paddling at Ceske B

Ceske Budejovice

After a three and a half hour drive, firstly on the German autobahn then through very scenic back country roads of Czech rep we arrived in Ceske Budejovice. the GPS doing great work again except taking us up a one way street . Lou was following in the trusty Peugeot Partner, a cute little square car/van and we found our small hotel, just near the square.

After dropping off gear we stocked up at Tesco then to the course. the new boats were not there but the four who had gear had a paddle while we waited for vlada from Galasport. With great excitement and anticipation he arrived and foot pegs were screwed in.

Everyone paddled and now he (Vlada) is organsing a small, substitute race tommorrow. Original cancelled as at entry close off they only had 40 paddlers!!!

Kidda will meet us there at 8.30am and the team can have several timed runs and plenty of tarining. Caught up with Daniel Stach, the Czech guy who always helps us out and he organised boat storage.

Water off at 7pm and back to hotel for dinner in pizzeria and a quick wander around the square. Everyone pretty shattered so an early night.

Team Safely in Munich

The team have all arrived safely in Munich to be met at airport by Ella and Sue. No dramas as boats and all gear arrived with them, to the relief of Lou.

After getting the second vehicle from Eurolease we drove to the hotel and once checked in wandered down the raod to an outdoor cafe/beer garden.

Had fun deciphering the German menu and had everything from Bratwurst and sauerkrout (sp)

to snitzel and chips. To celebrate the teams first full night we did it German style with a beer.

Off to Ceske Budejovice today, only training now as the scheduled race has been cancelled due to lack of entries. Shame as everyone looking forward to it.

2008 Junior team

The 2008 team are making final preparations to embark on their tour to race in Europe.
The team will continue to use this blog so check in regularly for updates.

The group travelling
Calum Brash- Dunedin
Malcolm Gibson- Gore
Callum Gibb-Tauranga
Ben Gibb- Tauranga
Bradyn Church-Tauranga
Shaun Higgins-Tauranga
Bridey Woudberg-Tauranga
Nikki Whitehead- Tauranga

Ella Nicholas-Tauranga ( Cook Islands)
Sue Clarke-Tauranga (Manager)
Lou Higgins -Tauranga
Coach- Andrew Raspin -England
Ass Coach- Mike Dawson

Home again

The team arrived home yesterday, very weary but buzzing from the fantastic experience of racing in Europe.
We left Roudnice around 11.30am after saying goodbye to Kidda , Tom and Luuka who were driving to Nottingham and a major packing session. The nice man at the Pizzeria gave me 2 bottles of Czech wine but as we were so worried about our weight , I thought I'd never be able to get it home. The restictions on carrying liquid on planes means no duty free either!! A slight border problem when the guard snatched our passports ( in contrast to the previous time when we were waved through) I had to pay a 40 Euro fine as didnt have the road tax sticker.
Returned the car and used the wine to get the Eurolease man to remove the roof racks and needed a special key that we didnt have.
We had no problems getting boats on in Munich- ecstatic about that especially as the plane was absolutely packed. Emirates good to fly with and all planes were on time so with brief stops in Dubai, Singapore and Brisbane we were home about 2pm.
Thanks again to all of you who have read our blog and sent messages.
Au revoir until 2008
Sue and team

Finals day

Havent quite got all the details but a quick update.
Ella was off at approx 11am, really windy again but she started really well and was making good time until she caught the girl in front of her. Despite the judges whistle going, the girl failed to move and sat in the ups impeding Ella's run. We negotiated a re run and she virtually had to get straight up to the top of the course again. We were all really proud of her as she had a clean run with no major mistakes to finish in 29th.

Eric also did really well, with a few of yesterdays paddlers really busting out today it was alawys going to be tough to repeat his 13th position. He finished 27th so was happy with that.

Most races were dominated by Czechs, Slovenes, Slovaks and Russians although the Canadian K1M Ben Hayward was 3rd which was a great result.
The Aussie girls did pretty well, with Natasha Jones having a great semis run to finish in 11th with one touch , Roz Lawrence 13th , Asleigh Logan next, then Ali Burrows 21st ( she is still 14 ) Maddie Toms just behind Ella.
Ian Burrows from Oz was 17th in C1. Full results werent available when we left but will be online.
Only a small party tonight as most teams leaving- the Europeans all heading to Kracow for the European champs starting on Thursday. Lots of goodbyes and uniform swopping, the kids all have some awesome gear and the packing is starting now before dinner.
The challenge of getting the boats and bags on is ahead, plus returning the car.
Will enjoy sitting on the plane with someone else taking care of me.
Cheers for now
Sue

Junior Pre Worlds Qualifications

Well big day had finally arrived! Warm but very windy and then wind got worse at the day wore on. First up for our team was Ella, sixth off from the field. She had a great run, doing all the moves to plan, with a couple of touches. Her name was on the leader board for ages and we waited to count down the results of the others to see if she had done well.
She was in 28th after her first run ( 40 going to qualify), She managed to do the next run pretty well also, with just one touch and a quick recirc towards the bottom of the course. Again an agonizing wait for the next 52 paddlers to see how she had done. Her final result ( 261.24) 27th place and a semi final for her tommorrow. Everyone pretty excited for her. Kudejova of Czech won again with 209.67, Caroline Queen of USA 2nd with 221.47.
The Aussie girls all qualified with Roz Lawrence 16th, then Ashleigh Logan ahead of Ella.
the other Aussies, Maddie, Ali and Natasha were 30,31 & 38 respectively.
K1 boys Tom & Eric next. Tom hoping to repeat his form of yesterday and he was looking good at the top. In the up after the drop he lost a bit of time and with 2 touches left him in 55th.
His second run was going to need something special and he went for it but incurred a 50 as the pole wrapped around his head in gate 11. His result didnt reflect his paddling and was a shame after his stella performance the day before.
Eric up next really delivered ( as kidda would say) with a clean run 98.48secs and he was lying 12th after 1st runs. He rose to the challenge and repeated his first run performance with just 1 touch and finished with 201.29 in 13th place. An awesome result and we were all very proud of him ( and he was pretty chuffed himself) Top qualifyer was Lukas Mayr 190.70 from a well known Italian paddling family. The only Aussie to qualify was Josh Williams in 34th.

