THE GB WOMEN’S PATH TO THE WORLDS PART THREE: TOOTH ACHE, APRIL SHOWERS AND COMPULSORY TIGHT LEG WEAR!

Before this weekend had even started, we knew it was going to be epic. We were going to be down two members of our squad leaving us with only 5 to train with on Saturday, and 5 on a raft usually means lots of going around in circles. We needed a 6th paddler, and with Coach Dave not wanting to get his hair wet ( ) our friend Kim from one of the youth teams stepped up and valiantly filled the place! We had the first warm, sunny training day we had had for months on the Saturday morning and we were all ready to soak up the sun!!

 

One of the Youth Men’s teams joined us for some team development and we put them through their paces as we did 2 endurance sets down the Dee from Horse Shoe falls to Trevor.

 

 

The sun disappeared quickly but our determination didn’t. With Sunday came rain and lots of it, but also some lovely new presents from Palm!!

Winter had definitely returned but we were so warm in our fab new bits of gear. Check out the tight leg wear!! It is compulsory for rafting by the way, and we love it

 

 

Maybe we were a bit too warm… Coach Dave had us doing 4 sets of stepped sprints again against the wind and the rain in the morning on the Conwy. This time we had only 5 of us so we rotated around the raft and into the rest position. Even with only 4 paddling at one time we felt powerful and balanced. All our training must be paying off.

In the afternoon we did some ‘corners’ work as a 4 by working on Slalom moves at The Brenin. But we couldn’t resist a few Ninja shots first!

 

Thanks Palm for the AMAZING new neoprene. Watch this space for a full review soon!!

 

And now…what you have been waiting for, we ask Miss Suzie Jackson one of the middle ‘engines’ on the team to answer some questions:

 

Suzie sits Middle Left or Right and paddles like a soldier! You should know that her chimp is called Lucy and she IS NOT TIRED!! (this is what Suze shouts when we are racing endurance – the affect is amazing – ZOOM!!)

 

So Suzie, you are one of 2 new members, what’s it been like so far?

It has been absolutely amazing. It has been hard work learning everything pretty much from scratch but the current girls in the team did such a good job at welcoming us newbies that I have enjoyed every minute so far!
Coming from a team sport such as rugby to rafting, what can that experience offer? Are there any similarities or is it completely different?

I played rugby for a few years at University which instilled a strong team work ethic in me, however up until I joined the team I was concentrating on triathlon. The dedication of time and effort that goes into training well for a triathlon has been good experience and prepared me (partly!) for the training regime required to be part of our rafting team.
Before joining the team had you had any previous white water experience?

Neither sports mentioned above prepared me for the white water element of rafting! I had to start from scratch on that one, luckily in my position (middle) I am not in charge on the lines we choose!

Phew, that’s a relief what is your most memorable rafting experience?

I think my most memorable rafting experience is the class 5 section of the Devils Streams in Czech Republic. It was the hardest section of river I had ever paddled, it was amazing, I absolutely loved it.

And what is your most memorable moment with the team?

This is a tough one, we have had quite few. I think mine is either Nezza doing a GB bikini run over a long row of rafts at the European Champs last year or on a more serious note the downriver race in that same competition. I was so proud of our performance and how much we had developed as a team. I was an emotional day for me!

What is the best and worst thing about being in an all girls team?

Best thing – It doesnt matter if you forget your shampoo (or in Bry’s case a towel!)

Worst thing – Getting into the bathroom!!

Awesome thanks Suzie!!

Next Month you will hear from another Middle person (there are 3 all together), Georgie Preston! And coming up in May we have our Training camp in the Alps!! BRING ON THE SUNSHINE! See you on the river – or hopefully we will be going so fast you will only see a blur…

Words Fran Kohn

Pics: Deb Cook

 

The GB Women’s Path to the Worlds Part Three: February and March, Flipping Awesome!

What a month! 2 training weekends in one month which included snow (no change there then), the Youth and Junior Raft Race at Lee Valley, international ladies teams training together, 2 different venues, 1 flip and EVERYONE swimming!

