first days racing in Krakow

The day dawned a little cooler and overcast and when the kids got down to the course they discovered that the huge storm we had last night had deposited a huge amount of rain into the river upstream and it had changed the course considerably. The water had risen, with the bottom two judging platforms actually in the water and the gates dragging in the dirty muddy brown water. You would have needed to have been in a submarine to get under the finish line ..... race start was delayed while officals hurriedly raised all the poles and built new judging platforms. The course had changed and in the kids heads it didnt look or act the same as the night before during demos - in actual fact the water was pushier and more challenging as was evidenced by the numbers of 50's and penalties incurred in the heats.
It was definitely a struggle to get a clean run and negotiating the staggers slowed down most of the paddlers.
Click on the link below for the full set of results.
Results

Pavel, giving the girls pointers in the middle of the course

Patrick tucking into the snacks, Wendy collecting the race times and Agnieszka  visiting

An added distraction for the day was an unexpected water surge of at least 40cm which raced its way down the course overflowing the sides and leaving all the judges and spectators standing ankle deep in the brown water. Still don't know what caused it but it took at least 10 minutes for the level to return to normal adding another delay to the whole race schedule.

Martins friend Barbara arrived today with her father, and some special cakes she had baked for the kids - poppy seed cake - Makovec - and another a bit like a baked cheesecake slice. They enjoyed tucking into this treat after team meeting this evening. Tomorrow morning everyone needs to be packed up before breakfast although we will still be here for the full day in competition - hopefully through to the end of the finals.  Tomorrows semi finals begin at 9am with C1M U23, C1MU18, C1MU16: then, K1WU18 at 9.38: then C2mU16 at 10.23: then  K1MU18 at 10.39: then  K1MU16 at 10.53..... followed by finals at 2pm in the order of C1M: K1W: C2M; K1M: C1W

Presuming we have paddlers in the finals and maybe even on the podium we will have dinner here before we leave on the 3 hour trip back across the border to Liptovsky Mikulas and joining the U23 for the next 14 days.