Sunday, July 27, 2008

Semi finals

Semis is a whole new step up, with a tougher course and increased pressure as everyone is going hard for a top 10 place in the finals. Dramas unfold as paddling is pushed to the limit and we saw lots of mistakes and even top paddlers taking a swim.

Our NZ/ Cook Islands team have so far made us very proud and today was no exception.

Shaun up first and he had a few touches and dropped a bit low in a couple of gates. A good effort for him to finish 30th in his first year concentrating on C1.
Nikki next and had problems on the move that caught out alot of people. Up 11, surf a wave across to up 12 and then a tricky down 13 above the big drop. Unfortunately she caught an edge and rolled. She battled to paddle back up loosing valuable time and managed to pull the rest of the run together well. A great effort as she had been so sick all week. Her final place was 32nd.
Ella nailed the top of the course but had a recirc at the same tricky gate as Nikki had trouble with, loosing at lest 7 seconds. She put together the rest of her run really well to end up 24th.
In the K1 semis Callum Gibb had a brilliant clean run only 10 seconds separating 1st and his final placing of 26th.
With only 10 through in each class to the finals, the kiwis could only watch and enjoy the action and there was plenty as they pushed hard for the meadsl. It was an amazing atmosphere and something to really inspire all our paddlers.
The results were dominated by Czechs, Slovenians and Germans .

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

You lot have done remarkably well, Im in awe of overall placings. Keen to hear what y'all thought looking at the top lot battle out for places. Hope the afterparty was no fun at all and you were all in bed by 10.30. Looking forward to seeing you back here - enjoy the rest of the warm weather while you can. Cheers, Phil

Anonymous said...

well done everyone, some great racing by the sound of it. Thanks for the great blog again this year too. Andy F.

abby said...

shot team:-) good work!! hope you dominated the party in true kiwi style!

Anonymous said...

Well done and hope when you readthis your all feeling very proud of yourselves and you managed to meet your goals...and even if you didn;t you feel proud of yourselves and can think wow! what an awesome sport and what an awesome effort...you all sound like you did amazingly!!1 Wll done and look forward to seeing my whanau back home as I sure some of you are looking forward to your own beds and the comforts of home!
See you soon enjoy the journey home
Love Caro

Anonymous said...

Congrats to the whole team and some good results came about by all. Great to hear that you are all loving Europe and having fun. Thank you for the blog Sue it is great to be able to see what everyone is doing. Callum could you please send me through your arrival details so i know what time to pick you up from the Airport. Enjoy the weather as it is shity and raining back here every bloody day.
cheers
Brent

Anonymous said...

Well done to all of you, you have really achieved well and now have a good gauge on your future competitors and what you will have to do to compete against them in the future.Those of you coming home to Tauranga will be pleased to know you can just about Canoe down Cameron Rd at present.
Sue you have done an absolutely fantastic job of this site, thank you very much.

Ray