.
Dutch Water Dreams Race
22/10/06: For the past 4 days we have been testing out the new artificial site in Holland. Its another course designed by the EDF group and is another succes!
The testing finished up with a race that was well represented in the kayak mens class. I qualified to the finals in 5th place less than 2 seconds from the lead. My 2nd run was not as good, but still respectable. Unfortunately I was given and a 50 second penalty, dropping me to 10th position! Campbell was winning after 1st runs but a big mistake on his 2nd run dropped him to 5th. The overall winner was the German junior, Sebastian Schubert, with Fabien Dorfler in 2nd and Mike Kurt 3rd.
Also, well done to David Florence for winning the C1 class by a clear 5 seconds.
2007 PeakUK Team announced
18/10/06: PeakUK have announced there new streamline team for 2007.
The team will be Richard Hounslow (K1M), David Florence (C1), Laura Blakeman (K1W), Fiona Pennie (K1W) Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott (C2).
The new 2007 range from PeakUK will be out soon and will include some new swanky skinwear! Watch this space.
New Website Online
02/10/06: I have finally got to a stage where I can put my new look website online. The new design will allow me to update the news section easily. I hope to also change the guestbook to match the rest of the site but that is proving to be tricky!
