Duluth

We're in Duluth now.
The river here is a little low, the flatwater gates are gone and the river run is too low. Apart from that it's perfect!!
It's not quite what we had hoped for in the last week but we're making the most of it. We had 2 WW sessions yesterday and one this morning and then off to race tomorrow.
We have some nice accommodation in town right by the wharf and not far from a lifting bridge and great chocolate shop!
The course is quite rocky but we think we've found most of them now. There is a big rock slide at gate 3 and another 3 significant drops down the course. The last is quite fun and tricky.
We seem to have plenty of injuries (Carl-back, Kelly-shoulder, Marcus-back, Anna -shoulder, Foxy-shoulder) but they're keeping their spirits up.

Fun Day

Yesterday we had another day off paddling. Everyone was still pretty tired and we had no good whitewater to paddle (The course in Wausau isn't running).

Instead we drove 2 hours south to the town of Wisconsin Dells. It's like a mid-western version of Las Vegas, a town built purely on a theme. Their theme is water parks!! We went to the Worlds biggest water park and rode the worlds longest water coaster. Half the kids also managed to get on the 'scorpions tail' where you start in a tube and free fall into a spiraling drop at huge speed.

Following this we shot down the road to the outlet malls where we got new sunnies, jeans, shoes, shirts, skirts etc.
A quick Taco Bell and then raced back to Wausau as I was out to tea with old friends from the 90's.

This morning we're off to Duluth, we may have to use a pry bar to get the kids out of these luxury rooms. We have 3 days of slalom and river running to look forward to and then a race over the weekend before we start to go our separate ways.

BBQ photos

A great location for a BBQ....

Dale and Wendy relaxing at last....


The whole gathering.

0 then BBQ

After one of the most hectic 2 weeks of our lives......yesterday we did a big fat nothing!!!!
Kelly and I went for a flatwater session. Everyone else went to the movies.
Of course while we were all playing, Dale and Wendy were as always.....working...more emails and sorting various plans for the rest of the trip or making sure things are ok with the business they own that they have closed for 2 months for this trip. These 2 are absolute legends. Their planning for this trip was impeccable. Yet, for some reason there have been more weird and unexplainable things go wrong on this trip than any other one I've been on in 30 years of kayaking and travelling the World. So many in fact that we now seem to able to predict them in advance!!!! They have held their heads up high, and despite unbelievable (hey we all know life could be far worse!) situations have kicked on through with barely a murmur of complaint.

Whilst on the subject of legends, we picked the kids up from the mvie and headed to see Corrie and her family and friends at their house for a good ol' USA style 'cook out' BBQ. GPS got us lost for the 37th time but when we got there.......Fantastic food and company, thanks so much you guys, what a great evening and the first time I've seen Dale and Wendy relax so far :-)

Photos

Team on the Wausau WW stadium statue

Mrs Owen..for those of you who remember her.

Carl and Finn on podium

Kelly 3rd

Proud Dale when we have the top 4 spots in B-final.

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 ;-)

Note on results

when you are looking at the results please be aware this includes over 18's too. In men it is the bibs around 40's. Confusing eh! So Carl 2nd, Cole 3rd, Laurence 6th etc....

Live coverage of racing

Today there is live coverage HERE
click and enjoy watching, Matt has done a great job I understand.

photos

Local crowd


Racing

Upstanding for the USA national anthem before racing starts.

Pre race kiwi camp, mid course

Sam Murray (Ex Alex /NZ jnr team) Wendy Dale and a body or 2 (Kel+Anna?)

Worst kayak key hiding attempt ever!!!!!

Race reception Friday night.

Had a great day with lots of visitors today. Early in the day a guy came up and said "Thanks so much for brewing Speights"!! I missed when all the kids turned up and were buzzing around the kiwis asking how they become kayakers. I also met Mrs Owen who has housed many kiwis and Aussie in Wausau over the years...I had heard many great stories in the past.

Matthew's post

First day of racing at Wausau today, everyone did their best and all the New Zealanders made it through to the semi finals tomorrow. Michal smolem took out the junior category today with an incredible lead of ten seconds. The amazing performance from top athletes has been great to watch. We are all exited for more racing and feel well prepared thanks to our coaching from Andy and Michelle we have had of the last few days in the scorching heat. The course will prove to be a challenge for us but it will be great fun. This trip has been a great experience for us all and we have enjoyed traveling around Canada and America. Especially to Niagara falls. The fireworks display next to the waterfall was something we will never forget.

Matthew Arnott

Racing time

Wow, what a day. I am so proud of everyone today, I have never seen most of them race so well.
Results are on the Wausau website,
http://www.wausauwhitewater.org/Documents/2011%20Documents/Wausau%20Open/Saturdayendofdayresults.pdf
Highlights were Geoff's first run, Laurence's first run and Finn's 2nd. Cole had 2 great runs and Foxy's first run was solid and clean like his namesake. Carl had an ok first run (neither me or him were satisfied but his solid training put him 2nd anyway) but risked too much later on.
The team had prepared well yesterday so when the water didn't come on for 1/2 and hour we didn't sweat it like the others. Then everyone went for solid first runs in case the predicted storms arrived. The storms didn't but wind did so some 50's and slow times came on 2nd runs as people tried to guess where the pole was going.
Everyone made it to semis and have now walked the course at least twice after demos and are set for the morning.