Hello from Augsburg, Germany.

Hello from Augsburg, Germany.

What a busy week we had. Lots of travelling on beautifull alpine roads, river runs on beautifull rivers.

So here are some quick news. Sorry, this will be a very short and brief description of our trip. I have 10minutes of Internet access... and it is 11hr45 pm white the athletes are asleep.

Monday after the race.

After the Worlds in Solkan, we got our big white whale, a big and roomy 9 passager van. It is roomy but it is full with us and all our luggage. Drove to Klagenfurth, Austria to get Spencer and Cam s boat, slept at Elmar Steindl s house and went swimming in Shleemmer See. Great time.

Tuesday. Back to Tacen Slovenia for two workout on the very difficult course. Frustrating for some paddlers...

Wednesday: am train in Tacen, pm: we ran the Soca river, one of the most beautifull rivers in Europe, cristal clear water, amazing.

Thursday: travel to Linz, Austria to run the Isel, 15km of waves, we all had a great time. Then got in the car and drove to Lofer for a quick visit and 10minute paddle on this famous race site. then drove part of the night to Munich.

Friday: Yeah, we are now in Augsburg, We stay at Piccolo Pension, in the garage appartment: cheap and comfortable. Great to have beds after 4 nights sleeping at different places and camping.

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So we are all set now, we get used to Augsburg water, life is good. More to come.

Jr Worlds Final Day -Solkan 2006

Canada had 5 paddlers racing amongst the top 40 in the Semi Finals today!

Kathleen Tayler started off as third female, had a bit of difficulty in the top part of the course, but finished with a good bottom section. Jessica Groeneveld raced very well - strong start, nailing the difficult off-set at gates 3-4 to 5. Her run was clean, but a severe head limbo into gate 15 didn't quite work for her, for which she was given a 50.
The girls ended in 37 and 39th position.

Julien Potvin-Bernal had a solid run, three touches to finish in 33rd spot. Spencer Pomeroy raced his best today - a clean run, where he used the water well, kept the boat moving and only one stall in gate 5 upstream. He finished 20th - a great result in a deep field of C-1's.

Paul Manning-Hunter was the first K-1 to go....setting a fast pace, which he kept up through the top 2/3rds of the course...and then cut gate 14 too tight coming out of 13 up. Couldn't reach gate 14 at this boat angle, thus passing downstream of 14 and having to loop back for it. The junior mens class is impressively strong - so Paul ended up in 40th spot. His Australian home stay family blamed it on the lack of vegemite, he refused this morning.

We didn't have any competitors in the Finals, but cheered, watched and learned tons from watching the top 10 racers fight for a podium position.

The full results can be seen on: www.timing-mojstrana.com Germany won the overall nations award.

Back at the Hostel now, we are all taking showers, cleaning up and packing for tomorrow's departure. Kurt's group with Ben and Paul are driving back to Munich to fly back to Canada tomorrow. Julien was picked up by his Aunt (who very much looks like you Angela) for an envious cycling trip along the Adriatic coast of Croatia. Francois and I will drive to Ljubliana to pick up our van on Monday. Then the second group of Cam, Spencer, Babacar, Kathleen, Katrina and Jessica travel with Francois as coach, first to Klagenfurt, Austria. They will stay in the KVK boothaus, have a relaxed paddle on the Woertersee, and head to Bratislava Tuesday morning. The Americans are also heading to Bratislava, so we will be able to share some of the water costs. The 16 July, Francois' group travels to Augsburg, Germany to paddle 2.5 days on the Eiskanal (the 1972 Olympic course). Arrangements have been made to stay on site in the BLZ. This group departs July 19th (Jess on the 17th) from Munich.


This may be the end of our blog, unless Francois is able to continue in Bratislava with internet service.

As parents you can be proud of all your kids. They raced well, worked well in the team setting, supported each other immensely and stayed out of trouble ! We hope tonight won't be an exception. The closing celebration is in the town of Nova Goriza, where a live band will perform and the Welt Cup Finale for Fussball will be shown on a large screen. We hope they have fun, socialize with the other nations, dance lots, trade their t-shirts, but remain responsible young adults. At mid-night we return home!

Cheers, Claudia, Francois and Kurt

Race Day. Finally. 5 out of 9 advance to semi finals.

Friday and Saturday. Qualifier Races.
Good racing for the canadian team. 5 out of 9 advance to semi finals..

