The Sjoa River Festival is a fun kayakers event organised by Simon Westgarth and hosted by Gene17, Strie Strommer, Palm, and Sweet Protection. The week long festival has races and activities ranging from guided beginner trips down more mellow sections of river to races down sections with a bit more gradient.
Kiwi boys Sam, Jamie, and Brendan taking out first place in the teams race.
Due to some spray deck issues Team VRS came in a long way behind first place.
With the American freestyle circuit over it was time to step back from meticulously practicing rides in small features, strap on our manly dangly parts and head to Washington.
This was my first time on a creek boating mission and I was lucky enough to be travelling with a sick crew. The Demshitz boys have been running some of the best runs in the states for years.
We had a sick trip firing of a couple of sweet drops such as Log Choke, Silver falls, Exit and Hamma Hamma.
I learn’t lots quickly with the boys, had a pretty bad crash on my first attempt at Hamma Hamma but nailed it on my second attempt, Huge thanks to Dave Fusilli for saving my ass on the first attempt, Footage coming soon.
After 6 weeks of solid creek boating it was time to wind down and head to Outdoor Retailer, The show has one more day to go before I head out to North Carolina to practice for the upcoming world championships.
Situated in Egmont,Bc. Skookumcuck is a series of tidal rapids that form on certain tides to produce what is probably the glassiest wave in the world. It’s been my dream from an early age to surf skook and this year I finally got the chance.
The waves form when the tide flows rapidly over a seemingly flat piece of water, as both the water speed and volume of water increase a reef is revealed and the wave starts to form. The first wave is the main event but much fun can be had wrestling with the boils, whirlpools and crashing waves downstream.
I’ve been working hard to progress my wave freestyle over the past few years. Check out the video I made of me and the Demshitz boys throwing down in Canada.
I have never paddled a wave that is as smooth or as nice and can’t wait to head back.
We’ve spent the last week paddling, training and enjoying Salt in Catalonia. After the Natural Games we didn’t know where best to go to to train for the next week. Quim Fontane Maso (European Champion) suggested to come to his home spot in the city of Salt.
The hole which Quim and his Dad built themselves has been perfect for training – not too easy, some tricky aspects but gives some good pop and good competion practice. Also paddling with Quim & Nuria in their home spot really pushed us and was good fun too.
The area has been stunning from the medievel village Besalu where we stayed to, the sights of Girona and Barcelona. We’ve seen buildings by Gaudi, paintings by Dali and Picasso and bridges from Eiffel but I think what I liked best of the area was the crystal clear water and deserted beaches…rest days were not hard to fill here! With such good kayaking, company & scenary it’s been a joy to train here.
Quim, Nuria ,Teresa (mum) & Dad (Joaquim) were amazing to us – I’ve never had such good hospitality – from housing us, to showing us all the best bits of the area to inviting us to particpate in there floodlight night session and mass river descent the next day. They were fantastic.
Now it’s time for us to leave and head to Sort where we have the next competition looming, sorry to leave what’s been my favourite spot of the year but looking forward to getting another chance to compete.
Last weekend I was given the opportunity to show off our sport to thousands of kids across the UK. Live. No pressure…
WILD is Saturday morning TV programme which aims to show kids the wonders of the outdoors and get kids off the sofa. There’s an awesome mix of wildlife, activities and adventures; each episode being themed around a certain environment. This week’s episode was to be river themed, coming live from Cardiff International White Water.
My adventure started with an early morning drive to Geneva airport from my base at this time of year of the French Alps. A quick ‘nip’ over the channel to Bristol airport where I was collected by one of the WILD team and driven to Cardiff for the first of my rehearsals. On arrival I was amazed to see CIWW totally taken over by broadcast vans, cameras and… hang on… that’s a monitor lizard! I was introduced to the crew, presenters and wildlife who were all incredibly nice (including the monitor lizard… I even gave him a stroke!).
After unwrapping my new Jitsu 5.5 which had been kindly delivered by Palm, I got it outfitted to perfection within minutes with the new outfitting – awesome stuff! My boat was then rigged up with a GoPro with a big RF transmitter unit and battery strapped behind the backband to allow them to stream the footage live. Then it was time to rehearse… the extra weight was a little awkward but the Jitsu is soooo good! I can now claim to be the first person to have snapped one of this BBC team’s GoPro arms though. Ooops! Sorry guys…
After a very short night in a swanky hotel, we were back at the course at 5.15am ready for dressed rehearsals. Eels, otters and lizards in place, white water course and FlowRider on, it was time for the young live audience to see what was in store. It’s important to know when to cheer, scream or dance!
