Sicklines

As the end of the race season comes about for both Slalom and Extreme racing, the Sickline Extreme World Champs Commences in the small town of Otztal, Austria.

For this trip my self and the Italy race team, Tom Wakling, Jen Chrimes and Joe Morley drove to Austria.

The course this year had an added challenge of a new hole, at the bottom of the TNT rappid above champions killer, which was imaginitvly names by Sickline officials 'Champions Killer - 1' At the start of the week the river was fairly high pushing around 200 on the gauge. Lots of people getting beat downs and being cartwheeled, looped for a fair while. 

As we got closer to race day, the river dropped back to a normal level yet this hole still proved to be a challenge for many competitors causing top races such as Michele Ramazza to not qualify.

My self, Joe and Jen Qualified in to the top 48 and in to the Wellabrucke Rounds.

I had a really good qualification round putting me in the top 26 for the penultimate round which i was really happy about. Joe also had a good run qualifying. In the next round I was unfortunately paired up with Vavra Hradilek who beat me. Joe had a really good run qualifying in to the super final.

The End results had Jen Chrimes getting a silver medal, My self finishing in 19th, and Joe in 15th.

This was a massive improvement on last year :) Super stoked for next years race!

David

Teva Outdoor Games – Valchiusella

Week before last my self, Tom Wakling, Joe Morley and Jen Chrimes headed out to Northen Italy for the 2012 Teva Kayak Race.

We went out a week in advance to train on the course and of course paddle some other rivers.

On arrival we met up with the Pyranha Team van being driven by Anton Immler and Andy Butler. Our first day was spent on the Chiusella paddling the whole run not knowing which part would be in the race. I immediately liked the style of the river with small technical drops allowing pacey sprints in between.

The following days were spent doing more training on the Chiusella as well as running the Atassa River in the next valley along. This was a really nice run with more technical drops than the Chiusella and a big 200foot slide to finish the run. The photogenic bridges over the river again amazed me as to how they still stand up, and how an earth they managed to built them so symmetrically across the steep gorges.

Coming to race day I felt I knew the race course well, and with low levels felt confident that my light weight would be an advantage for this run.

My first run left me in a strong top ten position but with aggregate scoring I knew I would have to do a good second run as well. My second run turned out to be 4 seconds quicker than the first putting me in a solid placing.

Next day was the team events. First we had the creek race which was held on a lower section of the river. Predominantly flat with 2 main drops, however these drops turned out more difficult than expected. I made a mistake on the first drop that cost the team some time however we picked up the pace and nailed the final drop finishing in second place behind the Kewi team. The Team slalom was held in the evening, where My self, tom and Joe raced as the GB representatives.  We had some issues on the first run, but so did everyone else.  Our second run was great, and finished us in first place and first place over all in the team event.

On the last day of racing we had the Individual sprint slalom and Boater X races. I again finished in a solid top half position with my second run including a role! Over all this put me in Tenth place, a position I am happy with being my second international extreme race!

We still had 2 more days in Italy before heading home so we went to Valseisia to run some more rivers. Without a guide book we really had no idea where to paddle so we got on and inspected each drop well.

All in all I had a fantastic trip, and it was great to see Andy and Anton out there whilst on the Team tour.

Cheers,

David

Pyrenees Cups

The Pyrenees Cups 2012

After a great but slightly disappointing selection series I quickly planned out my whole year packing it with world ranking races, world series extreme races and training camps abroad. The first part of this plan was to travel to France and Spain for the Pyrenees cups which are held at Foix, site of the 2010 Junior worlds in which I competed at, Pau, and Seu, neither of which I had raced before.

So 4 weeks before in true British TopGear-esque fashion My self, Joe Morley, Joe Coombs and Joe Clarke got together and bought a car for £550 after some serious haggling by the guys. A week after selection and we were on our way.

Our £550 road trip machine

Just over a day later we arrived in Pau for some training before the first race at Foix. I was pleasantly surprised by the course at Pau which I liken to a larger volume run miniaturized with its flowy back and forth nature. It was really fun to paddle with real importance on key strokes. After a few days we set back off to Foix for our first race.

Fry camping in Foix

Once camp had been set up, we only had one day to train on Foix, for me only consisting of one session. Luckily I remembered the course well from 2010 and felt ready to race almost immediately.

A lot of preparation went in to my first run, which was fortunate as it turned out being the only run of the race due to rapidly rising water levels! I ended up 16^th in the Pyenees cup which for my first event I was relatively happy with. Following the race we got back on the water for some surfing on the waves created by this extra water.

Standing on a rather wet Pier

Camp was again struck and we started the trip back down to Pau for our second race. I was really excited for this race, as I knew Pau had the potential for a really fun race with some dynamic paddling. My qualification and Semi finals went reasonably and secured myself a place in the final. My final run was neat but not as quick as I would have wished even still it was a good result and I was happy that I had put down another performance at an international event.

 Racing at Pau

We then set off to Spain, over the mountains. I had been pre warned about the steepness of these ‘hills’ called the Pyrenees. It took over an hour to reach the top but when we did get there it was incredible with a  view over the fantastic range covered in snow still in the middle of may!

After playing in the snow for a hour we made our way back down freewheeling the car most of the way to Sort, A brief stop for pizza then we continued to Sau where we stayed at our friend Albertos house.

Snow in May?

We had a few days in Seu before the race, and after all agreeing that it was far too narrow and shallow we made the most of the course as it was and prepaired for the races.

I again raced well and bar a mistakenly given touch all was good for the weekend!

Our trip home was extremely uneventful stopping at friends houses for sleep breaks on the way home.

Quick Nap

On review it really was a fantastic trip and I definitely enjoyed the excitement of driving out for a race series as a group! I cant wait to go again next year.

David Bain

http://pyranha.com/

http://slalom.nelo.eu/

http://gopro.com/

http://www.nrsweb.com/

http://lightningpaddlesusa.com/

http://www.whitewaterthecanoecentre.co.uk/

http://www.whitewateractive.co.uk/

2011

So we are now in 2o12, this past year has definitely been my most hectic and exciting year yet, with competing at 2 world championships, and a european championships covering 3 disciplines was something new and pretty special for me.

I was extremely happy with my performance at the Slalom Junior European championships, and I'm now happily preparing for a tough Under 23 and senior selection in March.

As said in previous blogs Sickline was a fantastic experience and getting a place in the first of the final rounds was fantastic! I am thoroughly looking forward to Sickline 2012!

I also had a fantastic road trip with Joe Morley, where we went to Czech Republic for the Junior Wild Water world championships and to Austria and North Czech creeking which was like a whole new world of paddling to me.

The slalom year ended positivly at the British Open with a fantastic performance in the Semi Final putting me in to the final in first place. A mistake in the final cost me a top 5 placing, however I was still quick enough to gain a place for the Olympic Selection event, an achievement I am extremely proud of.

The Christmas break was great this year, with rain coming and giving me the opportunity to go creeking most days. I am now feeling really happy in my Shiva and cant wait to get racing in it.

The following videos are from the Swale and the Fairy Glen where I have been testing a new type of Head Camera, The GoBandit GPS.

I would like to thank all my sponsors for their ongoing support as well as Coaches, Parents and Friends! 2011 has been great!

Thanks for reading and I wish you a great 2012!