K2 win at National Marathon Trials

Shaun and I had a very comfortable race today where we won the end sprint from MacGregor and Van der Walt.
There was a very large bunch of boats when we came into the first portage. As we paddled away from the put-in of the portage there were 2 boats that broke clear of the rest of the field, ourselves and MacGregor’s. The two lead boats gradually edged ahead of the rest of the filed and opened about a 2 minute gap by the finish line. In the bunch sprint for 3rd it was Solomon and White that took the bronze medal.

At this stage it appears that Rubenstein and Jenkins will be the two K1 representatives at the world champs in Portugal in September. The K2’s should be Myself/Rubenstein and Van der Walt/MacGregor.

SA Marathon Championships/Trials K1 results

Todays racing was awesome. After the first portage in the 7 lap race there was a 4 boat break away. The front bunch was made up of Shaun, Hank, Len and myself. The 2nd group who tried really hard for a while to catch us was made up of Schoeman, Van der Walt, King and Rice.
The pace of the race varied throughout but every one of the tough 200m portages was a heated affair.
Coming out of the last portage Hank had the pull for the 200m into the last turn. Shaun was on his wave on the left for the inside of the turn and I was on his right hand wave on the outside. Len after dropping his boat just managed to catch up and sneak back onto the diamond.
Coming out of the last turn with 400m to the line Shaun put in a burst. I tried to attack on the right but Shaun was too strong. This left Hank on his wave on the right, Len on the left hand wave and me having to decide between Hanks 2nd wave or diamond. I chose the diamond for 200m before dropping round and attacking on the left for the final 100m. By this stage everyone was going max. All 4 boats finished within a second with Shaun getting the win, Len a very close 2nd, Hank 3rd and me 4th…
Exciting racing, I’m slightly disappointed with 4th but happy that I felt strong all the yay through.
Tomorrow is the k2 where I’ll be hoping to redeem myself.

Ready to race!

With only 5 days remaining until race day the nerves are starting jingle a bit. This year promises to probably be one of the most exciting national marathon trials in the history of South African paddling. The racing takes place on the Keurbooms River in Plettenberg Bay.
I have been feeling really solid in my boat over these last 4 weeks and am now confident in saying that I am 100% race ready. I am expecting some of my toughest races ever in the K1 trail as well as in the K2 trial where I will be teaming up with Shaun Rubenstein.

The K1 race is going to be a hugely heated affair. Shaun raced his last marathon in 2006 where he was crowned World Champion so in theory is undefeated. Another previous World Champ Hank McGregor has just come off a good win in the worlds most prestigious ocean race the Molokai Challenge where he tore apart the world class field. Len Jenkins recently placed 5th in the 5000m World Cup race in Poland where he managed to pip a handful of paddling legends to the line. Current K2 marathon World Champ Cam Schoeman has just returned from a very successful 5 week tour of the European circuit and is hungry for a good K1 result. The confident young Lance King form Cape Town will also be chomping at the bit at the thought of being able to race with the big guns. He is most surely excited to get racing after his 2nd place finish in the SA championships last year. World class junior paddler from previous years Grant Van der Walt has now joined the senior ranks and somehow managed to find form way beyond his years. He won the SA senior surf ski title a short time ago and is really flying on the flat water. After my bronze in the K1 and gold in the K2 World Champs last year I will be doing my utmost to ensure that I am in with a shot at being one of the first 2 boats to cross the finish line on Saturday. At the World Championships in Portugal in September each country is only allowed 2 boats on the start line.

The K2 trials will be held on Sunday. Shaun and I will have to race well in order to attempt to beat crews like the Louw brothers, Hank/Grant, Cam/Stu Waterworth and Solomon/White.

I will be flying to Port Elizabeth on Thursday morning and then taking on the 2hr road trip to Plett.

Durban winters are the best!

There must be very few places in the world where you can paddle in a vest in the middle of winter. In the picture below you’ll see one of our awesome winter sun rises and in the other, the conditions that greeted me when I arrived at the lagoon this afternoon.

Although I am sad that my training partner from the last 3 and a half weeks, Ryan Louw has gone back to Cradock I am happy to say that the sprinters are back from Europe. I’ll be planning to hook up with Mike Arthur and Nic Burden again for some high quality speed sessions.

Well done to the SA Sprint Team!
Our national team did is proud in the last world cup in Szeged, Hungary. Bridgette was amazing with her gold in the 500m K1 and bronze in the 1000m K1. Shaun and Mike were mind blowing with their silver in the 200m K2 and 4th in the 500m K2. It is scary to think that they only jumped in the boat 4 or 5 times before this event. Stu and Cam for making the 1000m K2 A-final. At 18 and 20 years old the world better be ready for a lot of big results from this young combination. Not forgetting the 1000m K4 crew of Greg Louw, Nic Burden, Len Jenkins and Mike Arthur for also making it through to the A-final. Well done team!

Three weeks to D-Day

Happy to be back on track
I am very satisfied with how my training has gone over these past 2 weeks. My chiro Neil Cunningham has been working his magic on my neck and as a result I have once again been able to open up to full throttle.
Ryan Louw has been a great training partner and we have been pushing each other to the max. Ryan and I have also had some great K2 sessions in preparation for the Sella Descent on the 8th August in Spain. Once in Spain we have planned to race in 6 of the races on the circuit together.

