GB WOMENS PATH TO THE WORLDS PART 9: 2 Championships in 2 days? Yes Please!!
What a weekend!!! Our September training weekend found us once again in North Wales with low water (there is definitely a theme emerging here!). But we not going to let that hold us back!! We were on form and on fire. ‘Dim faffio’ was the catch phrase for the weekend! (No Faff!) and we most certainly did not.
Suzie, Nez and Fran showing off our lovely kit, ready to rock and roll!
Suzie playing the ‘what’s in the bag?’ game!
Nez didnt actually arrive like this, except for the lovely smile!!
In The Zone!!!. Photo: Matt Cooke
Like a well oiled machine we rocked up, did the shuttle and promptly set down a time for an endurance run from Horse Shoe Falls to Trevor – 1hr 7mins. BOOM! We were pretty exhausted at the end of that, but we were only 1/3rd of the way through the days sessions! So we drove on up to HorsShoeFalls again and set off doing 4 minute sprints (the expected time of the sprint course in NZ) with 4 minutes rest back down to Town Falls. Pheweee!!
It gets a bit flatter and lot harder work after town falls! Keeping our motivation going can be a challenge. Photo Matt Cooke
Any normal team would probably have called it a dy there at 2 high intensity training sessions…but not us, I don’t know if you have heard but we are the GB Ladies Rafting Team and we have some Gold Medals to go and win!!! So we packed up the cars and drove over to the Tryweryn where Pyranha Fest was being held and all our Palm Team mates were hanging out and we put down two awesome, solid Slalom runs Competition style!
Hopefully Bry is paying attention to where the poles are going otherwise this could be an interesting slalom!!
Easy answer…It’s because the competitions are so epically awesome! The scale of them is massive compared to any in the UK (and any that I have ever competed in when kayaking!). It’s such a fantastic and exciting spectator sport; as well as paddling, I love watching the other teams and the head to head battles are my favourite. They are so fierce and primal – sometimes I imagine that we have all turned into Vikings! To meet people from all over the world from different cultures and background is also a really rich experience, and very unique to this type of events. It’s hard to sum up in an interview all the reasons why we train so hard, but it’s great to be working towards a goal with other like minded and ace people that you have a lot of respect for.
You used to do a lot of kayaking – why have you changed your focus to raft racing? Can you use your experiences in a kayak to benefit you when you are raft racing?
I still love kayaking, but change is healthy and rafting is such a new challenge. It is great to be learning new skills again and feeling progression. Also, you need to be much more physically fit for competition; the standard of racing is very high on the international circuit. I love the training and health benefits that it brings. I think it is good to have a strong focus on something that is going to improve you as a whole. For example not only do you have to be as fit and healthy as you can be, which means you have to learn about fitness, how to train and nutrition, but you also need to learn ways of preventing injury and staying flexible (yoga) in the body and mind (meditation). All these things are going to benefit you in every area of your life, not just the sport. It gives you a good motivation to improve yourself! You also need to learn to get on with others in stressful situations. This is good life experience!
What’s it like running hard rivers in a raft with others, rather than on your own in your kayak?
Most of the racing isn’t on very technical or difficult whitewater, but it was different at the 2011 World Championships in Costa Rica where we were rafting on class 4+ every day. There were many definite lines to make. If you’re used to kayaking you’ll probably feel less secure in a raft to start with, but as you learn how the boat will react in different situations and what a raft is capable of getting through the confidence builds! I don’t think I get as nervous at the top of a drop, because I know that there are six other people in the raft, so if I make a mistake it is unlikely to mess up the line massively, and it’s unlikely that all other five people will also get it wrong at the same time (fingers crossed
Can you explain how Palm came to get involved with the team and what the partnership has enabled the team to do?
Palm are always one step ahead of the game and wanted to get involved with us early on. The partnership we now have with Palm is just fantastic for both of us; we get to test out women specific gear to the max with all the hard training and competitions we do, and we get the chance to use the best equipment available on the market today. Palm are really forward thinking and there is a real potential with rafting as a sport; it is so inclusive and we are raising its profile to enable more people to enjoy it. PS we can’t get enough of the Neo tops and strides at the moment…they are just so awesome!!
Most memorable rafting experience?
Costa Rica. Blue butterflies. Double Gold medal in Bosnia in the head to head with the GBR mens team. Reporters were following us around afterwards trying to interview us and take photos of us as we were trying to eat in a restaurant, and photos of the race were all over the papers the next day – bizarre but entertaining!
Most memorable moment with the team?
See above, or possibly ridiculously dancing around a remote and overgrown field in Bosnia with Georgie and the girls; all much fun until we realised we were bang in the middle of the landmine territory of an old war zone. You can only imagine the difficulty we had trying to tiptoe our way back to safety!
Best/worst thing about being in an all girls team?
Best: being lucky enough to travel to incredible places with lovely people, being able to do an extreme sport out on the water and still be able to chat about flowers, fluffy kittens and ponies all day. Also having just one person bring the hair straighteners when we’re abroad saves on luggage. Some of the parties are hilarious.
Worst: Having to stop chatting to train, or having to tell my boyfriend that the next weekend I’m free is in about 4 months – training commitments can be tough, but we sure do need them! 