Brent and Shaun had a very long wait to start and paddled pretty well but had 10 seconds of penalties on their first run leaving them in 12th after run 1. ( from the field of 17, ten were to qualify) They went hard for the 2nd run, and nailed the top, down the drop and then a problem at gate 15, catching an edge and pushing them downstream. Things started to go wrong, with a tough paddle up to get the gate, catching an edge and over they went. Unfortunately they had to bail and their chances of qualifying were over. They were gutted and we all felt for them.

Ella, Maddie and Ali Burrows did the teams run again ( as Oceania) and finished 6th, 22.75 secs behind Czech A and ahead of Aussie A. (Maddie and Ali, the Aussie girls were pretty happy).

A day of racing with high emotions, tears in some camps and jubilation in others. The semis are at 10.15 am with the top 10 going through to the finals in the afternoon.

Two more sleeps then the long plane trip home.
Sue

Racing

Friday- Race of Olympic Hopefuls
We met at the course at 8am. It was already very hot and the wind was a problem.
First off was Ella, who never quite paddled to her potential. There was a tricky, tight stagger from gates 7 to 9, that caught out many paddlers. Ella almost nailed the move but had to recirc and never quite recovered her composure. She finished 47th, with only the top 25 going into finals.
The final was won by the Czech paddler Kudejova in a time of 210.42, in fact 4 of the top 8 were Czechs.
Tom was the first of the K1 men and he had a run he was very happy about, with his name on the leader board in 2nd place for ages. He qualified 25th
Eric was a little slow to start, had a small mistake with a touch, but then got into a good rhythm and did well on the second half, but it was a little too late and he had a 103.07, missed the cut and finished 42nd.
Tom was consistent and finished with a 203.54 in 24th place. The K1 men won by Zazuki Yazawa from Japan at 181.91 with our Swiss friend who brings chocolate, Guillaume Bandelier, 2nd with 185.80.
The field of 17 C2’s , consisted of 4 Czechs pairs and was to be cut to 10 for the final. Brent and Shaun started well but also missed the tricky stagger and paddled back up for it. Further down the course another recirc and too many touches left them in 10th, sneaking into the final.
They finished 10th in the final on 331.68 with the winners Karlovsky & Jane from Czech having a time of 210.42.
Teams runs were lots of fun and Ella buddied up with Maddie Toms and Ali Burrows, from across the ditch, who had had similar runs to Ella. All three of them nailed the stagger and other tricky bits in the 2 teams runs wishing they had paddled like that for the first runs. The boys pulled out to save their energy for tomorrow. We arrived back at 7pm so a very long day.
Tommorrow is the main event with a new course, so here’s hoping everyone paddles to their best potential.It is hard to believe the trip is drawing to a close, but a great way to finish. It is a buzz at the course, with lots of noise and people. Heaps of Aussies are over here supporting and with our new friends there is always someone to watch or cheer for.

Race day prep

photos of course, teams getting boats scrutineered and one of the Iranian team

Team meeting today, bib allocation and the course set for tommorrow.

The first race is the Race of Olympic Hopefuls- 99 K1 M, 62 K1 W and 17 C2's

Ella will be the first off at 10.50am, after the C1 men category. Next Tom then Eric and then C2.

This first race is sudden death with only 30 K1 M, 25 K1 W, 10 C2 going through for a finals run.

There is a teams race which we hopefully have a boys team with Shaun racing with Tom and Eric. If accepted Ella will race with 2 Aussies girls.

Will be a good pre race before the main event. Team all feeling good, the sun shone all day and it was still 27 at 8pm tonight. Lucky we arent from Iran as their team girls have to be totally covered even with traditional head gear under their helmets.

race results should be available on http://www.results.cz/ as their van was parked there today.

Meeting other kiwis

The kiwi flatwater team of two plus their coach tracked us down at dinner last night.

Great to meet them and chat to fellow kiwis.

Weather

Hi all just to let you know that the very hot days seem to be over today, nice temp but a bit of a breeze swinging the gates around so that can stop. The team training slot is 11am, but we fitted an extra in last night and they were still paddling at 9.15pm.
Brent and Shaun missed it due to a boat repair not being dry so were up again at 6am training.
Trained with the Aussies today, so nice to catch up with them. If we can combine countries for teams Ella may race with 2 of their girls as they have 5 girls. Will find out at managers meeting tommorrow afternoon.

Just met the NZ flatwater team manager, Gavin, who is staying near our course as their World Champs are about 10km away in Racice. I thought they were a big team, but turns out to be Tom Yule from Mt Maunganui and Lisa Carrington from Whakatane. They race the same days as us so it is probably unlikely that we will see them race. They are in the fortunate position of having a stash of boats stored in Europe and Australia so dont have the boat transport hassles that we do. Lucky them!!!

cheers for now
Sue