race day 1

Race Day .... weather warm this morning, perfect paddling weather, then as the day wore on it was hot and calm till the wind picked up a little around about 6pm - there was still almost 2 hours of paddling to go by this time of night and the sun was going down and shining right up the course into the paddlers eyes. Such big fields to get through that the day began with first runs at 8am and the last run of the day at 7.54pm -

Kids were scheduled to be at the course at staggered intervals with the first arriving just before 7am and all the team on site by 11.30am. The girls didn't race today but showed their support for those who were racing by yelling and cheering - they almost managed to drown out the contingent of German supporters who were armed with very loud wooden clackers and horns and whirly gig things which should be banned from the whole world. The TVS room for video downloading was located in the new building and was a hive of activity with representatives from every country involved downloading the live video feeds so the coaches and paddlers could view the runs to check judging and learn from their mistakes. Many thanks to the Australians and Martins friend in Prague who eventually solved our down loading problems remotely through Martins computer. Also big thanks to Aaron and Martin who spent every spare minute they had in this room. The room was a jumble of cords and plugs and computers and bits and bytes and electronic equipment which would be enough to set any computer geek off into a frenzy.

TVS room - Aaron just hidden behind Matt Webster (australian support) and Martin next to Tom from Poland
Lots of people had headaches with the download process .... however the guys managed to eventually capture good footage

Roger and Claire Gilbert joined the New Zealand contingent on the new stands 

 Shaun was sick today and didn't race so Malcolm was first up of our team. Both his runs were fast enough to make the semi but gate touches meant he finished just outside the cut off for the semis (top 40) U18 K1 men were next up after lunch and first away was Matthew in a field of over 80 paddlers. His first run of 116 was good but again 2 touches meant he had to try to be clean in his second run - an early 50 put paid to this and unfortunately he missed the semi final cut. Callum was next up with a time of 110.99 and Finn with a time of 109.26. Callum retained his first run time as his best time and Finn managed to come down to 107.40.
It was nail biting stuff during the second runs for both these boys as the times came down and they were edged further down the field. Finn made semis in 30 position and Callum in 37th position.
The U18 C2 boys were up next and Luke and Dan had a run time of 138.62 but had a 50 and 3 touches to put their first run at 194.62.  They were having a great run in their second run and had a single touch almost at the bottom and went speeding into the last gate and over shot it and had to come back and added precious seconds to their time which put them just outside the semi final cut off of 20 boats.
Finn and Marcus didn't race the first run in the C2 because it was right in the middle of Finns K1 runs. They got together to compete the second run with the sun in their eyes and their knees shaking, petrified out of their skins - however as you can see from the photo below the wee boys gave them some much needed advice on the start line. They managed to get down the course without a 50 but with 4 touches which also left them out of the semi final - they were very pleased to make it down without rolling, tipping out or crashing into the wall. Luke and Dan, as the fastest crew, are in charge of the tactics for the C2 teams race so it should make very entertaining viewing.

sage advice from Luke and Dan

 

That saw the end of the very long day - big thank you to Anna and Ben who had returned home earlier in the day and received a facebook message from Wendy via Malcolm to ask them to cook tea - instructions followed and they pulled it off beautifully - meant Wendy could stay at the course and watch Finns runs and the C2 show. Another early start tomorrow with the girls all racing and also the C1 boys.