race day 3

Headed off to our first semi finals day taking staggered loads in during the morning so that those who wanted to, could watch the U23K1m semi finals - returning home for an early lunch and then everyone back to the course for the afternoons racing.

Ella, K1 heats

On Wednesday Ella raced the heats of the C1 U23 women for the Cook Islands and did a very commendable job of making her way down a difficult course - unfortunately she just missed the cut for the semis and yesterday she raced heats of the K1 U23 women which is more her specialty. She looked calm and focussed on both her runs but 4 touches each time put her outside of the 30 boats to go through to the semis. We always look forward to catching up with her at the course each day.

main scoreboard and live screen - Callums run

Callum and Finn were our only semi finalists up today in the K1 U18. A scary prospect with a very very competent field. Callum was first off and came down the course well, touching two gates at 7 and 8. Gate 8 was the subject of an enquiry as nobody saw the touch - it was removed by the chief judge after the video review, however they spotted a 50 at gate 6 and despite a full hour of negotiations refused to remove it saying it was clear and concise evidence on the video. This video review is done of everyones semi final and finals runs and times could change. Callums time prior to the 50 being added was 117.73 which put him outside the qualification time for the final . Finn came down the course strongly and incurred at touch at the infamous gate 7, his split time at halfway was up with the leaders but a small mistake further down the course when he spun a gate put him just outside the final qualification time in a time of 110.74, leaving him in 16th place. These two boys have done incredibly well to make the semis in the most competitive field of the competition.
Race day favourites of Michal Smolen of the USA and Jessica Fox of Australia both missed places in their semi finals of K1 U23 showing just how difficult, cut throat and competitive this racing is. Jessica Fox won a silver medal at the London Olympics.

Callum on his semi final run with the new zealand groupies cheering him on

Athletes tents clearing out at the semi finals stage although the team from Great Britain still took up the whole end

tea on the driveway - can you guess whose dirty feet are sticking out from behind the door.....?????

Home for tea at the end of the day - once again eating happened outside - Pavel and Martin and Barbara went out for tea as our treat. Tomorrow is finals morning and the first of the teams racing in the afternoon.

YES - its our man Dan

racing day two

Another very long and tiring day with lots of disappointment mixed in for good measure. First off this morning were the U23w K1 with Robins first run seeing her struggling with the conditions but she stepped up during her second run and cut almost 30 seconds off her time still leaving her outside of the semis qualification time, Anna's first run was her best of the day with a 50 in her second run and her time not taking her through to the semi final. The field in U23 K1 women is very competitive on a reasonably hard course which many of the paddlers struggled with and there were not very many clean runs all day. 

C1m U23 saw Patrick off first with a good steady run with a couple of mistakes and a couple of touches, he also had a 50 in his second run after capsizing through a gate. Shaun's first run was quick but with 2 touches he needed a good second run to make semis and unfortunately two more touches and a slower run time put him out past the magic 30 boats which progress. Ben had two touches on his first run which was slower than he wanted and he managed to step it up and knock 4 seconds off his second run but two touches left him still just outside of the semis cut off.

Deahna, Haylee and Jess all had a tough day, the competition was fierce and the course demanding of their skills. Again there were lots of 50's in the field and there were some very slow times from other paddlers mixed throughout the runs. Haylee had a faster run in her second run, Jess had a 50 in her second run and Deahna caught an edge and got tipped in a strong eddy and grated against the rocks and came out to be rescued by a handsome frogman. She spent the rest of the afternoon looking for him to thank him and maybe to kiss him and turn him into a prince. 

Finally the C1u18m with Callum, Marcus and Tommy - too many touches in a competitive field put paid to their semi finals hopes although Tommys second run with only one touch was a big improvement. Marcus had a 50 in his first run with only one touch and although he went faster in the second run he hit 5 gates. Callum was consistent with .03 between his two runs.

