The format for the ECA races is one qualification race for each class with the top 2/3rds progressing to the final, with a cap of 30 finalists for the men's under 16 & 18, and a cap of 20 for all other classes. The kiwi team had 5 juniors competing with 3 members of the under 23 team as forerunners. The forerunners had a run before the qualifications and a second run before the finals.
On the first day of racing Kensa qualified for the final finishing in 9th place and Zac qualified finishing in 15th place.
That evening in Augsburg a few hardy team members forsook their rugby heritage and watched Germany defeat Italy at the quarter final of the European Soccer Cup. The rest of the team learned of the result of the match by from the hour long car horn honking fest after Germany's winning kick.
Racing on Sunday was on a more difficult course which seemed to suit the NZ crew. Kensa, Zac and Josh all made their finals. Zac had the fastest under 16 flat time in his qualification run, but had 14 seconds of penalties. Kensa had a great finish of 4th place in the Women's Under 18 K1 and Zac was 3rd in the Men's Under 16 K1, while Josh improved his placing by one.
We stayed at the course for the prize giving to support New Zealand's first podium placing of the tour. Zac was to receive a bronze medal (or so we thought). It was a very nice ceremony and we cheered politely for the Aussies & Americans receiving their gold medals - the only non Europeans to medal. But after a long wait we discovered the medal winners were from the combined results of the two races over the weekend - not the individual races. So that was a wee bit disappointing. All was forgotten over a classic Bayern dinner in the Ratz Keller situated in the basement of the 500 year old town hall, built by the rich Fuggers of old Augsburg.
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