All of a sudden it was 8.55am and we were all stood in position waiting to go live to the nation.
I was introduced as their celebrity guest and after the lizard had done his thing, they gave me a dramatic and linguistically interesting build-up (“superhero of the water”… “sorceress of the white water”…). After paddling down for an interview in the eddy I was set off to do a minute long demo before the presenter got in a duckie and paddled down the course with me.
I had one final part to play in the final wind-up of the show. As I floated into position I noticed the inflatable crocodile was still surfing in the hole. I seized the opportunity and wrestled with it behind the presenters. See if you can spot it!
This was one of the most outrageously fun things I’ve been a part of for years (and I’m lucky enough to do some very fun things!). It was a real honour to be an ambassador for our sport… I hope this show inspires some youngsters to come along and give paddling and freestyle a try!
p.s. The FlowRider is also AMAZING. When you next head to Cardiff; definitely give it a whirl!
The Natural Games is a big sports and music festival held over four days in Millau, France. Every day there are competitions and activities in all sports powered by Nature: Kayak Freestyle, Kayak Boatercross, Kayak big air ramp, MTB Downhill, MTB Slopestyle, Paragliding, Climbing, Dragon Boating and Slack Line. Then every evening different artists and DJ’s play to huge crowds. The event draws in over 60,000 spectators over the 4 days!!! It’s a really good atmosphere with so many people coming together here competing, enjoying their sports and watching all the action and music.
Me & Katya were here in 2010 and had a great time, I even took the win which isn’t easy at these french events (the standard is very high) so we were very happy to be invited here again this year!
First up in the kayaking was the Friday evening Boatercross, everyone was given Dagger Mamba’s to use so we were all in the same boat making it fair. We raced just as it was getting dark and the really big crowds were arriving for the music to kick off. We raced in fours with the top 2 going through. Both me and Katya made it through the first round, but got eliminated in the next, racing was very brutal with fierce fighting, paddle’s clashing and blood being spilled (literally in my case: my finger got a bit sliced open by someone’s paddle blade all shown on live french TV. From the freestylers Quim Fontane Maso, Mathieu Dumoulin and Tim Biere’nard lasted the longest providing some fantastic entertainment as Quim & Tim’s ferocious battle eventually knocked them both out but none of the freestylers made it to finals. In the end the final was all down to serious racers and Raphael Thiebaut took the win.
That evening all the invited athletes from the different sports got a taste of stardom as we were all introduced on the main stage to a huge sea of Frenchies
Saturday was the day of battle for us Freestylers. The number of paddlers here is amazing, there are so many kids kayaking (& adults) and generally the standard is high. There were so many competitors in fact that it would take a whole day of solid competing to get through the Cadets, Juniors, C1, Womens & Men’s Prelims, 1/4′s, and Semi’s.
Katya paddled very well in prelims to comfortably make the Women’s Finals in 2nd behind 2xEuropean Champion Marlene Devillez.
For us men we had a real marathon having prelims, quarters and semi’s all in the same day. We had Mat Dumoulin 2x Euro Champ, Quim Fontane Maso current Euro Champ, & Junior World cup winner Sebastian Devred all here, meaning the standard is like Worlds level. The hole here is quite unusual to me, it’s narrow meaning you have to land moves in a very short area in order to stick them. The prelims and quarters I felt good and had good moves but wasted too much time flushing but enough to get through easily, in the Semi’s I hit a great ride scoring 1510 to take 2nd behind Sebastian Devred.
Finals came the next day and the level didn’t disappoint with Junior girls even having high scores with Nuria Fontane taking the win, then in Junior Boys Thomas Richard, a local paddler who really impressed me easily won too. In the women’s I thought Katya had it, she paddled great but judges said Marlene won. Katya (& I) was happy anyway with her getting 3 solid rides.
They have a different judging system here which means sometimes it’s a bit hard for us to work out what scores what, it rewards lots of linking of moves and cartwheel based moves very highly. It does seem a bit softer on the actual moves but overall it’s fair (just a bit random for us who are used to the international system).
In the Men’s final I didn’t have my best day coming 5th out of 7, I just didn’t feel in my usual groove but guess that’s the way it goes. The scores were incredibly high as was the standard. Mathieu, Quim & Sebastian were on fire getting great rides and incredible scores. It was close but in the end Mat took the win with a huge score of 2350!!! Sebastian was 2nd with 1900ish and Quim 3rd with 1790ish.