The British Raft Race series were holding a Youth and Junior event at the Lee Valley one very cold weekend in February, so we joined in too to share our experience with the teams, do some coaching, and get some training in ourselves. The fab thing was that the ladies teams from  Holland and Belgium joined in so we could get some race practice under real conditions and perfect our start line ‘trash talking’.

See the battle of the minds between the GB Women and the GB Men!! Scary stuff!!

The youth races went really well, and despite the cold a great time was had by all. The results of the event were

1st place – Hertford Mariners – 937 points
2nd place – Clueless Six – 859 points
3rd place – Riverside Rafters- 844 points
4th place – Paddle Pirates – 734 points
5th place -Hereford Academy- 706 points

and hopefully we will have even more Youth and Junior teams turn up for the selections in May to see who will be eligible to join the senior teams in New Zealand!

Our training that weekend was mixed, mainly because, in the first session of day one we flipped. Serves us right for practicing some hard slalom moves! But the water was freezing and I’m sure we all just looked like deer caught in headlights as we floated silently down the rest of the course pretty much paralysed with cold. But to make matters worse, and because Georgie hadn’t been on the raft for that run, clearly she had to get a bit wet too! and we ended up almost flipping AGAIN but instead ditching Georgie and Bryony out of the raft!

Oh dear, oh dear. Everyone is allowed a bad day right?

Here is the evidence

Our Nottingham Weekend 2 weeks later was much more successful, but no less hard. We had Coach Dave back with us who set us some awesome Slalom sessions. It is great when you finish a session achieving something that on the first run down had seemed impossible!

check out this video of one of our slalom runs.

Coach put us through our paces on the Saturday night in a circuits session which included pressups (do-able), tricep dips (painful), running (standard), burpies (ugh!!), dragon walks (what!?), lunges and a whole host of other painful exercises  ( I’m pretty sure it is his way of punishing us for making him stand in the cold and snow all day). These are the only photos we could show of that session…pretty sure you don’t want to see our sweaty horrible faces, and we certainly don’t want you to!

The weekend was awesome and after our endurance session we came away seeing how far we have come, our fitness has improved amazingly and, thanks to Nezza’s new Workout Plan, we are going to be a slick machine!!

Talking of Nezza, Its interview time!!

Nerys Blue sits Back Right of the raft and is our Welsh Wonder Woman! 

 

Nezza you must be one of the busiest members of the team, being a teacher, a mum of 2 very cute kids, on the GBR Rafting Team and a fitness guru all at the same time. How do you fit it all in?

I must admit some weeks are pretty manic, it means training early in the morning, lunch time, straight after work or late in the evening once the little ones have gone to bed.  It does help being married to Matt who is on the men’s team as motivation in our house is at an all time high so if the time of the session is not the best we will still get the sessions in.  We have various cardio machines in the house and garage, pull up bars, a dip machine, fitball and weights which makes training at home easy, then we live 2 minutes away from a leisure centre and Crossfit Carmarthen which we can use free of charge.  I tend to work smart and many of my sessions only last 30 minutes but they are high intensity, with about 2-3 of my sessions lasting an hour or more.  Being focused and organised with kit to train early in the morning or straight after work helps prevent any time wasting.

 

You were on the team for a long time before you had the kids, what drew you back after that break?

I love rafting, challenges, being part of a team and being at the top end. I also enjoy training and competing.

 

We are all in awe of the training plans you create for us, where did you learn the knowledge of putting these training programs together?

 

My background of slalom racing for which I would have monthly and weekly training programmes.  Speaking to lots of people about what sort of training is best for the sport of rafting. We are required to have a good endurance base but without compromising our speed for the sprint and slalom disciplines.

 

 

 

What is your most memorable rafting experience ?

