Shaun finished 24th with a little mistake at gate 4, bit low at 9 but the rest was ok.
Finn finished 21st. He had a pretty good run with a few small mistakes but overall went pretty well. Good luck next year when he'll be flying in his final junior year.
Cole had a 98% great run. Sadly he jumped in to gate 12 too tight, hit the gate and got stuck for a bit. Also down at gate 18 he didn't manage to turn in time and lost a bit more time in the eddy. He only missed the finals by 1.5 seconds and finished 15th so proved he has the goods but just couldn't quite get the perfect run today.
Finally Jess came down late in the afternoon. She also had a pretty good run but lost lots of time on the 2 hole moves and had to paddle back for both gates 10 and 22. Jess finished 28th and is looking forward to working on her hole skills when the Hawea park gets built ASAP ;-)
We went and sampled the local 'frozen custard' on the way home. It's like ice cream but way smoother. Very nice, thanks for that pointer Dooglas.
OK, so we have teams racing each afternoon and some finals to watch. Catch you all soon.
CSNZ Junior & U23 Teams
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Big day at the river coming up. Semi Finals Day
So, we're about to head in to semi finals day at the U18/U23 World champs.
We have 4 paddlers in the semis. Unfortunately lightning struck twice and we had 2 bubble boys just missing the cut by less than a second and only one position.
After a late night with demo runs and managers reception we'll head down to the course. Each paddler walks the course with me giving advice as they tell me their race plan for every stroke pretty much. They plan their lines in to the gates, how hard they will pull on the strokes and what angle the boat will be at. Add in how much they will lean forward or backwards, repeat this process over 23 gates as well as how they will get through the various holes and waves and it's a very detailed process. It probably takes about 20 minutes to walk the course once, maybe a little more. They then relax for a bit, head up for warm ups, final gear check as they head for the pre start area. Race hard for 2 minutes....then re-assess the post run, watch the team videos that Dale takes and our spare bank paddlers, watch the video from the live feed and if they still have time watch the video from the best paddlers. Then back up to the start for another run.
Today they only get one run in an attempt to make the finals on the weekend. (They will all , except Jess be racing in the 3 man teams event anyway)
So, good luck Shaun, Finn, Cole and Jess....make us proud guys.
We have 4 paddlers in the semis. Unfortunately lightning struck twice and we had 2 bubble boys just missing the cut by less than a second and only one position.
After a late night with demo runs and managers reception we'll head down to the course. Each paddler walks the course with me giving advice as they tell me their race plan for every stroke pretty much. They plan their lines in to the gates, how hard they will pull on the strokes and what angle the boat will be at. Add in how much they will lean forward or backwards, repeat this process over 23 gates as well as how they will get through the various holes and waves and it's a very detailed process. It probably takes about 20 minutes to walk the course once, maybe a little more. They then relax for a bit, head up for warm ups, final gear check as they head for the pre start area. Race hard for 2 minutes....then re-assess the post run, watch the team videos that Dale takes and our spare bank paddlers, watch the video from the live feed and if they still have time watch the video from the best paddlers. Then back up to the start for another run.
Today they only get one run in an attempt to make the finals on the weekend. (They will all , except Jess be racing in the 3 man teams event anyway)
So, good luck Shaun, Finn, Cole and Jess....make us proud guys.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Sorry folks, I just realised Shaun went to bed without writing his part in the blog. He had 3 touches on first runs but went faster and hit less on 2nd runs and finished up around 28th. Sorry I don't have more info and need to get to sleep. I'll make sure we fill you in better tomorrow, today was a very long day at the river.
Enjoyed watching the C1 boys and jess race today. Running down and cheering them on felt cool to be part of the NZ team. Semi's tomorrow another pretty average course but its the same for everyone I guess. Feeling nervous but I'm ready for the clean run I'm going to have. Hope the others run down with me supporting love it when I get cheers to go faster. - Cole O'Connor-stratton.
For some reason I didn't feel to nervous before my first run, must have been the excitement of the race. Its kind of cool when I think of all the training I have been doing for this one race and its finally here. My first run wasn't to good, I touched 5 gates so had 10 seconds added onto my time which I was quite dissapointed with. But I was still amped for my second run and so didn't spend to long worrying about the first.My second run was ay better then my first and was clean! It felt pretty good afterwards going for 5 touches to 0. Made it through to the semis in 28th place which I am stoked with because that was my goal for this years race as I'm still a baby and have next year to look forward to and improve on. It was really cool to see the more experienced girls paddle after me, especially the top 2 Karolina Galuskova and Jess Fox. Getting a bit nervous for tomorrow but pretty excited! - Jess Bailey
Ben had an average day today. First runs had a couple of touches and he got stuck in the nottom hole for a while. 2nd runs were looking better and at the end of all the paddlers he was in 30th just scraping in to semis.....or so we thought. A few minutes later we found out the Czech guy one second behind him got a penalty taken off because he hadn't hit gate 21. So, he was promoted and knocked Ben to 31st. A cruel blow after what happened last month with missing out on an Olympic spot. However, Ben has now bounced back and will be back at the river with us in the morning cheering on our 4 semi finalists. They will all have their work cut out to make the top 10 finalists but we hope to see some good runs in the hope of breaking in to the top 20's.