We came here primarily for training and to see how we’re doing in our preparations for Worlds since their were quite a few of our main rivals here. It’s turned out to be a very good place to train, this hole is unlike anywhere we usually paddle which has made us work on our weakness’s, the french paddlers are very good and really know this kind of features so we got a good taste of Worlds level competing with paddlers on their best.
I’m not too disappointed with my result, training was going well and it’s good to get these blips out of the way before the big events Before here training & competitions had felt like they’re going well on the way to Worlds, and coming 5th here I discovered a few weakness’s and areas I need to improve with plenty of time to solve them. We have a new regime for me and i’m looking forward to seeing how i can improve before the event in Sort, Spain in a few weeks where quite likely we’ll see the same main rivals + Dane Jackson all of us fighting for good prize money so I imagine it’s going to be tough
The festival overall was great to be a part of, they put on a fantastic show, it’s also good to see that in France the Kayaking gets quite a bit of attention and coverage from the media and the public. We enjoyed being here again! Big thanks to the organisers and all participants for making it what it was!
Check out the videos below to get a feel of the event:
Ekstremsportveko or Extreme Sports Week is an international extreme sports and music festival held annually in the small town of Voss in Norway. For 7 days athletes from all over the world converge in the small mountain town to compete for dominance in their chosen sport. It is also a great chance to meet new friends from different disciplines and catch up with old ones.
Women’s raft slalom
The first race for me was the rafting race. This year it was a two part race, slalom first, then head to head. My team won the slalom by a decent margin then narrowly missed out on winning the head to head but as slalom was worth more points we took the overall victory.
Even the safety guys are having a good time
Rafter X final between team Germany and the Voss Rafting Senter (VRS) boys. Team VRS had won the slalom and it was a battle to the end in the raft cross. It was a Le Mans running start and Germany got the start perfect. VRS was chasing them the whole way down the river all that was left was the last rapid. Germany went right and VRS went left they had 200 m left till the finish line and Germany got forced into some rocks allowing VRS to take the victory good work boys!
Voss Rafting boys taking the lead
The groupies cheering on team Voss
Winners!!
This is my 3rd year at Extremsportveko and each veko I try to enter a new competition that I haven’t competed in before. This year my two new competitions were the Amazing Raft Race and the Brandseth Teams Race. and we came first good times
River boarding head to head
Our Amazing Raft Race team, I don’t know why Jordie is so sad about winning this competition!
The Amazing Raft Race is not such a serious race as the slalom and raft cross races. The teams have anywhere between 4 and 7 people of varying abilities, the only prerequisite being that you have rafted down the section once before. The race has a series of clues and challenges, you have to solve the clue to find the next challenge. This year the challenges included taking on the kids high ropes course to find our first clue, some throw bagging target practice, some river swimming, rafting a rapid on the bottom of the upside down raft, and jumping off a bridge, all accompanied by a blow up pool toy.
Finally finishing the race after stopping half way down when my friend got pinned in an undercut wall in the racecourse. We evacuated her no worries and she is much better now. Thanks to the veko team for getting her out safe and also thanks for giving me a second chance to race as I thought I was disqualified for quitting my race to help my friend.
After the individuals race on the Brandseth there is also a teams race. Normally the teams race is on a much longer section and includes some big slides and also a portage but this year due to low river levels we raced on a shorter racecourse. I raced in a team with two English girls Sandra and Jenny and we were the only all girls team in the competition. We came 10th overall which we were pretty happy with then at the prize giving we were surprised to be called up to receive 2nd place in the women’s category and a team that had two girls, Marianne and Katrina, and one guy Mathias, won first place in the Women’s category.
Results:
1st in Rafting Slalom and Rafter X
1st in Amazing Raft Race
1st in Women’s River Boarding
3rd in Brandseth Downhill
2nd in Women’s Teams Race (but first and last really because we were the only women’s team)
The final event of the 2013 Big Paddle Tour took place last Sunday, and despite the odd rain shower, we had a fantastic day!
So mixing bowls at the ready, here’s our recipe for the ideal paddling event:
First of all take a lovely location, with lots of space, greenery, facilities, and paddling for everybody! A mixture of whitewater and flatwater paddling will yield best results.
Secondly, set your weather predictions to optimistic. This is the UK, so never fear – even when the forecast says rain and doom, you could still be in for a bright and sunny morning!