Being picked up by the American’s men team at my first Rafting World Championships in S. Africa in 1999 – after being catapulted out of the raft in a massive stopper.  Okay on a more serious note winning my first gold medal in the head to head at the 2008 Euro’s at receiving a standing ovation and a roar of clapping by all nations as we walked into the presentation tent (Men’s GB team having done the same).  But if I had to pick a different one to the captain, winning our first ever medal at the Korean World Championships in 2007, disbelief as the NZ girls congratulated us for our bronze medal in the slalom, we had to go and see the result board for ourselves.  It’s so difficult not to mention our best overall achievement ever at the R4 World Championships in Dutch Water Dream, finishing 3rd (1st,3rd,8th,2nd).

 

 

 

What is your most memorable moment with the team ?

Would have to be my rafting Hen Do in Austria, was definitely an adventurous evening, followed by asking to stop the minibus on route to the Europeans the next day because I wasn’t feeling too well.

 

 

Brilliant, so what is the best thing anout being on the team?

Friendship

 

and finally the worst thing?

Mixing up our kit as we now have a lot the same.  This is also brilliant at the same time.

Thanks Nez!

Our next weekend training is in Wales, lets hope the snow has melted by then and it is a bit warmer!!

Words by Fran Kohn

Thanks to G and R Photography Bideford for their amazing photos and Dave Brown and Jess Evans for videoing.

The GB Women’s Path to the Worlds Part 2: Endurance, Endurance, Endurance!! (Did I mention endurance?)

What do canoes and milk bottles have to do with Raft Racing? That is what we asked ourselves when we saw what Coach Dave had in mind for us for our February training weekend!!

We met up on Saturday morning near the Dwyryd river with a fleet of canoes! We were all slightly worried that Coach’s time away from us had made him forget what it was we actually did, but all became clear as we raced each other up and down a stretch of the river. The canoes provided good endurance “cross training” and the opportunity to perfect our communication, steering and balance skills. But they aren’t called ‘divorce boats’ for nothing. Fran and Suzie, who were often paired up and sit in the middle seats of the raft along with Georgie, do not like to lose, and they are usually pretty inseparable off the water. But in a few of the races in the canoes they had a sense of humour failure because they didn’t come first. This made it all the more funny for everyone else!

Session number 2 was an intense session of sprint/endurance sets. Each length that we did we had to throw another milk bottle (tied on with rope) overboard to increase the resistance.  Although it was a tough session everyone really enjoyed it – despite the pain! Either we are becoming sick or Coach Dave must be getting through to us.

Check out some of our milk bottle training…

Our biggest joy of the weekend came that evening when Rosie handed out our first instalment of new kit from Palm. The Jackets certainly brightened up our day (and everyone else who looked at us), and we were really excited to go out and put the dry pants through their paces!

Day 2 was a simpler but no less difficult day. We did 2 runs from Horse Shoe Falls to Trevor on the Dee at Endurance pace. We had great water levels (but sadly not the sun and 30C heat we were hoping for – well it is North Wales!) and great morale. The previous evening the ‘non-Northys’ got a massage from Diane at The Body Garage who is our Team Sports Physio/Amazing person! So they were still in a state of bliss when we got started and, well, the North Wales girls are just made of sterner stuff :). And on that bombshell…

… Over the course of the next few months (7 to be precise) we are going to be doing a feature on each person on the Team, and where better to start than  Back Left, with our Captain!

Bryony Devoy. 

Bryony, you are the Captain of this lovely team, what are the good things and bad things about the role?

I really enjoy the challenges of being a captain. Bringing together the best team for the different disciplines and events holds different challenges – logistical, emotional and physical. I enjoy identifying different strengths within the individuals in the team and trying to bring out the best in our squad. It can be a little tough especially if difficult choices have to be made, but we are all so close now that the girls understand and can see the reasoning when it happens. But at the end of the day it is hugely satisfying to head up a strong, positive successful team. There is no feeling like it crossing that finish line knowing that all the months and years of lead up and preparation has allowed you to put in your best possible performance.

We see what gruelling things you guys do for team weekends (milkbottles, really?), but how do you keep fit for rafting during the month?

Anything and everything- biking, swimming, hockey, running, football…. I am really enjoying getting to know the hills of the peak district with the local Ashbourne running club, they are an excellent motivator on those dark February nights. Apart from that I have a core work out provided by our uber fit and inspiring coach Dave Brown, and as an event approaches I do a mix of strength and power work outs at my local gym.