Tonight we watched the demo runs after dinner at a great mine themed restaurant. A local couple bought us a round of drinks after seeing our well dressed team enjoying their time in Wausau. The semis course has some difficult little moves in it and will make for some interesting racing. After dropping the team at home I joined Dale at the team leaders evening reception at the local art museum. A lovely gathering with great company and a classical music band.
Catch ya tomorrow.
For some reason I didn't feel to nervous before my first run, must have been the excitement of the race. Its kind of cool when I think of all the training I have been doing for this one race and its finally here. My first run wasn't to good, I touched 5 gates so had 10 seconds added onto my time which I was quite dissapointed with. But I was still amped for my second run and so didn't spend to long worrying about the first.My second run was ay better then my first and was clean! It felt pretty good afterwards going for 5 touches to 0. Made it through to the semis in 28th place which I am stoked with because that was my goal for this years race as I'm still a baby and have next year to look forward to and improve on. It was really cool to see the more experienced girls paddle after me, especially the top 2 Karolina Galuskova and Jess Fox. Getting a bit nervous for tomorrow but pretty excited! - Jess Bailey
Ben had an average day today. First runs had a couple of touches and he got stuck in the nottom hole for a while. 2nd runs were looking better and at the end of all the paddlers he was in 30th just scraping in to semis.....or so we thought. A few minutes later we found out the Czech guy one second behind him got a penalty taken off because he hadn't hit gate 21. So, he was promoted and knocked Ben to 31st. A cruel blow after what happened last month with missing out on an Olympic spot. However, Ben has now bounced back and will be back at the river with us in the morning cheering on our 4 semi finalists. They will all have their work cut out to make the top 10 finalists but we hope to see some good runs in the hope of breaking in to the top 20's.
Tonight we watched the demo runs after dinner at a great mine themed restaurant. A local couple bought us a round of drinks after seeing our well dressed team enjoying their time in Wausau. The semis course has some difficult little moves in it and will make for some interesting racing. After dropping the team at home I joined Dale at the team leaders evening reception at the local art museum. A lovely gathering with great company and a classical music band.
Catch ya tomorrow.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
In to the future....
Today was the first day of the future. From now on we will have a junior world champs every year instead of the old unfair system of every 2nd year which meant some people never got to race at the top of their game. Also this event is the first ever under 23 world championships which fills a big gap in our sport.
Here are some comments from the paddlers below, followed by some photos.
So,
First day of racing is over. For the three junior boys this was our first taste of a junior world competition. It was an amazing experience, starting with the opening ceremony last night. The city of Wausau put on a grand welcoming for the athletes. And got us pumped for the racing. Today, personally I just wanted to get started! Our class started at 3pm which left a large amount of the day to learn the course and get our lines down. I am stoked to be in the semis in 27th place. Ready for a shot at making the finals. I need to improve a bit to have a chance. But hey, its canoe slalom. Anything can happen! My goal is to do my best, have a clean run and do all of the moves to the best of my ability. If I do that, I'll be happy.
Thanks for your support! Finn Butcher
Hey The whole competition so far even the opening ceremony last night has been pretty cool as this is my first junior worlds, my biggest race by far!!! Had heats today had two kind of average runs. Didn't make any big mistakes or anything but a few places in each run where I could of made up a couple of seconds. But in both my runs I has two touches , just small ones which was super annoying. I wanted to see what my chances were like of making the final and see where I placed amongst all the other boys who I had no idea how most of them paddled. I ended up placing 24th but if i was clean I would be very close to making the to 10. So now Semis friday HAVE to be clean and solid. Tomorrow going down to cheer on and support the c1 u23 and jess for their heats. Chur - Cole O'Connor-Stratton.
Geoff's race didn't quite go as he would have liked today. On first runs he got a 50 on the last but one gate and on 2nd runs he had 2 spin outs which unfortunately left him sitting in 41st place just 0.12 seconds out of the semi finals. I have to say though, it's pretty impressive that Geoff even made it to the startline. He has been having shoulder problems since January and has been in lots of pain during training. Good on you Geoff for working through it all and making it to you first World Champs, may there be many more.