We are grateful that Callum hasn't inherited his parents sense of direction and can navigate his way down the course. His parents need a GPS to find the coffee cart - not to mention the fact that they travelled from Vienna to Liptovsky Mikulas via Hungary and its capital city of Budapest - which if you look on your maps is actually almost the opposite direction to that they were supposed to be travelling, they had difficulty getting to the course today from their accommodation and last seen were headed for their apartment or maybe Austria? Actually its great to have them around and we have also been joined by Maureen Crompton and Kensa Randle, Agnieszka and family friends of Deahnas - so we are a group almost as big as the noisy Germans with their clackers and whizzers and wonderful horns.

Kellie Bailey at her judging station

 Despite rumours to the contrary, so far the event has been very well managed - there has been the odd minor glitch but its not difficult to get someone to give you an answer to any query we may have. We are grateful to the judges who sit out in the hot sun all day long looking at the same stretch of water - our own Kellie Bailey is at gate 7 ....

Malcolm and Matthew, pausing in their run along the side supporting one of ours

There are three of these big score boards situated along the course and a huge screen with the live footage alongside

top of the course cameraman - 

Ben during his second run this morning

Shaun in the start pool

Callum

Finn on the drop

Finn and Callum are the only ones racing tomorrow in the semi final K1 U18 m after lunch.

Headed home just after 6 this evening for dinner, unfortunately Wendy managed to blow all the fuses in the kitchen so the boys had to have one of the trusty fry pans in their bedroom to cook the chicken drums - all fed and definitely more relaxed this evening with the pressure off most, so out came the cards and the computer games. Going to the course in the morning to watch U23 K1m semi finals, back home for lunch and then back to the course for the U18 semis.

Pavel, Dan, Luke, Martin, Ben and Aaron

Marcus, Finn, Anna, Matthew, Patrick

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.

live results

Just realised the easiest way to get to the live streaming of results is to click on the junior and U23 link at the right hand side of this blog and it takes you to the event website, then click on results and the live streaming will come up;
Live streaming and start lists here
There is also a link and info on www.slalomnz.org.nz here

demos, parades and dancing girls

This mornings session saw us sharing the water with 72 boats with only three quarters of an hour allowed - the ICF had decided that to make it work everyone would have just two runs, leaving at 20 second intervals and doing a full run down the course with no stopping ..... yeah right. You do the maths - they didn't allow enough time for everyone to get two runs for a starter and you know paddlers - they don't take any notice of  "don't stop in the eddies, keep going, don't practice your crosses ....." add in the odd roll, swim and dawdle and you have a recipe for disaster.  The session before us was very entertaining with only 65 boats on the water but heaps of crashes and stressed paddlers cursing each other .... some pretty aggressive paddling was observed. The course is very busy with boat scrutineering, bib collection, start lists, accreditation, parking, bad parking, blocking the way parking, boats everywhere and hundreds of people. Today the weather has improved with a little bit of a cool breeze this morning but the afternoon was hot and sunny for the demonstration runs at 4pm. The course is not that hard (according to Pavel and Martin) but has long stretches of sprinting at the top end followed by more technical gates from half way down. You can catch the live streaming on the link on the ICF page. Tomorrow we have U23 k1 men Shaun at 8.43 and 11.09 and Malcolm at 9.10 and 1.36. Followed in the afternoon by the U18 K1 men Matthew at 14.50 and 17.51, Callum 15.21 and 18.12 and Finn at 15.35 and 18.26. The U18 C2 Finn and Marcus 16.34 and 19.25 and Dan and Luke at 16.43 and 19.34. and that's it for tomorrow.

just one of the many aisles of hundreds of boats in storage

watching demos

the humped back bridge with our lot watching demos on a very overloaded bridge

Tonight was the opening ceremony and we all assembled in the centre of the old town to get into line for the parade. There were young people dressed in national costume holding each countries name and we lined up alongside. Ella, representing the Cook Islands, had almost the youngest name bearer of the lot.