Perhaps the most important ingredient is a generous serving of of people who have come to experience paddling for the first time. We like to use a mixture of families, young, and young at heart, and then baste them in games, fun and coaching, until grinning and hooked on paddling.
Next up, you’ll need to stir in a good spoonful of expert coaches, offering workshops and advice. We only use the absolute finest available, sourced directly from our supplier at Team Palm.
For a truly rounded and fuller flavour, we like to throw in lashings of freestyle, whitewater, open canoeing, and bushcraft.
Add in a few sprinkles of racing, preferably in a rare but entertaining high performance craft, we like to use the Dagger Green boat for the perfect blend of speed and fun.
Drop in two Ergo machines to keep everybody grinning …
… and a standing up race on a selection of entirely inappropriate craft …
Last of all, the key ingredient to complete any paddling event is a cardboard canoe race! You can use pre prepared boats, or throw in a pile of cardboard, and tape to see what appears. For best results throw in a mixture of both semi-seaworthy and downright ridiculous craft. This will ensure a great race, but more importantly, great entertainment for the audience!
Mix all the ingredients together, and serve on a warm summers day. You’ll be in for a treat!
A huge thanks to everybody at Teesside who helped out with the event, and thanks to everybody who came along and got involved.
We were excited to see so many new paddlers coming along to have a go, and we hope to see lots of you on the water in the future!
Stay posted for a mini video of the cardboard canoe race, coming soon …
A couple of months ago we got given our new Wairoa Tops and Energy Pants. We have been so impressed with them that we can’t stop raving about them! Never beore has Neoprene been so comfortable to wear, flexible and great in so many conditions. The Women’s specific cut of the Energy Pants are flatering and they arn’t hard to put on at all (like other strides in the past) and the combination of the tops and bottoms makes us all look like ninjas!!
Ninja Rafters!
They are sure to become our racing staple, but are great for just cruising around as well when the weather outside doesn’t require dry pants! In fact our Captain Bryony has become so in love with hers that she wears them underneath her dry pants!!!
The Wairoa top, although very snug (to keep you warm) is not uncomfortable and despite our bigger than average shoulders, fits perfectly and does not chafe. When wet they become even more flexible and keep you warm. We are BIG BIG fans! The only problem is that when it is hot and we wear our short sleeved versions we end up with awkard tan lines….
Nezza feeling Olympic in her Wairoa Top.
Rosies Verdict:
These tops are immense!! Never before has rafting felt so good…the Wairoa top is super sleek, warm, comfy and the flexibility and freedom of movement you get when paddling in these is second to none! I also love the blue detailing.
Neo strides: I’ve worn these kayaking and rafting, and just hanging out on the campsite! They’re stretchy and soft to wear, and feel amazing on the water or warming up. Goodbye resistance, and hello freedom! Ooh and they look very lovely too
Bryonys Verdict:
Wairoa tops: I’ve really enjoyed wearing this in the raft, it gives me that extra bit of warmth whilst not taking any flexibility away. The lining is really soft so it feels lovely on, and the black and turquoise combo means that it looks great too.
Energy Strides: I love these, I’ve worn them every time I’ve been in the boat since I got them. Soft flexible material which is thick enough to provide warmth and protection from any knocks or bangs. And teamed with the wairoa tops makes you look like a ninja!!
Our Alps training week started as all Alps trips do: emails and frantic phone calls, long car journeys and plenty of faff (from us trying to sort out what items should go with who, and who was bringing what). There were also disturbing reports of rain on the continent!! HOLD THE PHONE, WE DID NOT SIGN UP FOR RAIN! What we got though was a fantastic week of (mostly) sunshine, awesome river running , training sessions and great company.
SUNSHINE!! quick get your pasty white British skin out!
BEST. SPORT. EVER!
The week was the brainchild of GB Mens’s team Matt Blue who arranged for us to have a developmental week for the GB teams and any other teams who wanted to go out and get some top raft coaching, some river running experience and, let’s face it, a holiday- albeit a pretty painful one !
A HUGE thank you to Matt who put in so much effort to make it all happen. His enthusiasm was infectious.
Not only did we have a GB Training camp, we had a Van with sign writing on it!! Albeit one in need of a good clean!
