Arrived back in Roudnice after a very long trip. Made longer by the fact Tom had left his passport in his pack which was loaded into Kidda's van. We text kidda, who had Luuka with him, and arranged to meet him at the Czech border.... well not sure where he went but we waited at the border for 2 hours , dreaming up ways of smuggling Tom across. We thought about chancing it but we watched them checking cars and asking for passports, so we sat and waited.
When we finally got the passport and headed for border control, they waved us through. You can imagine the expletives used!!!
Arriving back in Roudnice was a familiar scene and we headed straight to the Pizzeria for dinner.
The Swiss juniors had checked in and tracked us down. Ella, who loves chocolate, had a big stash given to her by her new friend, Guilluame. Natalie, their coach also had some for us so all the hassles of the day were soon forgotten.
The best news of all is that in the week we were away they had wireless installed in their hotel foyer for us all to use so now there is a meeting place of people tapping away on their laptops.
We are working on the Swiss to bring a group to NZ. Wouldnt it be great to have a venue and a race circuit combined with the Australians for all these Europeans to come to in their off season.
Anyway we will keep in regular contact during this time with the new IT upgrade here.
Night to you all, team going training now so better get me skates on and get the food and water from the supermarket.
Cheers
sue
CSNZ Junior & U23 Teams
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Last Augsburg session
Photos from our last session at Augsburg. Paddling with Germans, the Aussie juniors and the Scottish juniors.
Lovely day today sunny with a light breeze.
Lovely day today sunny with a light breeze.
Still in Augsburg
An early morning half run session this morning at the course with a cool breeze to relieve some of the intense heat. Everyone enjoying the fresh and clean Germany compared to the Czech conditions, although the costs are higher.
Augsburg is a lovely small city and I have enjoyed wandering around and now with this being my second trip I feel as though I am getting to know my way around quite well.
With the heat the team not so into sightseeing, and are very keen to relax and watch DVDs at the apartment in between training sessions. I did manage to get a few of them to the Fuggerei which is what this area is pretty well known for. It is the oldest known social settlement in the world, dating back to 1500s when a wealthy German, Joseph Fugger built a small walled city´compound to house those who had fallen on hard times. There are over 150 people living there today and they pay less than 1 Euro per annum for rent. Gorgeous old brick buildings dripping in ivy made it worth a quick wander through.
The summer window boxes of brightly coloured geraniums, and huge potted colour everywhere contast with the cobbled alleys and old buildings really make Augsburg picture postcard material.
Tonight we are meeting Luuka and Katherine, the German exchange student who all the kayakers know, plus the Scottish junior team in the platz in front of the town hall and will absorb the atmosphere with dinner at an outdoor cafe.
After an early training session of full runs we will head back to Czech and move into the hotel in Roudnice for the business end of the trip. There is a famous castle this side of Prague so hopefully we have time to detour for a look. Internet is not as convenient in Roudnice as we need to use the hotel recpetion computer, so the emails and blog reports may slow up.
Hope all is well in NZ.
For those who might be interested, Sunday night TV3 at 8.50pm there is a TV programme that will feature Ella, so hopefully that is a good promo for canoe slalom.
Cheers
sue
Augsburg is a lovely small city and I have enjoyed wandering around and now with this being my second trip I feel as though I am getting to know my way around quite well.
With the heat the team not so into sightseeing, and are very keen to relax and watch DVDs at the apartment in between training sessions. I did manage to get a few of them to the Fuggerei which is what this area is pretty well known for. It is the oldest known social settlement in the world, dating back to 1500s when a wealthy German, Joseph Fugger built a small walled city´compound to house those who had fallen on hard times. There are over 150 people living there today and they pay less than 1 Euro per annum for rent. Gorgeous old brick buildings dripping in ivy made it worth a quick wander through.
The summer window boxes of brightly coloured geraniums, and huge potted colour everywhere contast with the cobbled alleys and old buildings really make Augsburg picture postcard material.
Tonight we are meeting Luuka and Katherine, the German exchange student who all the kayakers know, plus the Scottish junior team in the platz in front of the town hall and will absorb the atmosphere with dinner at an outdoor cafe.
After an early training session of full runs we will head back to Czech and move into the hotel in Roudnice for the business end of the trip. There is a famous castle this side of Prague so hopefully we have time to detour for a look. Internet is not as convenient in Roudnice as we need to use the hotel recpetion computer, so the emails and blog reports may slow up.
Hope all is well in NZ.