Ella and her Slovakian girl

Ella in the parade

New Zealand team with Patrick as the flag bearer

entering the square

turning into the square to form up alongside the 44 other countries

listening to the speeches, spoken in both Slovakian and English

the dancing girls entertainment after the speeches

Martin loving the dancing girls

It was pretty cool watching the parade of all the athletes and their support crews - there were lots of people watching and clapping and once everyone was assembled in the square there was a welcome song played by two guitarists followed by a few speeches, none of which were too long and all of which were translated in to English. You got the feeling that the people associated with the event, which by the way is the biggest canoe slalom event yet, were all very proud to be hosting so many countries here in Liptovsky Mikulas. After the speeches the guy in charge announced that we would now be entertained by the cultural part of the festivities and on came some dancing girls - doing a kind of cheerleading, areobics, hip hop, 'dancing with the stars' interpretation of a Slovakian pop song. Everyone loved it, Martin swayed in time to the music, and after one item that was it, all over. Home we came. Dale and Aaron away to a 'Banquet' for team leaders etc - and the kids all had a second tea since the first one was eaten at 5.15 before we left and of course they were all hungry again by 7.30 when we arrived home. Early start tomorrow for some and then staggered arrival to the course for the others - these next few days will be very long and the kids will have to pace themselves.

castles and princesses

Its 7 o'clock at night and I am here on my own (with two sick kids) - oh the peace and quiet!! Teas finished, the dishes are done and the rest of the crew are at training .... bliss. Two girls sick today, so that just leaves Tommy and Matthew ..... no time for them to get sick now the competition is upon us almost.

 Todays training was not until 8pm this evening and so a trip to visit the Orava Castle was planned to combat the cabin fever (not that the kids think that being glued to a computer screen is cabin fever .....) Just the juniors went leaving Anna sick in bed and in the capable hands of her brother Shaun and poor old Jess off colour and spending the day with Kellie.
Orava Castle is  45 minute drive from here and was first inhabited in the early 1200's and it has had constant modification and additions ever since. It has been a very important protection for the long-distance merchants route leading to Poland. Part of the lower castle was also a very ornate palace at one stage. It poured with rain on the trip over and the vans were full of grumpy faced teenagers ..... the passing scenery wasn't great and the rain didn't help. Cleared up and the sun shone weakly as we arrived, purchased our ticket and joined the crowd outside the castle gate waiting for the guided tour. You cant go inside on your own and unfortunately we had missed the English speaking tour and ours was entirely in Slovakian. I have to give credit to the kids, they rose to the challenge and were attentive and excellent ambassadors for New Zealand - and of course Martin and Pavel translated the juicy bits for us. It probably helped that the girl guiding was easy on the eye ....apparently. It was an experience of a life-time for us all to be inside a fully restored castle - the brickwork, stonework, narrow winding staircases, huge fireplaces, low doorways, 4 metre thick walls, holes in the walls and ceilings to pour boiling oil out of onto intruders, the torture chamber, the dining chairs which the rollicking nobles sat in to dine and drink, they sat sideways like a saddle and had a wooden bar around them to hold them in as they got more and more inebriated, the bed chamber where it was common for the guard to remain in the room with just a curtain around him while the 'lovers' had their fun. Needless to say the kids loved Martins re-interpretation of the stories. Pavel told the girls not to sit on a particular chair because it was haunted and if you sat on it you would be married within the year...there were paintings of many of the previous owners each one depicting the mans personality, for example Luke showed me one man who had a crippled arm and hand painted, apparently he had caught his wife being unfaithful and had skinned her, so he was portrayed as a crippled wicked man - and Dan showed  me another of a man with 6 fingers on one hand and 4 on the other because he was very good at taking (6 fingers) and not good at giving (4 fingers) and on it went.

walking into the castle towards the drawbridge

guarding the way in

entrance tunnel with holes in the ceiling to pour the boiling oil through, its very long and goes almost in a circle and would have been very dark making it hard for intruders to see where they were going and what lay in store for them, Dan's quote of the day was 'wouldn't they just follow the lights?'

