Last weekend was a busy one.On Saturday there was time trial on Kaituna from gates to bottom hole. The water level was extremely low (low pressure 200s) thus the times have not been record-breaking ones. First class was creek boat race, followed by long boat one - and in the end team race in a format of relay as well.
There were two runs in creekers and faster one counted. I managed to improve performance from the first run so the time of second one 7:32:03 put me in a solid 9th place out of more than 35 competitors.
The long boat race was a chapter on its own. Never kayaking topoduo before on Kaituna caused a few minor problems on the course (flipping on rapid called boiling pot) put me on 4th place in the end. I will try to find someone who took a pic from that epic run. Would be a good memory. :)
Team race with mass startwas an unexpected success. Barely knowing each other before calling our team Euro trash (Ladislav Švarc CZE and Mathias Friedl AUT) we managed to win the 3rd place in a strong competition of more than 10 teams. Well-worth mentioning is a fact I nearly lost the "relay foam" and since there was no time to put it back between the lifewest and bib - I just put it in the mouth in order not to loose any time. Obviously the decision was a right one!
On Sunday there was Wairoa extreme race - first ime trial from seal launch down to just above waterfall rapid. Rankings from the time trial seeded paddlers and put them into a Tennis Draw for the head to head races. First round decided main round or plate round. Head to Head comp was held on waterfall and rollercoaster rapids.
Loosing some precious time on time trial put me in a pair with Mathias Friedl from Austria. Yes, my team member from Saturdays teams race! After faster start I was not able to touch the banner first since I paddled to the last eddy too low, so even more than 10m of advantage was not enough to beat him - paddling upstream is time consuming - next time I should checked the location of finnish accurately. Anyways, the second round I managed to win even though the start wasnt the best one but I got the last eddy high enough to touch finnish first. The third round I paddled with Tom who is my mate from Okere falls and also the one who was kind enough to pick me up on the airport in Rotorua when I returned. The start fight was cruel and I was pushed too close to the rock on the rapid "Waterfall" - I flipped and spend a few seconds exploring the cave under the rapid. Finally I pushed myself away from the rock, enabling to roll. However I lost too much time to catch him. I paddled hard to the finnish banner anyways and congratulate him on success. He later won a plate round boater x of 4 paddlers as well.
All in all, the weekend was a great success, not only because of great racing but also because of meeting friends and having a good time on the river.
you can chack two videos from Wairoa here:
The next race follows in 2 weeks time - Citroen race in Queenstown on river Kawerau.
Just the next day, on Monday (10.2.) morning I had my flight back to CHC, where my faithful van was patienty waiting for me. Since I destroyed front left tire in the last month of travelling allround NZ (no rubber but fabrics on the outer side) I am writing that post still in Chc, heading to Hokitika in the afternoon after sorting tires out.
pura vida!
.M