That sounds intense, what are you all aiming for?

I have two main aims for the team one fairly short term one much longer. The short term aim is for an overall medal in the next world championships in New Zealand in November 2013. I feel that the team is coming of age, we have a core of members now who have been in their positions for a good number of years. With some newer talent settling into their seats on the boat the squad is looking better than ever. We are very lucky to have Coach Dave Brown of Acwaterra putting us though our paces, designing training weekends that wring every last bit of effort from us. This combination of experience, fresh enthusiasm and considered coaching could make all the difference in the forthcoming worlds.

The second aim has always been for me to have a happy positive squad. I think that if you have the right attitude in the boat then you can achieve great things. None of us are paid for what we do and the best way to make people feel motivated and valued is by creating that atmosphere. I’ve always hoped that by the time I retire from captaincy and from racing that there will be a solid crew to take the legacy of what Deb Cook and Lawrence Harris created with raft club in 2005. That in the world championships for rafting in years to come there will always be a British representation.

So if you aren’t paid for this how do you find funding everything yourselves?

In two short words very difficult! Travelling for training weekends probably costs the most over the year, closely followed by the expense of travelling to competitions, along with entry fees etc. We have in the past run some fund raising days (see www.britishraftteam.co.uk) but they have tended to be more about raising the profile of the sport and providing racing for the growing rafting community rather than funding our team. We have tried extreme measures in the past to raise money, one example was putting the ladies team on Ebay, but sadly we didn’t get any bids!! But we are eternally grateful to our kit sponsor Palm equipment, who provide us with our amazing kit, most recently providing us with excellent new winter paddling gear, keeping us safe and warm for our chilly winter training.

What is your most memorable rafting experience?

A self support rafting trip on the Colorado River down the Grand Canyon. Spectacular scenery, great company and amazing white water.

What is your memorable moment with the team?

Winning double gold with the men’s team at the Europeans in Austria 2008 for head to head, and receiving a spontaneous standing ovation from the rest of the competitors involved in the event.

So what are the best and worst things about being in an all girls team?

The best thing is definitely the laughs, support and encouragement that we give each other. It is competing with a group of your best mates. And the worst thing is having one shower/mirror between seven of you whilst trying to get prettied up for an opening ceremony!!

Well there you are. Next time you will be hearing from Nezza our super motivated on board MACHINE!

Words: Fran/Bry

Photos: Deb/George

The GB Women’s path to the Worlds Part 1: Champions Are Made In The Winter

Over the coming 11 months we are going to be training hard, rafting harder and eating as much protein as is humanly possible! All to get to the World Championships in New Zealand and hopefully glory on the podium. We are going to share this journey with you and tell you, bit by bit, a little more about us, who we are and why we love this great sport so much.

January Training:

On a weekend forecast for really bad snow, wind and generally rubbish winter weather, we were all a little hesitant to make the journey to Cardiff, but with Coach Dave’s words echoing in our ears “Champions are made in the winter” we took some “man-up juice” and went for it.

Our first session on Saturday was an endurance session; how many laps we could do of the course in 90mins!

The great guys at Cardiff are always really welcoming and the boaters always let us pass (probably scared of getting run over!) and the warm showers at the end certainly make it all that bit easier to get going.

 

Session number two was a whole different story. The wind had picked up, as had the rain. This time we were completing pyramids of 100m lengths, attempting to work on technique, but with the wind making it 10 times harder it became a will power session. We all felt battered and pretty miserable, but it was character building and will only help us when it comes to going the distance in the endurance event.

Paddling against the wind.

Day two was a new, bright and windless day, with our first session in the morning working in our pairings on power balance and technique (without the wind YIPPEE) and secondly a repeat of day one: session one in the afternoon, aiming to beat our lap number from the previous day!! But the glamorous twist to this day was that we had our very own photographer come down from Sport Wales Magazine! Its hard to have a good camera face though when you are gurning through the effort!

