Down to the Fish, back on the river!

This morning we left KZN for Cradock. It is awesome to think that by this afternoon we will be paddling on the fast flowing waters of the Fish river. Cam and I will be paddling together again so we should be really comfortable in the boat. We have been lying low since Worlds, trying to fit in a bit of recovery time after our race in Czech. Neither of us have been on the water since our return home so should be well rested. We will have three days on the river to try and bring our bodies back up to a reasonable level before the race commences on Friday morning. Our work will be cut out for us again as this years field seems to be a strong one. Major opposition will be coming from the strong German crew, the Louw brothers, Arthur and Stubbs, as well as McGregor and Van der Walt.

We are not putting too much pressure on ourselves for a win, but if it comes together on the day we’ll go for it and see what happens.

World Champions!

K2 World Marathon Championships, Czech Republic, 21 Sept 2008.

Partnered by the toughest person I have ever met in my whole life, the 19yr old Cam Schoeman, we achieved the unthinkable! For the little time I have spent training with Cam he has always told me that we were going to win world champs this year. My reply to him was always the same, “ Cam, you are 19, this is your first senior Worlds, it is very different to racing juniors, if we get a top ten we have done well, if we end in the top five, brilliant. If absolutely everything goes perfectly, then maybe, just maybe we can take a medal.”

If only I too had the self belief and confidence that my 19yr old partner has. From the moment he arrived here in Europe one month ago to join me for training his positive energy has been continually oozing.

 

Again another great start and again ending up leading the pack after 400m. For the duration of the 32km race not once did we ever feel that the guys were getting the better of us. From when the lead group was 10 boats or more to when there were only 4 boats left up front we always felt comfortable. There was plenty jostling, bumping and bashing. This made for an extremely tactical and exciting race with loads of intervals being thrown out all the time.

I think it was our portages that played a major role in making it all work out for us. Each of the 7 times we had to sprint across the 150m run section we were super quick as well as faultless when getting out and then back into our boat. After our strong runs we just always seemed to feel more comfortable and as a result were able to be slightly more dominant in the group.

 

With 4 boats (ESP, HUN, CZE, and ourselves) coming away from the last portage for the final 1.5km of paddling the race for the medals was on.

We all came round the final turn to face the final 800m straight to the line. The Czechs had the lead with Spain on the left hand wave, us on the right and the Hungarians on our right. 500m to go and the Hungarians were edging up the right. I tried to stay calm, waiting for the perfect moment. I could feel Cam was 100% focused, waiting for our final move. 350m to go, we cut right and put the hammer down, this was our only chance. Immediately we went from half a boat behind the Czechs to half a boat ahead. 300m, we’re in the lead fighting hard. I can see the Hungarians going for it on the right, but it’s the Spaniards who are the major threat as they come flying up on our left. 150m to go and it’s tight. 100m and I decide that nobody is going to come past (it was easy for Cam because he had already made that decision months ago). 75m and I realize it is ours as the other boats seem to drop back slightly. Spain gets 2^nd, Hungary 3^rd and Czech 4^th.

What the hec? We did it! I can’t believe it. Mission accomplished!

 

 

Click here for link to official photos.

For the official results, click here.

World Champs K1 Bronze!

By the time we started the temperature was still horribly cold.

I had a great start getting away cleanly and ending up leading the field about 400m into the race. The bunch was made up of about 10 boats after the first turn. This makes it extremely tough as everyone in the group is continually jostling for the best positions. For the first 8km I was always battling around the back of the group and even dropped off the back a few times…

After taking some strain a finally made a great tactical decision which got me on to the head of the pack. From then on I was comfortable and was able to be far more in control with regards to covering the moves of the others and dictating the pace.

About 20km in we managed to get the group down to 3 boats, myself, Merchan(ESP) and Jazek(CZE). There was continuously a big chasing pack so we had to work hard all the way through to the end.

