A Good Day Out

After days of doing nothing, it all caught up with us on Big Saturday. Teams Sprint, Masters Individual and Team Classic were conducted all on the same day on an alternative course following the big rain seen this week. To start off with, Stew, Ben and Dan raced the team sprint, finishing 4th on the first run and ending up 5th on the combined runs (sprint racing is 2 runs added together- consistency and speed are important). This was a best ever team sprint result and very good considering only Dan is a sprint specialist.
The next event was the Masters- the older persons’ race. Andrea was the second fastest woman but crazily missed out on a medal as she was the only person in her age category, despite beating all but one racer in the younger category. This situation must surely be addressed before the next world champs in France in 2 years’ time (hint).
I was up against Robert Knebel in my race: a former world champion and wildwater legend. While currently the Czech coach (the Czechs won both classic and sprint teams race in Mens K1) he is fast enough to train with and occasionally beat the other Czech boys. My other main rivals were Estaban (Spain) who I traded places with in Tasmania last year, Hans Meersman (Holland) with 10 world championship events under his belt and Dejan Testan from Slovenia who I used to trade places with a decade or so ago. The internal dillema here concerned how hard could I go and still put in my best effort in the open mens teams event 90 minutes later? I left the finish line without knowing the final result for the next event after working out I had a 5 second advantage on Robert. I ended up getting my medal from Richard Fox- I still think he's dead cool after 27 years. He still thinks I'm 12.
The classic teams event was close to perfect. Stew led out of the starting gate, and we had a clean start. In teams racing your time is based on the time taken for 3 racers to complete the course. You can help each other by keeping close together and using each others’ waves for assistance; but this being whitewater, being very close together is also a risk. On the 20 minute classic individual course, Ben, Stew and I were 5 seconds apart, so we were very closely matched and our best result was only ever going to be achieved through every member taking their turn and absolutely no mistakes. We swapped places and took our turns exactly as planned and finished 5th, 0.1 seconds in front of the Italians. We also beat the Brits, the Belgians and the Austrians, finishing after the powerhouse nations of Czech, Germany and France and the Slovenians who punch way above their international weight. It was an equal best teams result in Australian World Champs history, and I really think we could not have done better on that course on the day.
It’s the individual sprint tomorrow. We’re all pinning our hopes for a medal on Dan Hall. He’s brilliant on whitewater, is focussed and disciplined and has a wicked turn of speed. We’ll have to wait and see what the day brings, but we’ve already had Australia’s best ever World Wildwater Championships. Expect nothing from me! I’m too slow and as of a quarter past midnight, have a few celebratory wines in me.
Please forgive this wordy and longwinded post, but it has been a big and exciting day with loads to report.
See you all at home, at Hobart College (as opposed to the Hobart (Mt Nelson) campus of the Tasmanian Academy and Polytechnic) or out an about.
Love youse all, Matt

Big Satutday

We've had another day of cancelled racing, as the organisers were hoping for the river to fall. When it started bucketing down at lunchtime we had a strong feeling we were in for a course change.

The new course is about half the time of the old one, with easy but very fast flowing water and a few waves. The waves are rolling rather than slapping, so its quite a nice feeling on the water. Because of the days off the rest of the program is very compressed,
with sprint teams, classic teams and masters on the same day and individual sprint on the final day. We'll be busy, and many athletes will need to consider their priorities: team or individual? Classic or sprint.

Why we aren't paddling today

Why we aren't paddling today

Hmm, racing cancelled, what to do?

Women and C2s annihilate Men!

Yesterday we had the Womens K1 and Mens C2 classic races. It rained a lot overnight, which meant they got a lot more water. You can get a bit of an idea how much bigger it all was from the colour of the water and the fact that the winner, Alke Overbeck of Germany beat all the men (including her brother- she can dine out on that for some time I imagine). The water was quite a lot higher than most of the competitors had ever been on, and I have been hearing stories that the majortiy were somewhere on the spectrum of 'worried' to 'terrified'. For these women and C2s, this will be one of those world championships that becomes legend; they will receive instant respect just because they were there many years from now.

The organisers have got the dams turned on full right now to try and drain them as much as possible, with the hope of holding back the water for the teams race later today. It is a spectacle just to watch this river at this level: It's a dark brown colour and belts along at an incredible pace, carrying quite a lot of large trees down it at the same time. I suspect that these trees, if timed, would post even faster times than yesterday! We'll find out what water level we have to deal with later this morning, but it is likely to be lower than yesterday.

Pics from the top:
-C2 on 'Dark Destroyer'.
-British C2 taking right line on 'Quatre Espanyol' aka 'Woodyard'.
-Japanese competitor taking centre line on above (unconventional, but she was fine).
-Aussie Susie Wharton on her way to 19th- first wildwater world champs!
-Winner Alke Overbeck showing great courage and skill to pull off the left line.

Richard Fox Pics

When I was 12 Richard Fox- four time world slalom champion- was my idol- I carried his boat for him at the 1983 Aussie Champs! Now he's a vice president of the International Canoe Federation, and has taken these great snaps at the finish line. Thanks Richard! I am sure you have inspired countless other paddlers through your actions, words, style and results. Seeing you at the start line the other day reminded me of overcoming my own limitations 27 years ago and a presentation made to a young boy who tried his best. I finished last then, and I'm in 17th place now, and am proud of both results. There's nothing in the world like beating yourself, but as Kenny Loggins sang:'you'll never know what you can do...'

And that guy Loic Vynisale chasing me that I was worried about passing me? I had 28 seconds to spare before the new World Champion crossed the finish line after me. It's a good thing for him he didn't have to pass me.