Last day spent at Deutshes Museum and lunch at food market. Returned cars then got boats on with no extra charges which is always a relief!!! We had 11 boats, 14 pieces of luggage and 7 paddle bags. Long flight but we left Munich at 10pm after a one hour delay,so no problems sleeping and most woke at breakfast about 2 hours before Bangkok. Been to tailors and you wont recognize the kiwi lads in their new suits when they get to NZ. Lots of fun as we got coke and beers and the Thai guys all over us like a rash as we um'd and aah'd over what we were going to get made. Just had Thai buffet and kids watching movies before bed. Up at 6.30am for brekkie and being collected at 7.30am for Thai floating market and cycling tour.
Going to wear them out and make the most of our short stay here.
Hope the last of the rain is over before we get home as it sounds shocking.
CSNZ Junior & U23 Teams
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Last few days
The finals are over and the kiwis partied in true NZ style. There was no official party so the NZers organised the teams to meet back at the river and then headed to a bar. All had a great time and swopped stories of the dramas of racing and email addresses. Monday morning Kidda and Nikki left at about 8.30am to face a 9 hour drive to Calais and the ferry to Dover. Nikki has an extra 10 days visiting relations in England.
The packing up went smoothly and we hit the road by about 10.15, purchased Czech motorway tax stickers as not prepared to risk a run in the with law.
Had a short stp at the boat house Troja ( Prague) as we had some Sandiline paddling gear to collect and drop Mike's boat and bag . A straight 4 hours to Munich with Lou and I driving a car each while everyone slept.
Mike D hitched a ride to Bratislava to collect a car to come back to Prague and train before heading to Switzerland for some racing prior to Uni Worlds.
Checked into the hotel, ( same one as the first night) and caught a trian to Munich centre. Quite a good deal with a concession of 11 Euro for 5 so not worth the hassle of driving and finding a park. Everyone starving so got a Radler (Shandy) and Wurst (German sausage) in the open air food market Virkutlnmarkt (sp??) near the Ratskeller. A wander around admiring some of the old buildings, amazing cars... Mercs for taxis and then found a big table at the famous Hofbrahaus. The Om Pa Pa band played and lots of groups having a good time. Had a large beer to finish off the trip in Bavarian style. I spotted a couple of cute frauleins and asked if they would have a photo with the boys. A little shy but soon were chatting and ended up going to Hard Rock Cafe with them. More email swopping then back on the train.
Today a little sight seeing while we fill in time until our 9pm flight to Bangkok. Without rubbing it in we are heading for another plus 30 day.
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 .
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 .
Semis and finals
Another stinking hot day ahead, but we have to make the most of it as will soon be home.
Team all in good spirits and the semi finalists prepared and reasonably relaxed. We have laptops set up in competitors tent and they are watching funny film clips as I type this.
Teams were fun yesterday, unfortunatley the K1M got a 50 on the same gate as the C2 boys. We got the big ups from the Czech commentary team who said ' the kiwis may not be the best but they are always smiling and are so friendly ' .....
Team all in good spirits and the semi finalists prepared and reasonably relaxed. We have laptops set up in competitors tent and they are watching funny film clips as I type this.
Teams were fun yesterday, unfortunatley the K1M got a 50 on the same gate as the C2 boys. We got the big ups from the Czech commentary team who said ' the kiwis may not be the best but they are always smiling and are so friendly ' .....
K1 Men and C2 Qualifications
First up were Ben Gibb and Bradyn in the C2. Unfortunately they didnt paddle their first run as well as they could, incurring 4 touches and a dubious 50 second penalty..... it was a shame that all 3 judges saw it differently to the whole kiwi camp and video, but the Chief Judge was adamant it had to stick. Finishing first runs in 25th place they knew they had to produce something special, and they did. A clean run in 121.30, 11th fastest for 2nd runs, but not enough to make the cut. We all felt gutted for them, but they seem positive finishing with a great run and will be back again next year in juniors as they are still young.
The fastest C2's were from Poland, followed by the Germans and Czechs.
Next up we had the 3 kiwi, K1 men . Malcolm Gibson, who had been having issues with an infected knee, didnt go as well as we know he can. His first run a little off the pace witha recirc. His 2nd run he nailed the top half of the course but had a small problem at the bottom.
Calum Gibb next and he had 2 touches in his first run and was left on 44th. He showed some real maturity ( for a just 15 year old) to improve his time and penalty count to finish on 38th ensuring he is racing again tommorrow.
Calum Brash made a couple of small costly errors in his first run, and then produced a second faster run but in this classy, K1 mens field of 80 paddlers, error free, fast runs were needed to make semis. Unfortunately for the 2 Mainlanders they wont be racing semis tommorrow.
K1 mens teams this arvo so they can have another 2 runs on the course.
37 degrees as I write this and about to go back to the course for teams for K1 men. We hear news of storms and hope everyone is OK in NZ.
Sue
The fastest C2's were from Poland, followed by the Germans and Czechs.
Next up we had the 3 kiwi, K1 men . Malcolm Gibson, who had been having issues with an infected knee, didnt go as well as we know he can. His first run a little off the pace witha recirc. His 2nd run he nailed the top half of the course but had a small problem at the bottom.
Calum Gibb next and he had 2 touches in his first run and was left on 44th. He showed some real maturity ( for a just 15 year old) to improve his time and penalty count to finish on 38th ensuring he is racing again tommorrow.
Calum Brash made a couple of small costly errors in his first run, and then produced a second faster run but in this classy, K1 mens field of 80 paddlers, error free, fast runs were needed to make semis. Unfortunately for the 2 Mainlanders they wont be racing semis tommorrow.
K1 mens teams this arvo so they can have another 2 runs on the course.
37 degrees as I write this and about to go back to the course for teams for K1 men. We hear news of storms and hope everyone is OK in NZ.
Sue
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)