It was good to watch the younger boys and give them some support for their runs. All of them racing well for their first World Championships. Most of My day was spent trying to stay cool from the heat and relax for tomorrows racing, also good to have a sleep in than our 6-7am wake ups. The C1s are off around 11:30am US time and Jess is off at 3pm US. feels weird racing in a age group race once again after finishing off juniors two years ago but good to get on the start line once again for the season. Ben Gibb
Kellie Bailey judging at gates 1 to 4.
Geoff in the pre start area.
Jess checks out the top of the course
Here are some comments from the paddlers below, followed by some photos.
So,
First day of racing is over. For the three junior boys this was our first taste of a junior world competition. It was an amazing experience, starting with the opening ceremony last night. The city of Wausau put on a grand welcoming for the athletes. And got us pumped for the racing. Today, personally I just wanted to get started! Our class started at 3pm which left a large amount of the day to learn the course and get our lines down. I am stoked to be in the semis in 27th place. Ready for a shot at making the finals. I need to improve a bit to have a chance. But hey, its canoe slalom. Anything can happen! My goal is to do my best, have a clean run and do all of the moves to the best of my ability. If I do that, I'll be happy.
Thanks for your support! Finn Butcher
Hey The whole competition so far even the opening ceremony last night has been pretty cool as this is my first junior worlds, my biggest race by far!!! Had heats today had two kind of average runs. Didn't make any big mistakes or anything but a few places in each run where I could of made up a couple of seconds. But in both my runs I has two touches , just small ones which was super annoying. I wanted to see what my chances were like of making the final and see where I placed amongst all the other boys who I had no idea how most of them paddled. I ended up placing 24th but if i was clean I would be very close to making the to 10. So now Semis friday HAVE to be clean and solid. Tomorrow going down to cheer on and support the c1 u23 and jess for their heats. Chur - Cole O'Connor-Stratton.
Geoff's race didn't quite go as he would have liked today. On first runs he got a 50 on the last but one gate and on 2nd runs he had 2 spin outs which unfortunately left him sitting in 41st place just 0.12 seconds out of the semi finals. I have to say though, it's pretty impressive that Geoff even made it to the startline. He has been having shoulder problems since January and has been in lots of pain during training. Good on you Geoff for working through it all and making it to you first World Champs, may there be many more.
It was good to watch the younger boys and give them some support for their runs. All of them racing well for their first World Championships. Most of My day was spent trying to stay cool from the heat and relax for tomorrows racing, also good to have a sleep in than our 6-7am wake ups. The C1s are off around 11:30am US time and Jess is off at 3pm US. feels weird racing in a age group race once again after finishing off juniors two years ago but good to get on the start line once again for the season. Ben Gibb
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Opening ceremony.
The course is set. When we arrived they had been put back 30 minutes as only 13 of the 23 gates were up. Team NZ coach and Canada and a couple of others helped string 10 gates in 30 minutes while all the big nations watched on. Thanks fellas always a pleasure doing anyone elses work ;-)
The course looks pretty simple with one slightly hard move at gate 21 but it looks like the speedy guys will do well in the qualification round. All week we have trained on single pole gates so were slightly surprised to find 23 double pole gates on the course but it's the same for everyone. Demo runs were pretty simple. Thanks to the American and Canadian coaches for jumping in C2's etc to make up the numbers and show everyone they can still put together some moves.
Demo runs about to start above
The course looks pretty simple with one slightly hard move at gate 21 but it looks like the speedy guys will do well in the qualification round. All week we have trained on single pole gates so were slightly surprised to find 23 double pole gates on the course but it's the same for everyone. Demo runs were pretty simple. Thanks to the American and Canadian coaches for jumping in C2's etc to make up the numbers and show everyone they can still put together some moves.
OK, so here are some photos from opening day. I can't seem to get them in the right order sorry.
How do you like this amazing wooden kayak, beauty eh. Geoff had a chance to dive in to the drivers seat of this classic American school bus. 
Native American dancers
South African singing group above.
Below our flag bearer takes our flag on stage while Lamar Sims and Kent Ford introduce the teams.
Dale congratulating Shaun Higgins on his selection to be team flag bearer
At the course this morning
This morning we had 2 30 minute sessions on the course. Shroter today because this afternoon they set up the race course. Above the French coaches working hard playing fruit ninja on their smartphones????
Below we have half of the GB coaching crew so only 6 of them are coaching on this section of the river ;-)
Here's another team GB staff member. We watched the movie Taladega nights last week so loved the phrase "If you're not first you're last". We have now also discussed me wearing a cap with the phrase "Shake and Bake". If you don't know what I'm talking about and want a laugh at a really dumb movie....go to the DVD store!!
Below is a shot of a Swiss team member entering the diagonal hole at the top of the course. It's easy to get in to, not so easy to get out of. Aussie Daniel Watkins is pictured below with a display of what you can easily end up with. This has had 2 days to improve, day 1 looked horrendous, like a golf ball!