Over the weekend people arrived in drips and drabs some at more ungodly hours than others, but on the Monday morning we got up and were ready to work it!! The GB Ladies resident Yoga/Cross fit/Stretching secretary Rosie Cripps and Matt organised a WOD for us on the first day (Work Out of the Day) starting at 7:30am. It involved jumping over rafts, doing press-ups (ALWAYS the narrow ones) and getting really really out of breath. I think for the members of the other teams this was a bit of a shock – they haven’t had the time spent with Coach Dave doing Abs 500’s or Body Rock. But it was ace and it got us really pumped for the first day’s rafting, which we spent on the Durance. Through the day we worked our way down the river finishing at the Rab’ wave. There wasn’t a glum face anywhere!
Run Forest Run!! The Warm up. Very necessary.
Our WOD! It was even Raft themed!
After that WOD we were happy to finally be rafting. Day 1 on the Durance.
Day 2 started with Yoga. And wow was our yoga room the best ever!
The Downward Dog. One of the more doable Yoga Poses, yet not the most flattering…
‘Dude, don’t mess with my Chai!’
R2 Sprint Races. We are always competitive, even against each other!
Working on equalising power is really important for raft racing as you want to use all that power to go forwards not around in a circle!
The Red Rose Ladies getting some input from Suzie Jackson.
Day 3 was our ‘event in a day’! We trained doing sprints in the morning, raced endurance against the Masters in the Afternoon and then did 2 ‘race day’ slalom runs in the evening! All before going out for Georgie and Fran’s joint Hen Do! We went out on the town and got thoroughly merry on a glass of shandy! Rock and Or Roll!!!
Deb and Suzie creating some resistance for Bry and Nez. Not saying they are heavy or anything…
…but they are not doing our image of athletes any good – Jeeze Deb at least try to look like you are doing something!
Blue was definitely the theme of the week. Blue Bouyancy Aids, Matt Blue, Blue Water, Blue Sky!! We loved it!
The GB Mens Masters team did a great job at keeping up with us. Definitely new friends made.
Walking the Slalom course, and looking fairly dapper at the same time!
Getting going on the Slalom. It is great to practice on such powerful water.
Not a blow up willy in sight…but I think we still lowered the tone somewhat!
Unlike most hen dos no one had a hangover the following morning which was a good thing too as we were practicing technique on the lake with Matt. Suze, Fran and George had an awesome Eureka moment where body rotation was concerned and were “accessing their core’s “ all over the place!! The afternoon was a little more chilled out for some of the GB Ladies whilst others went and did some coaching with the other teams, but we all got back together for an awesome, adrenaline pumping run down the Guil!
Proper Rivers!!
Don’t let the shrinker vision fool you! That is some tight white water!
Some hard moves to make in a raft, but such good fun!
Celebratory team squats or ‘New Suits’ shot gone wrong? you decide.
Friday, came all too soon in Raft Camp GB. But we definitely saved the best until last. With reports that the Ubaye had a “surprising amount of water” in it, we got up bright and early and set off en-mass to run one of the classic sections for rafting. We had tight technical moves to make, wide open water to sprint on and lots of high-side hazards to avoid. We decided to do run number one of the Ubaye Racecourse like a good box of quality sweets, all mixed together. This meant we had experienced and less experienced people in the same boat because for a few people this was the biggest water they had done in a raft – or anything else for that matter! So with safety in mind we set off and had a fab run. There was much elation at the bottom and a definite desire for double the run, double the fun!
Mixin’ it up. Deb enjoyed being at the back for once…it meant she stayed dry :)
Fran on the other hand got completely soaked without Deb-the-body-shield in front of her. Well I say competely soaked, she would have been if it wasnt for the Palm Swirl cag.
Team Red Rose!! The awesome Northern girls.
The GB Masters Men’s Team. We are so excited they are joining us in New Zealand! Well done boys we know you will do GB proud.
This time the GB Ladies went flat out for Endurance practice, with Matt paddling along in a kayak giving us motivation as we went. However, although it felt fast and powerful, you could tell it was the end of a hard week as the usually ‘loudly vocal’ raft (Susie and Fran!) were very quiet, using the last of their energy to paddle as hard as they could. Once at the bottom there were almost tears (of joy!), loads of smiles and a fair bit of falling over – the seating position does nothing for your joints!
Fran and Suzie’s faces say it all. Thoroughly broken, as they had requested.
The happiness of such a good week was definitely tinged with sadness that we would all be going home soon, and the inevitable and impending, long and tedious drives did nothing to make it any better. But with a wider rafting family having been properly established we definitely have loads to look forward to – especially for next year!
