If anyone wants some G Power products let me know asap as I will be ordering some in the next couple of days…. So get in quick…

Also I made the NZ senior team again. Will F was again on form showing he is the man to beat at Oceania Champs later this month. I Raced 21 gates well over each run over both days… Now I just need to do 22 gates well and ill be ok…

Anyway its been a wicked two weeks hanging out with will, I have learnt a bit of stuff to work on and had two more weeks of training. Im back in Rotorua for the next week before flying back to Australia for a few weeks training.

Well after a looong day at the river we are off for a feed in Palmy. Racing was ok for me, first run I had a good solid top till gate 21 then got stuck in stopper and then found out I had a 50?.. however raw time was ok without these mistakes. Second run was crap as I was offline and fighting with the water the whole way. Will F from Australia showed his dominating form winning todays racing. Sweet off for some Kai.

Day Two of NZ selections is over and we are at the half way point with two races to go… Racing for me on Sunday was ok again.. Nothing great but loosing time in a couple of places. All good though. Will F (Australia) was in good form again winning the race in front of Ciaran Heurteau from Ireland, followed by myself.  There has been some super tight racing in other classes, the junior team selections is going to go down to the last race.

After racing on Sunday Will and I decided to pop into the Red Woods in Rotorua for a bit of a mountain bike. It was a wicked way to end the day. We thrashed out a good hour and then drove to Napier arriving late last night. Tomorrow morning we will depart for Palmerston North where we will train it up for the next week in preparation for the 2010 NZ Open!

Results can be found at slalomnz.org.nz

Well today started off pretty early driving across from Rotorua to sunny Kawerau…. well sort of sunny. It was a great day with a good turn out of NZ and International paddlers.  The venue is looking as good as ever and the designers set a pretty good course. It was pretty easy with no ‘big move’ just places where you can loose time. Racing for me went average.. I had 2 pretty ok runs with a few key places where I lost time and a touch, but on a whole it was ok. Will F from Australia took out todays race..

So for the past 2 weeks i have been part of the NZ Development Team as one of 3 coaches, 2 managers and 19 very fast Junior athletes! I have defiantly enjoyed my time with the team and they should be proud of their achievements. So, First off was the Australian Secondary Schools, the team cleaned up heaps of medals here. Not sure about the total amount but first day was 25ish second day 20+ so it was great. The weather took a turn for the worse before the race so it was really low levels. After a rest day the next event was the final in the Southern Cup. i was able to race this event and went pretty average in it. However I did end up winning the overall title of Open Mens Southern Cup Champion.  Finally the water decided to rise, along with the temperature!  The course for the Australian Open Nationals was a pretty challenging course and the team stepped up and won a truck load more medals. I also raced. Again it wasn’t pretty, I ended up 2nd in the Open Mens class behind William Forsythe from Australia. Our team management entered the teams race and came off pretty well! We were 3rd in the Open Mens. It was pretty cool as my team mates, Roy (manager/master paddler) and Andrew (coach/c2 paddler).

Today we packed up and headed to Sydney in search of real white water, stopping off in Bondi for a dip and some went for a bit of a shop. I couldn’t believe how many people were there! Its mad! So now Im stuck here in Penrith for a week of training, more coaching and good times!

More Photos coming soon!

Today NZ had our first slalom race of the year, the Bill Ross Memorial. It was a pretty nice day with a good turn out of young and old paddlers. It was a bit of a mission with setting up the course with snapping and dropping wires, but thanks to those people that set it up (Ian, Ben/Brayden) and the Gibbs/Higgins/anyone else I missed out for the running race. While we were waiting for them to set it up, I got talking to Craig T, who said they are using some of the same gates used from the 1978 Nationals, the same poles he painted in his shed!! so thanks for making quality gates Craig!!!

Highlight of the day was watching people, get a bit of a surf going in the notorious ‘bogg rock’ lol. Although that wasnt the hardest move on the course…. I spent a good amount of time at the bottom trying to paddle up a wave to get an upstream in the middle of the river.. Not the best when you have tired arms… Not sure who won the race as I straight after my run..

In other news, Shea and the NZ Mens hockey team are through to the final with a win over Argentina. Shea slotted himself a goal and we won 3-2. They will be playing in the final for a place in the Champions Trophy and one of only 6 teams to go.