 

Our next training weekend is up in “the North” (of Wales) so bring it on Bala! During the month we will be doing as much personal training as we can and the girls who live in North Wales will be lucky enough to be able to get out on a raft together during the week come rain, shine or more likely snow.

’til next time!

Words by Fran Kohn

Photos by the Girls.

Happy New Year!! World Championships Here We Come!!

Well its time to tell you all the good news now that the mince pies have settled (in our stomachs) and the Christmas decorations have come down. Before Christmas, on a cold weekend at Lee Valley, the National Team Selections took place for Raft Racing. We had a big turn out of teams all as enthusiastic as ever and all competing for the glory of being the Great British Team.

Each Team competed in the 4 main disciplines; Time-trial, Head to Head, Slalom and Endurance. Each and every team did themselves proud as there was some tough competition.

The event was lent some glamour in the form of Olympic Gold Medalist Etienne Stott designing the slalom course, and we were lucky enough to get a photo with him!!

But with the all hard work and training we put inthroughout the year, we kept the top spot and once again secured our title as Team GB! Woop Woop! (Phew!)

SO NOW WE ARE OFF TO NEW ZEALAND IN NOVEMBER AND THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!!

 

The results for selections are:

Women’s:

Gold:  Team Palm maintain their GB Team status

Silver: Welsh Dragons

Bronze: Raft Chicks

 

Men’s:

Gold: Team PeakUK maintain their GB Team status

Silver: Dark Dog,

Bronze: Amathus

 

A MASSIVE thank you to Lee Valley and Pas for putting the event on, and a huge thanks to Etienne Stott for the slalom course and his Olympic amazingness. But this event would not have happened if not for the safety guys n’ gals and volunteers who gave up their time and all those who took part. So a very BIG THANKYOU to them.

If you think any of this looks like good fun and you want to get involved get some friends together and get in touch. There are going to be loads of open events in the UK next year!

Photos: Deb Cook and Pals

Words: Fran Kohn

Team P.A.L.M Raft Racing at Llandysul !!! The British Raft Race Series gets underway.

The British Raft Race series came to Mid Wales for Remembrance Weekend. It was a weekend of  rafting, partying and meeting loads of fab new people, and old friends, and enjoying this awesome sport together. It was a truely international affair this year as we had the First Ladies Irish Rafting Team come over to race as well, and 20 teams of varying degrees of experience hoping to win the coveted Llandysul slate medals.

 What makes this race series so ‘Oarsome’ is that it is an open event for anyone who wants to have a go! There are Mens teams, Mixed Teams and of course Womens teams. But with most never having rafted before, the first thing we did on the morning of the first day was give people a few tips on how to raft, and we couldn’t resist giving them a demo

 There were so many people taking part it felt like we were at a major competition in Europe!! And not wanting to let an opportunity for training pass us by, we treated it like one too – except obviously for the partying, and fancy dress, and getting a bit too tipsy and the horrible horrible hangover on the Sunday just in time for our endurance race…

The races completed were a Time Trial around the lake followed by the Head to Head on the SLalom course, Slalom on the River Teifi course and Endurance, also on the river. The pressure was on though when we had to do the Slalom demo…you really don’t want to mess it up when everyone is watching…

…but we didn’t, PHEW!

We came first overall in the Women’s teams but were really inspired by all the other teams who took part and gave it their all, especially if it was their first time! It was a really chilly weekend but you wouldn’t have guessed from all the smiling and warmth that people were showing.

It was an Oarsome weekend, with Oarsome company doing an Oarsome sport!! A HUGE thanks to all who helped organise it and also to all who took part. And a HUGE thanks to Palm, I think we were the warmest and driest team on the river.

The next open race of the series is in London on the 15th and 16th December. Come along and get involved!!!

Words by Fran Kohn

Photos by Jason Pacey

Do you want a chance to race against the GB Women? Read on and you can find out how – and get some training tips in the process…

Our most recent training weekend was in Nottingham once again, clearly we can’t get enough of the smell of sewerage at 8 o’clock in the morning, or the suspicious brown things floating next to our raft! This weekend we were lucky enough to have all 8 of the squad present this time as we were finalising positions for the team going to New Zealand, and, as usual, Coach Dave had a hard weekend lined up for us (but an even harder task of managing 8 ladies in 6 positions all weekend!).

