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.
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