Finals day.....

Here are some highlights unedited from the paddlers today…

Carl’s highlight was being able to hold it together throughout the whole weekend and not being influenced by other paddlers to try faster lines etc and of course the biggest highlight was getting Second in Juniors and having a clean run.

Cole’s highlight was his two clean sweet runs on Saturday coming in third both runs. On Sunday he had a solid semi final run apart from one gate he tripped up on putting him out of the finals. Trying some different lines in the B Final he held them together coming in second in the B final.

Laurence is cool. But really… racing was really cool I had good couple of runs, one in heats and in the B final. I missed out on the actual final though. For me this race was a learning curve on how to approach a race mentally.

Anna’s highlight from this weekend was sitting through rain and unbearable heat and observing the rest of the team do so well

Kelly’s highlight was putting together the fast and smooth sections of individual runs during the past two days and coming 3^rd junior women k1. Being with some different competition and having a blast in c1 even though the run wasn’t how it was planned was another highlight!!

Finn’s highlight of the weekend was making finals after a mistake in the semi finals. Then going on to come third junior and fulfilling his goal of doing a run that felt like he couldn’t do better (other than a touch). Another highlight was hanging out with all of the Canadians and Australians at the river.

Marcus’s highlight was doing solid runs and feeling great at the end. I missed out on the finals by one spot which was slightly frustrating but on the whole my race went very well and I am happy with my result.

Matthew’s highlight of the race was knowing he had done his best and pulled off the moves he had planned, despite messing up the last gate in the B Final. This race will be something I will always remember and I have learnt lots of new skills from. Watching the top three runs of the days was incredible.

Foxy’s highlight was making finals despite a sore shoulder and some mistakes. Had a great time at the competition and had a very good finals run although he made mistake on one of the upstream gates which ruined his chances at a medal.

Geoff's highlight this weekend was competing with some extremely inspirational athletes. I can safely say that this has been a huge learning curve for me, like having to deal with huge amounts of pressure and competing to the best of my ability without mistake. In my semi final run I ended up with a pretty poor time, stopping my chances of making the A finals. I went onto the B final and finished 5^th. After this race I now have new goals to focus on.

Wendy’s highlight was watching the whole team achieve well but Finn getting his bronze was pretty cool, the whole team looked really professional in their white tee shirts and black shorts and stood out from all the other teams – they all helped at the end to clean up the site and pull down the gates and made us proud.

Dale was very happy to see the entire team looking great in their team gear. The whole experience of Wausau has been fantastic. Being settled all week with a good routine of training, sleeping and eating certainly paid off with a great last day of results. I’m just so proud of the way the kids conducted themselves all weekend right down to when they took down all the tents and gates for the organisers at the end of the day.

Andy, well not everything went totally to plan in the semis but the final runs of the day were pretty much stunning. Just about everyone finished with a flourish. 2^nd, 3^rd and 5^th in A-final and amazingly 1^st,2^nd,3^rd and 5^th in B-final. Kel flew down in K1 too finishing 3^rd. There was only one protest from us, it was too bloody hot. I think I sweated half my bodyweight!! I was a very proud coach ;-)