For those who might be interested, Sunday night TV3 at 8.50pm there is a TV programme that will feature Ella, so hopefully that is a good promo for canoe slalom.
Cheers
sue
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
How did we get all this gear in . Packing outside A1 apartments Prague
Post your message to the team here
another stinker
stinking hot again today and Ella now unwell, with a milder form of the vommitting bug. We were up early moving from the Youth hostel to the apartment and James Dawson was there to greet us. The rest of the seniors had left, so Ella and I stayed back while James went to the course with the others. Eric doing some driving which gives me a bit more leeway. I left Ella with fluid and instructions to keep hydrated while I hit the market for gorgeous German pretzels, pastries , cold meats, German sausage and cheeses. It is very pleasant wandering from stall to stall gathering your goodies but is not a speedy exercise, especially trying to make youself understood. Im cooking dinner tonight as Germany definitely expensive cf to Czech.
Eric and Tom back at course for another session while the rest stay out of the heat.
Up around the late 30s again today.
Great news about rugby and netball.
take care in NZ cheers
sue
Eric and Tom back at course for another session while the rest stay out of the heat.
Up around the late 30s again today.
Great news about rugby and netball.
take care in NZ cheers
sue
Monday, July 16, 2007
Augsburg
What a contrast it has been over 35 the last two days and the perspiration is well and truly running off us. Racing was a mixed bag yesterday in Veltrusy. First up was Eric who had quite a good run to finish 4th after his first run. Tom was next and was having a blinder until he got into some trouble at gate 17 and he was unable to rectify his error and gained a 50 sec penalty. The C2 guys were next and they 50`d gate 8 which was quite a common problem on the day as Ella did the same in her run. It was a tricky tight stagger downstream with no options to paddle back cos of a wall . The team stayed postive enjoying the atmosphere with some sun at last and a friendly bunch of Canadian juniors to chat to. Most of the others were German club paddlers who had actually organised the race. We kept commenting about how young the kids were paddling and I guess that is why they are so good.
Second runs saw some better performances and the C2 team who were ahead of our boys had a 50 also giving Brent and Shaun 1st place which was a good result. Ella had a shocking second run which added to the damaging first run and finished 6th. Erics 2nd run not so good with 4 touches but he held 4th place and Tom was in the same position as Ella with too much ground to make up.
The team of Ella, Eric and Tom then had two runs to finish 3rd from 9 boys teams so was a postive to end the day. After a quick dinner we drove to Augsburg arriving at the Youth Hostel about 11pm . A very balmy night so we went for a walk for an icecream and were amazed at the people out that late at night in the platz either eating or drinking, or sitting in groups chatting. The youth hostel is quite nice and after a quick brekkie we went to the course for the World Cup finals of C1 and K1 women. An exciting days racing especially the C1 final when Robin Bell finished 2nd. It was a really happy festive atmosphere and very very hot. We went down the road to Friedburg to a festival of traditional German food and culture but it was too hot to hang around very long so we headed back to the Eiskanal ( course) for a swim. I went in in my clothes... it was registering 42 on the temp gauge in the car.
Met the senior team for dinner which was great, all went to a Mexican restaurant and was great food.
Getting late at the internet cafe so need to say goodnight
cheers
sue
Second runs saw some better performances and the C2 team who were ahead of our boys had a 50 also giving Brent and Shaun 1st place which was a good result. Ella had a shocking second run which added to the damaging first run and finished 6th. Erics 2nd run not so good with 4 touches but he held 4th place and Tom was in the same position as Ella with too much ground to make up.
The team of Ella, Eric and Tom then had two runs to finish 3rd from 9 boys teams so was a postive to end the day. After a quick dinner we drove to Augsburg arriving at the Youth Hostel about 11pm . A very balmy night so we went for a walk for an icecream and were amazed at the people out that late at night in the platz either eating or drinking, or sitting in groups chatting. The youth hostel is quite nice and after a quick brekkie we went to the course for the World Cup finals of C1 and K1 women. An exciting days racing especially the C1 final when Robin Bell finished 2nd. It was a really happy festive atmosphere and very very hot. We went down the road to Friedburg to a festival of traditional German food and culture but it was too hot to hang around very long so we headed back to the Eiskanal ( course) for a swim. I went in in my clothes... it was registering 42 on the temp gauge in the car.
Met the senior team for dinner which was great, all went to a Mexican restaurant and was great food.
Getting late at the internet cafe so need to say goodnight
cheers
sue
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