With 7km to go I became totally drained and was beginning to see cross eyed and out of focus, I was also beginning to cramp. For some reason my body did not seem to be absorbing the vitally important juice that I was drinking. My stomach was sore and bloated and I could feel that the energy I was expending was not being replaced. I was beginning to suffer…

At the last portage with 1.5km to go it was too much for me and I dropped off the pace of Merchan and Jezek. With the chasing pack hot on my heels and hunting me down I really had to dig deep to hang onto that bronze medal.

Merchan took K1 gold for the 2^nd year in a row. Jezek took silver and his first World Champs medal after always just missing out on so many occasions in the past.

To win the World Cup a few months ago and now to top all off with a World Championship medal, there is really not much more I could have asked for!

 

 

Seven jerseys and a polar bear

Saying that it is cold here is the biggest understatement of the century. It is absolutely freezing! It’s basically impossible to put enough layers of clothing on to keep yourself warm if you going to be outside for any extended period of time.

The masters that raced this morning started at 8am, it was 1degree, that’s excluding wind chill which probably took it down into the minuses.

One of the British paddlers said, “When it is this cold in England we simply just don’t paddle”.

Despite the cold my body is feeling great and my new boat is just slicing its way through these icy waters. All my sessions in these temperatures so far have been just short of an hour. It will be interesting to see how my body will handle being wet and cold for nearly 2 and half hours. I am still feeling positive though and really looking forward to my race.

My K1 race is at 14:45 on Saturday and K2 is 14:45 on Sunday. We are still in the same time zone as SA.

The picture below is of my beautiful new baby, I am in love! It’s pretty sleek hey mum!

 

Last 2000m time trials of the season

We did our final 3x 2000m time trials at Csepel this morning. When I got here three months ago I set myself a realistic goal for the time I wanted to do before I went to the World Champs. Three months ago I was 10sec off that. Two weeks ago I was 1sec off. Last week we really pushed the sessions hard so come time trial time on Friday we were slightly more fatigued and I had dropped to 3sec of my goal time…

This morning was a bit chilly and the wind was blowing so I wasn’t expecting much but still gave it everything. I managed to get 3sec under the goal time I had set for myself, that’s 13sec faster over the 2000m course than when I first arrived in Hungary, what a relief!

 

Last Few Days In Budapest

My year of preparation for the 2008 World Marathon Champs is nearing its end. When I think back to the first training camp of our base training phase in Port Edward in November last year, it seems like ages ago… Swimming 4.5km every morning made our afternoon paddling and running or gym sessions extremely tough. One thing is for sure though and that is that I have done the work. All those sessions trying to hang in with Ruby have definitely helped and these past three months training and racing in Europe have been perfect. Having Cam here these last few weeks has also been great.

Our last few sessions here at Csepel will be slightly shorter but the intensity will still be right up there. This will give us a bit more time to recover between sessions but the burn will be just enough to make sure the body does not get lazy. If all goes as planned I should reach a perfect peak by race day next Saturday.

On this next Monday 15 September we will have our last paddle in Budapest before boarding our flight for the Czech Republic. We fly into Prague and then travel a short distance to Tyn where the race will be held.

In Tyn we will be meeting up with our awesome manager, Steve Jordaan, as well as the rest of the SA team who are arriving at the venue two days before us.

I get to paddle my new K1 Nelo marathon boat for the first time on Tuesday and am really excited about that!

Cam and I have been feeling solid in our K2 so are also hoping to put in a good performance in Sundays K2 race.

 

Above: Sunday just chilling in the city

17 Days to go!

Two and a half weeks until race day and all is well. I am really happy with the quality of the training sessions we have been having over these past few weeks. My fitness levels are most probably at the highest level they have ever been in my whole career. This is by far the most amount of time I have ever strung together of solid training without injury or illness. My boat is feeling great on the water and I have made huge improvements in my top end speed over the last few months. It will be awesome when I change from my 12kg training boat to my new 8kg marathon race boat from Nelo. With the light weight of my new boat my power output will be so much higher. I am really excited to race now and just have to keep it all together until race day!