Saturday started early with an endurance set lasting about 3 hours! If you were one of the ‘lucky’ 2 people not in a paddling seat for a rep. then you either had to do the plank, sit-ups or dips in the middle of the raft until it was your turn to swap.

Saturday afternoon had us doing Sprint and H2H practice. We set up 2 boats of 4 Ladies and raced each other across the lake. Amusingly as soon as we all realised there was an element of competition we were fighting tooth and nail, its lucky we didn’t snap any paddles because it got pretty vicious!! Amazingly no matter which pairing was in which boat we were always neck and neck. Fantastic!!

Usually a 2 session day is where we leave it but Dave had organised us a Slalom session as well. So we protein-shook it up and got on the white water and fought to make our gates! ‘NO TOUCHES’ were our instructions, but since we were all moving around the raft to sit in different positions, this wasn’t always achieved and it made for some amusing lines! That evening we all got to hang out with Olympic Gold medalist Etienne Stott ( it helps that he is the boyfriend of one of Georgie our very own WAG on the squad) and Rosie just couldn’t help herself!

Although Saturday was a three session day, Sunday was the day of pain! We did our 6 monthly fitness tests to see how our individual training is paying off. Susie and Rosie won the bleep test (that’s right we did a bleep test – flash backs of Secondary School anyone?), Fran won the Push Ups just beating Nezza by one push up to 55 in a row! Deb won the sit and reach, and we all won the satisfaction of having improved on pretty much everything we had done 6 months previously (except I’m pretty sure someone’s arms were shorter than the time before – Bizarre!).

 

 

So with all that over we were free to start getting ready for our next race which is in Llandysul in November. Its an Open event so if you can get a team of 6 together check out the website and enter.http://www.britishraftteam.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45:llandysul-raft-race-2012&catid=4:british-raft-race-series&Itemid=7 . Not only will you get to battle it out against Team GB , it is also going to be brilliant fun with lots of races, prizes and of course the PARRRRTTTTTYYYYY!! Although obviously none of us will be drinking because it isn’t allowed in our diet plan (hah yeah right!!).

See you there!!!!

Words Fran Kohn, Photos Deb and Alli.

The GB Ladies: Back in the Raft (and the gym).

Well after our most excellent time in the Czech Republic for our Euro Champs Coach Dave said we were allowed 2 weeks to do whatever we liked!! In our meeting just before we drove home we all pretty much agreed that we would not change much, keep training and generally carry on as before despite what he said…that lasted all of 5 minute. Our drive there had been full of healthy food high in protein and vegetable matter, the return journey was the complete opposite. Fran managed to get through a good few bags of Haribo, Bry and Alli tucked into Pizza and the whole Pope Mobile Crew had fish and chips on the ferry on the way back. We had a lovely couple of weeks off but were all soon chomping at the bit to get back on it and into training.

 

Our training weekend was moved to Wales at the last minute due to a pesky little freestyle event being held in Nottingham! But thanks to the great guys at the Canolfan Tryweryn we had a brilliant day on the Saturday easing ourselves back in. Coach Dave got us doing fun things down the river (mainly spinning around alot and making a nuisance of ourselves), good thing too as it took most of us the morning to remember exactly how to do it all!

Day two was back to business though. An early bird session on the lake at Llyn Padarn kicked us all into gear, with the raft feeling powerful and in tune. We did lots of swapping sides so we don’t end up too wonky and it felt great to be doing hard sessions which made us work.

We then went over to Coach Daves house for a champion breakfast of Bacon, eggs and beans and poured over video footage of our techniques. After we all became sufficiently neurotic about that Dave said we were heading over to Plas Menai for a Gym session. Its amazing having a coach who is a fitness instructor as well…

We all had a great weekend, Bring on October. As Coach Dave says someone else says “Champions are made in the winter”.

