South African K4: May 2011

Saturday, 28 May 2011

8th in B-Final

Today didnt go according to plan but we gave it our best. For the entire race possitions 6-9 were all neck and neck but we just didnt have it on the final home stretch as we finished with in 1 second of each other. It was good to be racing all the top crews and may lessons learnt. On monday we head to Hungary for a 10day training camp where we will relook at what went wrong and what went wright and figure out how to better it in the future.

Friday, 27 May 2011

PHOTOS

B Final

This morning we woke up feeling alot more confident with life and ripe and ready for racing. With us only racing in the late afternoon we stayed at the hotel till the last minute. It had been raining on and off with huge gusts of wind the entire time. We had received messages from the others that the conditions werent great and to dress warmly. In the morning Nick Stubbs raced into a 1000m K1 B-final, Bridgette Hartley made the 500m K1 Womens A-final and Jen Hodson the 500m K1 Womens B-final. They had set the standard and we were to follow. We had a good heat getting through to the semis. We had a tough line up but if all cylenders were firing we reconded we had a shot at a A-final. We raced as best we could with a strong head wind we struggled to keep up. But none the less we did well enough to make it into a B-Final. Tomorrow is another day and we hope to be racing in the front of the B-Final.

Thursday, 26 May 2011

Final race Prep

This week has gone by so fast as race day is upon us. Tomorrow we take part in the last and final Sprint World Cup for 2011. We had our last session late this afternoon and everything felt perfect. The boat is combining perfecting and we looking forward to racing. Unfortunatly the weather has turned for the worst with strong side winds and rain predicted for tomorrow. This wont change anything for us and we will be ready for whats handed to us. We will be racing heats at around 5pm and semis at 6.30pm.

Boat Combination Change

Duisburg RACE COURSE

Since we arrived in Duisburg Germany we have spent the last few days playing around with different combinations in our k4. Coach Zoli had felt that if we switch around a bit we could be a bit faster. Yesterday we finalized the combination with PW staying up front with Grant moving to second, Greg into third and i went back to my original spot from last year in the back. With video footage and some fancy gps gadet from Sports Science which gives stroke rate, speed, and velocity we are confident with our change. Our times in time trials are good and we all are comfortable in our new seating arrangement.

Its less than 27hours till we will be back on the water getting ready for the big race.

Monday, 23 May 2011

Race Disapointments

So its been a while since we've updated our site but unfortunately we lost all Internet access at the hotel and at the course. But we back online and here's what went down.

So after being all pumped up and race ready we lined up amongst all of last years World Champ A finalists for heat 2 of the 1000m K4 event. This had to be one of the toughest draws in ages but we were up for the challenge. We lined up in lane 4 in the centre of everyone. We went off to a good start and kept up with the other crews for most of the way. We had Hungary to our left and Poland on our right. We knew all we needed to do was to beat one boat to get through to the semis. With 300m to go they all kicked and got a bigger lead making it tough to return but we surged back and gain ground but in the end it was not enough. We lost it by a near 0.4seconds. It has to be the worst way to end a World Cup. If only we were drawn in any of the other 2 heats we would of finished in the top 5 securing us a semi final but unfortunately that's racing and you have to take the rough with the smooth. We will keep our heads up high and keep pursuing our goals.

We arrived in Duisburg, Germany earlier this evening and hope to better our results this weekend.

Till then.

Adios

Friday, 20 May 2011

The Morning of.....

So its the first morning of racing here in Racice, Czech Republic. The K1 boys and girls are at the course getting ready for their races which kick off at 09h40 this morning.

Its a crispy and fresh morning with sunny blue skies and not a breathe of wind.

Perfect for racing!

We are afforded the luxary of sleeping in and having a big breakfast to get us ready for our two big races this afternoon.

Our heat is at 17h00 this afternoon and appears to a pretty jam packed heat at that.

We have some really strong countries such as Spain, Portugal, France, Hungary, Slovakia, Belarus and Poland in our heat, but we are feeling confident and ready!

To get through to the semi-finals we need to place somewhere between 2nd and 7th, with straight qualification to the final going to the winner of the heat.

Our semi-final is at 18:30 this evening, with the first 3 boats going directly to the final from each
heat and the first 3 boats from the 2 semi finals going through to the final, we are going to have our work cut out for us, but we have done our preparation and hard hours.... SO HERE WE COME!

The K4 1000m final is tomorrow (Saturday) at 13h00.

Wednesday, 18 May 2011

Race Prep

So we've been in Czech now for 3days and have slowly got rid of jet lag. Today was our first paddle in the K4 on the race course and it went perfictly. The boat set up is just perfect and we all feeling really good and looking forward to race day on friday afternoon. We have been drawn in a really tough heat but we look forward to racing the worlds best on friday as we look to be the best. Tomorrow is our last day to do some speed work and get ready for racing. A big thanks to Dirty Dog Sunglasses for hooking us up with some awesome shades as they are coming into good use. Keep follow as ill try keep you all updated with our events.