See ya soon.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
One day to go before the World Champs start
So, yesterday Jess had a sore elbow and shoulder. Today it had obviously healed up fine because she came back from the mall (conveniently located 100metres from the course) carrying these enormous earrings and stunning high heals ;-) Will she wear them in the athlete parade????????
Tonight we kindly allowed Dale to attend the team leaders meeting while the rest of us accepted the kind invitation from the Thompson family to a BBQ and swim/hang out by their river. What a stunning spot to spend the evening. Great food and fantastic company. Thanks so much guys.
While we were chatting someone spotted seomthing in the water moving. It turned out to be a beaver and we watched it snap off a twig and drag it 100m down the river and off to his home. You may be able to make him/her out below....the twig near the bank right in the middle. Crappy photo I know, but very cool to watch!!!!!
This sign made it pretty hard to miss their house. Except when we arrived it read "Welcome Team Australia"....we nearly drove past without stopping!!! Then we were told what was on the other side of the sign ;-)
After we swam Geoff left his togs on the car to dry. As we drove off we saw something fly off the roof so he ran back up the road....to pick up some skid marks off the road!!! Togs, togs, undies, undies, undies!!!!!! 
OK, big day tomorrow with an early start, 2 sessions , course demo runs and athlete parade/opening ceremony. Laters......
Last proper session on WW today
Yesterday we had 2 sessions on the river again. Half runs in the morning for C1's and full runs for the K1's with the Canadian team in the afternoon. Everything went well but Geoffs shoulder has been getting worse so he didn't do many runs. Jess has a sore elbow but managed almost all of the session and has come to grips with the course well in such a short period of training.
We were at the course most of the day so they all got a chance to watch some amazing good paddlers. Fun to watch other teams practice their 3 man team racing too and realise that even the best have crashes sometimes too.
Dale and I attended the coaches mingle last night and met Tommy McDowell's Polish coach/teacher. One Polish coach pulled out some Polish Brandy 70% proof. We had a thimble full to be polite, but I can still taste it on my breath this morning!!!!
Next years set up for the World Champs sounds good with some other races to compete in before or after the main race.
Tonight Dale has his first big official team leaders meeting to attend and I am off South a wee drive with the team for a BBQ with some of the Americans and a couple of other teams.
Off for breakfast now. We have C1's doing full runs today and juniors on short courses just after lunch.
The temperature is around 27-30 degrees now so just a nice hot Summers day, nothing like what we were baking in last week.
Laters.
We were at the course most of the day so they all got a chance to watch some amazing good paddlers. Fun to watch other teams practice their 3 man team racing too and realise that even the best have crashes sometimes too.
Dale and I attended the coaches mingle last night and met Tommy McDowell's Polish coach/teacher. One Polish coach pulled out some Polish Brandy 70% proof. We had a thimble full to be polite, but I can still taste it on my breath this morning!!!!
Next years set up for the World Champs sounds good with some other races to compete in before or after the main race.
Tonight Dale has his first big official team leaders meeting to attend and I am off South a wee drive with the team for a BBQ with some of the Americans and a couple of other teams.
Off for breakfast now. We have C1's doing full runs today and juniors on short courses just after lunch.
The temperature is around 27-30 degrees now so just a nice hot Summers day, nothing like what we were baking in last week.
Laters.
Monday, July 09, 2012
Team didn't read the sign!
Dale and I went for a romantic evening walk up the hill and saw......
I'm sure this is the little fella who woke me up at 5am ;-)Hi everyone. We don't have a whole lot of news from yesterday. We had 2 sessions. First was at 8am and the second at 3-4. Both groups did half runs. The C1's were going really well and I have to give kudos to Aaron Osborne who has been working with Ben and Shaun this year. The boys have certainly done their work and are coming along well. In sessions as busy as these you always get a run or 2 impeded but they coped ok. In the 2nd session Finn had a couple of people pull out in front of him and is learning to just stop and nail it when the course is clear. Jess has become a bit sore in her left shoulder so took a break after half the session and we hope it all good today. Geoff's shoulder seems ok on shorter runs but he struggled a bit on the longer runs so also sat out halfway through.
Kellie Bailey is also now in Wausau working on her 'officials' Prime ministers scholarship to learn more about judging and race organisation. She's got step throat right now though so we're not going anywhere near her for a day or 2.
We may have to get Kellie to have a chat with the organisers about an issue for us. The main building has a notice on the outside clearly stating "No firearms in the building" and Ben is worried he won't be allowed in due to the size of his 'guns'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tonight there is a networking shinding at the VFW bar that Dale and I will attend. Apparently the bar tab will be paid by Jean Michel.........Tui billboard??
Cole checking things out
Minivan rentals doing well here.
Random things I find when out for a run!!
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