Top 40 per class go to semi finals.

In the K1 Class. Paul Manning Hunter makes it. 40th... Babacar Daoust Cisse, 46th and Ben Hayward 56th.

In the C1 Class
Spencer Pomeroy 24th ,Julian Potvin Bernal 27th ,Cameron Smedley 47th.

K1W Jessica Groenenfeld 25th, Kathleen Tayler 38th, Katrina Van Wijk 49th

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(I am sorry , those two days were exausting, it is midnight, we get up at 7 for the final day of competition. More writing later. Francois ) Overall, I am very happy with the team. Good racing in this extremely competitive field.
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Pre race day- excitement is building- demo day and parade.

Pre-Race Day

Today was a busy day. Early rise, but a relaxed morning. Our time slot today was - 12-12:30pm.
Canadians did Grand Prix runs, with Francois at the top end of the course, Kurt at the bottom, Denyse on video and Claudia on the walkie talkie taking notes by the result board. Practise for us all for tomorrow.
Some very fast paddling.

Lunch break to get out of the sun, then back to the course for demo runs. The water level is 37cms. The course has 18 gates, 6 of which are upstream. A very fluid course with some choices for off-set combinations. Athletes reviewed the course in person and over video with the coaches. Spirits are high!


A fun and delicious dinner at the Sabotin Hotel just above the slalom site, where many nations are staying. We then headed downtown for the parade in our sharp looking Canadian team uniforms. Shorts were chosen over long pants in this great heat.
A record number of athletes competing: 249 from 41 nations. Quite a spectacle.


Tomorrow starts with the K-1 W at 9am in this order:

Bib # 10 - Katrina Van Wijk
Bib # 23 - Kathleen Tayler
Bib # 27 - Jessica Groeneveld

C-1' s at 10:05am

Bib # 64 - Cameron Smedley
Bib # 68 - Spencer Pommeroy
Bib # 72 - Julien Potvin-Bernal


Second runs start at: 11am, and 12 am. Both runs are added together for the final Qualifier time, and the top 40 advance to the semi's on Sunday.
Team runs will be at 4pm - two runs back to back.

Think lots of positive thoughts in your sleep tonight...so your kids feel the great vibes.


We'll post as soon as we can from the race course on wireless tomorrow.




Go Canada Go !

Wednesday, Day off.

Early rising...breakfast at 7am - getting used to race day routine.
Group effort in repairing Babacars stern, so it is ready for this afternoons boat measuring.
Then piled into 3 cars, as Denyse, Ben's mother has joined us in Solkan and drove down to the Adriatic sea towards the city of Trieste.

A stop along the stunning rugged coast line at the castle Miramar, built by Franz Josephs brother in 1850's.

Next stop - centro Trieste. A city built by the Romans, and for 500 years part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Trieste is similar to Vienna in its architecture, just with a beautiful view of the sea and many sailboats.
Girls did a bit of shopping, coaches drank coffee, boys chased pigeons and explored.
The last stop was the beach in Diurno, by a steep cliff. A tunnel from the WW I, popped out halfway up, which was a crazy jumping platform for Ben, Kurt, Cam and Paul. The rest of us watched in awe.

Boat measuring back at the course in super hot conditions. All passed.

Monday, Brokens runs.

Hello,

since a picture is worth a thousand word...

Today we did broken runs ( a full course top to bottom with break in the middle...) The athletes are looking good. They push hard and always want to go fast. They are just like wild horses, they need to control their strength and enthousiasm so they race well.

A little bit of ajustments and they will be in great shape for the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS.

River running. with no boats = great time canyoning.

Hello .

Yesterday was a great fun day for the entire team. After a race simulation early in the morning, we drove upriver for a touristy day.

First spot: we saw the world cup competition of ultra high tower competition. In the little town of Kanal, there is a very narrow and high bridge over top of which they built a platform. Total height 23meters... Olympic high platform is 10meters. Amazing.

Then, in the afternoon, we all went for this amazing adventure called canyoning. It is like river running, but with a river so steep and so low that you don't bring your boat. You walk and float down in the middle of the river, slide down drops and waterfalls into the very deep pools at the bottom. Very scary and exaliarating at the same time. It is hard to explain, but it was great. Go to www.top.si for some info and pictures.

On the way back, we have our best team dinner so far with Kurt animating us with games and stories.

Now, we are off to the course for more training . half courses.
More to come.