Friends, sunshine and rafting. what more do you need?
Bring on Alps training camp 2014!
For us the ride home was a mix of Elton John, Joseph and the Techni-coloured Dream Coat and very early morning Spanish lessons (in the car at Calais). So not so tedious after all!
Our continued gratitude goes to Palm for kitting us out in the best gear for all occasions and weather.
AND FINALLY…
…our next installment of who’s who on the team:
Georgina Preston, one third of the middle crew, soon to be wife of an Olympian, and all round classy lady answers our questions.
You are one of the longest serving members of the team, how did you get involved ?
I started kayaking at school because the boy I had a crush on also did it (yes, 16 year old girls really are stalkers; but it paid off!). And that was the start of it all! I joined the amazing Whitstable Winter Wallies Canoe Club (also home ground of my later GB Freestyle coach and legend, Pete Catterall), who taught me how to roll and introduced me to rafting. I ended up working as a raft guide at HPP throughout uni and was approached by my friend and fellow raft guide, to start up a women’s team. There had been a women’s team a few years before, but it had fizzled out. I joined up with original members Debs and Nez and we gathered a few more to make our team! Our first competition was the Worlds in Ecuador in 2005 and we’ve been going ever since.
What is it about rafting that inspires you to keep training and pushing the sport?
Honestly – the main thing is the trips away with my best friends! I love being abroad with my chums, meeting up with all the other national teams and having a great time. That is what keeps me going throughout the winter misery of freezing hands and cold splashes in the face! I like to think the training also keeps me buff, but sadly, my rate of eating tends to match and exceed any calories burnt.
Being a Slalom and Freestyle paddler have you found any transferable skills that you can use for rafting?
I would not exactly class myself as a slalom paddler (I eventually reached premier division in C1 Women’s before getting injured and haven’t started competing again yet), but I certainly think that paddling C1 has been good for developing my core strength and flexibility! I train on the left and right to keep me balanced which is really helpful in the raft as I can plop in anywhere. Paddling in general really helps you read whitewater properly. I have also learnt a lot from my super Olympic champ fiancé Etienne Stott who bravely coached me in C1 and taught me so much about the nuances of slalom!
Freestyle is just ace and is really all about getting stuck in, which means I do tend to enjoy a cheeky surf and flips in the raft (summer time only).
What is your most memorable rafting experience?
Floating down the crystal waters of the Tara River Canyon in Montenegro, winning a Gold medal in Bosnia alongside our men, being catapulted from a raft at the top of Okere Falls on the Kaituna, NZ.
What is your most memorable moment with the team?.
Hitting the beach in Costa Rica for 2 weeks of cocktails, chocolate, snorkelling, biking, swimming and monkey watching – after the competition had ended!
Best/worst thing about being in an all girls team?
Team showers! But getting the rubbish shower head.
Thanks George!
Words (of the blog) by Fran Kohn
Pictures by Deb, Georgie, Bryony, Team Red Rose and Chris Dalby of the GB Masters.
Kiwi boys Sam, Jamie, and Brendan taking out first place in the teams race.
Due to some spray deck issues Team VRS came in a long way behind first place.
Strie Strommer roasted us some sheep for dinner
Fun slides on the Ula Extreme race
Walking back up for the second round
Final drop on the Ula Extreme race
In the Sweet Rumble Finals I held a decent lead until the last rapid where I screwed up and flipped in a hole and missed the final banner. Bummer.
In the men’s rumble final Jamie managed to do some amazing overtaking maneuvers in a stacked final and moved from last place…
… to first place ahead of Egor, Brendan, and Sam.
Simon demonstrating the throwbag olympics
Kayakers and raft guides unleashed!
The sun setting on another great day… At 12pm!!!
all shown on live french TV. From the freestylers Quim Fontane Maso, Mathieu Dumoulin and Tim Biere’nard lasted the longest providing some fantastic entertainment as Quim & Tim’s ferocious battle eventually knocked them both out but none of the freestylers made it to finals. In the end the final was all down to serious racers and Raphael Thiebaut took the win.
Before here training & competitions had felt like they’re going well on the way to Worlds, and coming 5th here I discovered a few weakness’s and areas I need to improve with plenty of time to solve them. We have a new regime for me and i’m looking forward to seeing how i can improve before the event in Sort, Spain in a few weeks where quite likely we’ll see the same main rivals + Dane Jackson all of us fighting for good prize money so I imagine it’s going to be tough 
