Brass Monkey Race 2 2013

The second race of the Brass Monkey Kayak Race Series was held today in far from ideal conditions with strong wind gusts and rain/hail pelting all the competitors during the briefing. Once on the water however, all this seemed to disappear as you focused on staying upright and not falling into the icy cold river (I did however manage to fall in to the river while getting into my kayak).

After yesterdays lesson from Adam at the start line, I decided to take it easy today and not worry about keeping up with him. Luckily for me my sedate start resulted in a perfect start where Adam received a time penalty for jumping the start line. The wind didn't seem to effect me too much and I had a pretty perfect paddle down the river and found a few cheeky short cuts on the way thanks to Adam and Ian Huntsman.

With the river having dropped 10 cumecs compared to yesterday I was expecting my time today to be slower than yesterdays by around 30 seconds to a minute. So I was pretty happy to cross the line only 8 seconds slower than yesterday placing 12th in Open Men and 18th Overall. Still several minutes off the winning time but it looks like I may finally be starting to get some speed in the boat. Will have to see how I perform in a months time for race number 3&4.

Comments

Motivation from setback

The last time I wrote on here I was just about to go into a hand operation to sort out my dexterity issue after breaking it earlier in the year. At the time I stated I felt like I was capable of more but unfortunately may not get a chance to prove it for awhile. I never expected what the next 12 months would bring, and to be honest, despite the further injuries and setbacks, I'm not sure I would change a thing. So what have the last 12 months involved? A few months recovery and physio from hand surgery That classic thing called covid and its impacts And a little slip on ice resulting in fractures to my T6/7 and a seizure... It's definitely not all bad though. I'm now working as the Christchurch station manager for St John Ambulance. I've joined the committee of Arawa Canoe Club as the race coordinator. I've organised 28 kayak events with all proceeds going towards supporting juniors (and another 7 events planned between now and Christmas). I've also received ...

Topsport Prologue Series #1

With my K2 partner heading to South Africa to see family and do some racing (lucky bastard), I finally lined up at a major race as a solo competitor. With hand surgery in a couple of weeks potentially wiping out the next few months of races, I wasn't sure whether I'd even bother to enter this race but the racing bug bit hard! While it was a warm morning, the wind was blowing hard! It was enough to make me slightly concerned about parts of the course, so I felt pretty bad for the novices, they were certainly in for a wake up call on what the Waimak can be like on race day! In the wind storm that was the 2011 Coast to Coast, I had managed to get to Woodstock dry, before swimming many many times in this final 15km due to the wind. There's really only two strategies for wind, paddle at the speed of it (or faster) so it doesn't impact you, or be at the heavier end of the scale so it doesn't affect you as badly. Unfortunately most of the time both of these strategies ar...

Coast to Coast 2016

This year has already presented itself with plenty of high's and low's. I went in to the event feeling as prepared as I had ever been and thankful to actually make it to the start line (for once). I had a good win in the legs from Around Brunner, however I also had my first swim in the Waimak in 5 years... fun times. Overall I was looking forward to getting out there and enjoying the day. My plan for the day was to start steady to ensure I got to the run feeling fresh and ready to run hard. I had no intention of coming off the bike in the front bunch. So when I found myself dragged up the road to the first bunch after a very steady run (9:00 vs the leaders 7:30), I was surprised and happy to be in a good position. It was now just a matter of sitting on the back, doing very little work, and letting the race be decided later. It was the best ride I've had in years, super relaxed atmosphere and a nice consistent pace to keep the legs feeling good. I actually mus...

Wiki Factory Racing

Search This Blog