Words by Fran Kohn

Photos by Rosie, Dave and Everyone.

 

4th Overall, 3rd Best Country in Europe!!!

So, what an amazing final race! 40 minutes flat out endurance on the steep rapids of the Vltava Devil’s Stream. We were set off in pods of three rafts and we had lane choice in our pod. We got the early lead and we clung to it the whole 40 minutes!!

Our flat water endurance sessions really proved their worth as we stormed across the flat sections. But the Belgians gave us a good fight, and on the tougher rapids they were really close behind us.

 

For the last push though we pulled it right out of the bag, all 6 of us giving 100% and going lactic but not giving up.  As we crossed that finish line we knew we had given everything we could and that is such an amazing feeling!

The bus ride back up to the top was a hilarious medley of  Queen Songs and “WHAT TIME IS IT!!???”, “MOJITO TIME!!”. We now have 2 weeks off training and finally being allowed alcohol and it was definitely going to start that night at the closing party!

When we saw our results were 4th overall we all felt incredibly proud. We would love to have come back with some bling, but it is such an achievement to get 4th place after two Czech teams and a Slovakian team who had the home advantage and get paid to raft train! Things will only get better from here if the dedication and commitment shown is anything to go by! BRING ON THE WORLDS IN NEW ZEALAND!!

And finally a huge thank you once again to Palm for the kit we get. It makes such a difference being in great kit and we are so proud to be flying that flag for them!!

Thanks To Pete Woods, Dave Hollins and the photo guys at the ERC for the photos. We are pretty excited about going through all the ones we took, so watch out for a few more coming this way,

European White Water Rafting Championships 2012

So it has arrived! The European Rafting Championships has been in full swing for two days now and all the hard work and training the GB Ladies have been putting in is paying off.  We currently stand 4^th in the overall standings with one event left to go, WE LOVE LIPNO!!

The week started off with a long drive out from the UK, and with no working iTrip or CD player in Fran’s “Pope Mobile” we had to make do with some cassette tapes that Rosie had bought in a charity shop the day before leaving. She managed to find a workout tape that included stretches for your facial muscles – “let your jaw drop and press your tongue to the roof of your mouth” we suggest you try it with a car full of friends around and see if you can drive in a straight line.

On arrival in the Czech town of Lipno the sun was beating down and we were sure we were in for our long awaited summer! Our campsite was situated on the side of the lake and could not have seemed more perfect.

We soon got down to the business at hand and started our training on the course. We practiced our slick slalom, our race faces for the head to head and checking out the Down river section on Devil’s Streams, a feisty bit of white water.

The night before our first race day the sky started to cloud over and we watched an impressive electrical storm slowly make its way towards us. Within half an hour we were all huddled in our tents attempting to sleep whilst the ground beneath us started to resemble a waterbed and our idyllic campsite became a quagmire of doom!! Bleary eyed, and not a little damp we got up to do battle the next day in the Time Trial and Head to Head. We did ourselves proud and finished 5^th overall on the first day.

 

Eager to not be wet 24 hours a day for the whole race we found ourselves an amazing apartment and prepared for day 2…Slalom.

 

The course looked good and our first run once again put us 5^th. Not wanting to settle with that though the girls laid it down and pushed hard to gain a whole place in the slalom and finish 4^th overall on day two. Coach Dave was apparently jumping up and down for joy, and I’m pretty sure I saw a tear in his eye… Nerys celebrated by streaking around the rafts in her proper posh GB bikini!! With it all being streamed live on the interweb, you can tell who is the exhibitionist on the team!

A big well done to the GB 2 Ladies who came 6^th in the Slalom.

Tonight we prepare for our Downriver tomorrow morning. It is going to be an hour of paddling class 4 and 5 whilst racing in a pod of three rafts. We get lane choice in our start but our overall time is what counts. So wish us luck, cheer us on and PLEASE WATCH US LIVE ON www.erc2012.com/article/51/the-first-ever-live-broadcast-of-the-rafting-championship-is-from-the-czech-republic-via-internet/