SA marathon Trials
There are now exactly 3 weeks left until the SA Marathon trials which will be held in Plett on 27 and 28 June. I was a little worried about my form but am now confident to say that I am 100%back on track and very excited to race. I am feeling very comfortable and in control in my K1 and the K2 this year with Shaun should also be pretty quick.
This year must surely be one of the most hotly contested marathon trials in many years. There are 4 previous senior world champions, a junior world champion, a freak of nature as well as many other super fast athletes lining up.
Some of the names include; Shaun Rubenstein, Hank McGregor, Cam Schoeman, myself, Grant Van der Walt, Len Jenkins, Graeme Solomon, Lance King, Gavin White, Piers Cruickshank, The Louw brothers and Michael Mbanjwa.
The first 2 K1’s and the first 2 K2’s to cross the line will be selected for the national team. The World Marathon Championships 2009 will be held at the end of September in Portugal.

Tomorrow the National sprint team will start racing in the World Cup Sprints in Szeged, Hungary. Mike Arthur and Shaun Rubenstein will be making their debut in the 500m K2 so will be interesting to follow.
Here is the link to the Szeged world cup site.

A pain in the neck…

As I sit here typing away the SA sprint team is in Poznan, Poland getting ready for the Sprint World Cup which starts tomorrow.
The team left home soil on Sunday night but sadly I made the final call on Thursday to withdraw from the team…
The past few weeks have been extremely testing for me as I have been struggling with a neck injury. I have had amazing support from my physio’s Mandy Rawlins and Julia Thomas as well as chiropractors Stuart Clifton and Neil Cunningham.
The injury first occurred 3 weeks before the sprint Trial so I ended up racing the trial and then the SA sprint championships when it perhaps may have been better for me to rather have focused on a full recovery. As a result the injury has lingered for far longer than it should have…
Last week Thursday I was advised that it would be safer if I withdrew from the World Cup tour and avoid risking any further damage. I must say although it was a tough call and I was pretty bummed to miss the tour the decision did bring quite a lot of relief. I am now able to fully focus on my recovery and pick up the intensity of my sessions when I am feeling ready. There is also no pressure to prematurely be racing at maximum intensity this weekend in Poland. With the World Marathon Championships being my main focus again this year I will direct all of my energy into being ready for the SA marathon champs and selection event at the end of June.

As things stand at the moment I am feeling really controlled on the water and the forced rest has done wonders for me. I have had some good paddling sessions but am still trying to hold myself back to between 80% and 85% effort in the interval sessions. Yesterday I went up to Pietermaritzburg for a technique session with Attila which I found extremely helpful. From now on I will make sure that this happens at least twice a week. Ryan Louw is up in Durban for three weeks so we’ll try hook up for as many sessions as possible. It is looking like there is a fair chance that we will be racing K2 together in Spain in August this year. We just first need to jump in the boat a few times and see how we go. Cradock is extremely fit at the moment so I’m pretty sure that he will provide the combination with loads of power!
Here is the link for the Poland World Cup.

National Sprint trials and team announcement

SA Sprint Team

Men: Shaun Rubenstein, Michael Arthur, Cam Schoeman, Ant Stott, Nic Burden, Nick Stubbs, Stuart Waterworth, Brett Bartho, Len Jenkins, Grant Van der Walt, Greg Louw.

Woman: Bridgitte Hartley, Jen Hodson, Carol Joyce.

This years sprint trials as promised did not fail to disappoint. The standard of racing even in the B finals was at an amazingly competitive level. It was great to have so much depth in the event allowing the selectors so much choice with regards to this year’s team selection.
The top 3 spots in all three selection events were as follows:
K1 1000m- 1st Rubenstein, 2nd Schoeman, 3rd Arthur
K1 500m- 1st Rubenstein, 2nd Arthur, 3rd Schoeman
K1 200m- 1st Arthur, 2nd Rubenstein, 3rd Louw

As far as my own results went there was not too much to get excited about… I have been battling with a neck injury for the past few weeks and am struggling to find the form that I experienced earlier on in the season.
Saturdays racing thankfully went well and I made it through to all three of the A finals.
On the Sunday of the finals I picked up 4th in the 1000m and then a disappointing 8th in the 500m. In the 200m I snuck 8th which I suppose for me was not at all bad.

National Sprint Trials

This weekend Nagle Dam will be hosting the South African sprint trials for this years senior sprint team. Canoeing South Africa has finally received some decent funding to carry the athletes all the way through to the London Olympics in 2012. As a result the field should be strong with virtually all of the country’s top paddlers lining up in the heats starting tomorrow morning. Olympian Shaun Rubenstein is looking sure to retain his K1 1000m and 500m slot for the upcoming World Cups and World Championships. Shaun will need to give his all though as he is sure to face strong challenges from a number of tough competitors. This year the selection event will be in K1’s only so it will be interesting to see what combinations the selectors put together for the crew boats.

First Sprint Races of the season

Saturday was the first leg of the KZN Provincial Sprint Championships held at Nagle Dam. Only the 1000m events were raced on this day. Cam Schoeman took the K1 title in a time of 3min 36sec, followed closely by myself and then Michael Arthur. 4th, 5th and 6th in the final went to Len Jenkins, Nic Burden and Nick Stubbs.
In the K2 final Mike Arthur and I won the race in 3min 17sec. The young crew of Schoeman and Waterworth were not at all far off the pace in 2nd with Stubbs and Burden taking 3rd.

Port Edward- some more

Training here in Port Edward for these past 4 weeks has really gone well. Being away from home with no distractions allows you to focus on nothing other than your training. I really enjoyed being back in the K2 with Shaun Ruby again. We had some awesome sessions together and the boat is feeling remarkably comfortable. All the other South Africans left the camp at the end of last week. It is just Bridgette Hartley and I that decided to stay on with the Hungarian group from the club MTK. The time spent with Nandor coaching us again has just as always been tough but enjoyable. Next week I will more than likely go back onto Marcus’s program. I think his new, fresh ideas along with Nandor’s tried and tested methods will work brilliantly together.