inside the castle courtyard heading into the residential palace - Patrick, Matthew, Robin, Luke

listening to the Slovakian guide, girls a bit cold so cuddled up

higglety pigglety building of additions and alterations over the centuries

Martin and Pavel interpreting

our lot standing around the entrance to a 90m deep well within the centre of the castle listening to the guide 

Callum and Luke in the torture chamber, the racks - slowly wind you up till your sockets popped and your limbs pulled off, there was a bed with stocks for your feet which were coated with salt, the goats were brought in and they licked the soles of your feet raw, more salt was applied and the torture continued

Pavel - found his princess - he says not many people get their photo taken with a real princess in a castle.....

stairways leading up and up

climbing up and up to the top of the castle tower - the cantilevers were very dodgy and it didn't pay to think about it, some others in the tour couldn't cope with the heights and had to climb back down

still climbing - the top part of the castle sits on a wedge shaped piece of rock with shear cliffs falling away on all sides - the wind was whistling through the stone slits at the very top and the view was incredible

almost down again, central courtyard

back down again

A great experience - although it took about an hour longer than we anticipated and we didn't get home for lunch until just after 3pm. Dinner at 5.45 and away to training. Dale and Aaron both at the team leaders meeting tonight. Our training tomorrow is at 11am, boat scrutineering tomorrow, demo runs at 4pm and then the opening ceremony at 6.30 although we still don't know where it actually will be held.

visit to the caves

Sleep in this morning - breakfast not till 8am - training today is between 5 and 6. We needed to take some time away from the accommodation environment and headed for the mountains and a wonderful cave system which we were able to tour. This involved walking up from a car park through forest up a steep path to a building which fronts the cave system. The woodland is full of wild flowers which we grow in our perennial gardens in New Zealand and it was beautiful to see them all growing in their natural environments (well to one of us at least) Martin and Pavel negotiated a discount for us - 6 Euros entry and another 8 Euros per camera if you wanted to take photos inside (we have to own up to the fact that nobody paid this so the photos below have been taken illegally). Everybody headed off into the huge underground limestone cave system with a guide. The cave system is actually 8.4km long with many many side tunnels and caves leading off the main route. The trip we did was about 1.7km of steeply descending and ascending steps and paths with guard rails protecting us from drops, numerous small clear ponds and the river which had originally cut the cave system through the limestone. The caves were discovered in the early 1920's and opened to the public for tours in the 1930's. There was water everywhere with humidity 95% and the air temperature was 6degrees C. It was a fascinating trip seeing the stalactites and stalagmites and heaps of other limestone growths some of which looked like lilly pads in the clear ponds, others which looked like huge waterfalls made of deposits in gold, white and grey and others which looked just like fossilised sewerage. Five minutes into the cave we had to wait while a hyperventilating tourist from another group was lead back out of the cave by our guide otherwise it was a very slick operation which is part of a world conservation agreement.

debrief outside cave entrance

Pavel and Matthew warming up after exiting the cave

extra clear water pond in the cave (photo by Deahna)

underground wishing well

walkway through large cavern

Tommy 

Malcolm

Quick visit to Tescos for yet more groceries, home for lunch and a relax for the kids and off to the course at 3pm for a pre-race run through to simulate race day before they did their full runs. New signage up on the side of the new building, more marquees and heaps more boats and vehicles at the course. Dale and Wendy went and collected Kellie Bailey from the railway station. She had traveled from Prague by train and is here in an official capacity as a judge for the ICF.  Jess was very pleased to see her and Kellie was put straight to work by Aaron taking photos with his camera. Full runs went well for the kids and they are still learning from talking to the coaches after each run and watching video review when we get home. It is interesting to watch them walking up and down the course observing the other paddlers. Kellie came home with us for tea and then we dropped her to her ICF accommodation. Another site seeing trip planned for tomorrow before our very late training session at 8pm in the evening.