2009 is officially upon us I have a had a really cool last few weeks training and being away with my family and girlfriend. I spent a week in the Drakensburg and then a week on the coast in Umdloti, just north of Durban. Tomorrow I am heading off to Cape Town with my girlfriend for 5 days to finally end off my holiday. I have really enjoyed spending time with my loved ones and not having to worry too much about structured training for a while.

I have decided to do the Dusi Canoe Marathon this year. I have done some good training on the river over the last few weeks and I am really looking forward to the challenge. The race is a 120km long over 3 days and we have to paddle and run our way from Pietermaritzburg to Durban. The last time I competed in the Dusi was in 2002 so it will be very interesting to see how I do having not done the race for so long. I am feeling very excited to give it a good go.

The picture above was taken with my girlfriend in the Drakensburg. We are standing ontop of a mountain over looking the Sterkfontein Dam. I got some good high altitute running training in the mountains for the Dusi done here during the beginning of December.

Last weekend I competed in the 50 miler canoe marathon. It was a two day race that covered about half the course that is raced in the Dusi Canoe marathon in January. I had a very good race and came 2nd behind Ant Stott. It was the first time in 7 years that I paddled on the Dusi river, so I never knew which the best lines were and therefore made some silly mistakes along the way. I had a great time though and really enjoyed shooting some of the big rapids.

I am currently in the Drakensburg at Sterkfontein Dam with my girlfriend and parents, enjoying some clean mountain air and doing some good training.

The pictures below are of me shooting Finger Neck rapid the day before the 50 Miler started. As you can see some of the rapids get quite rough

Its been about 3 weeks now that I have been back in training and I have been really enjoying myself. I have been training with friends everyday and eventhough I am not training as hard as I would normally be, I am getting back into reasonable shape and having a lot of fun in the process.

I have been doing the river races every weekend which has been great, as I get to see so many of the local paddlers that I normally would not get to socialise with and I get to enjoy shooting the rapids. Last weeekend I won the 2 day Klip which I really enjoyed and this weekend coming I will taking part in the 50 Miler which is also a 2 day event that takes place on the Dusi River. Its been 7 years since I paddled on the Dusi so it will be a good test to see how well I handle the rapids.

 The picture above is of my girlfriend and I after paddling a 10 Km time trial together.

The Vaal marathon this weekend went really well. As i mentioned in my previous post, I paddled with Ant Stott and we combined really well, to win the race fairly comfortably. It was the first time in my life that I sat in the back of a boat down a river so I was a bit worried about how well I would combine, but it was actually really good and I quite enjoyed sitting in the back of the boat. Second place went to Peirs Cruickshanks and Mike Mbanjwa followed by Gavin Payne and Alex Roberts. The race was really well organised and it was a pleasure to be back on the river and of course paddling with Ant.

I am flying down to Pietermaritzburg tomorrow to do a talk with Ant and Cam Schoeman about my Olympic experience and Ant and Cam’s world marathon win. My next race will be the 94.7 cycle challenge in 2 weeks time, so I am going to get back on my bike soon before getting back into the boat again.

The picture above is of us shooting Visgat Weir. Ant and I got stuck on the weir, which cracked our boat quite badly. The only way for us to eventually get over the weir was for me to jump out the boat and push Ant down, losing valuable time. At that stage, we had about a 40 second break on the rest of the field so luckily it wasn’t too much of a problem.

Hi there everyone. I am sure that a lot of you have been wondering where I have been, what i have been up to and why I have not blogged in such a long time?

Besides for my quick trip to Portugal and doing the Fish Canoe Marathon I have been in Joburg enjoying some time off from training and spending as much time as possible with my girlfriend, family and friends. I recently got a car upgrade from Williams Hunt and I have also been doing doing some part time work as a motivational speaker for my one sponsor, Kaelo.

I went to Portugal on a fully sponsored trip by my boat sponsor Nelo. Nelo flew the top paddlers who paddle Nelo’s, from around the world, to enjoy a week of partying and getting to know the Nelo team and the other international athletes a whole lot better. It really was a great week so a huge thanks to Nelo for everything in Portugal and of course over the last few years, making sure that i get to paddle the fastest boat in the world. The new Vanquish looks great and I look forward to racing in it next year. I cant wait to go back to the Meeting of Champions in four years time.

The Fish marathon was also really great. I did it with one of my best mates Justin Bark and I had such an awesome time, shooting the rapids and enjoying the race without any pressure of the eventual outcome. We ended up 14th overall which I was really happy with. Thanks to Justin, who did a great job in helping me down the big rapids. It was my first time paddling down a river in 7 years so I was a bit rusty.

My new car is totally awesome. Its the new Chevrolet Captiva which is a Sports Utility Vehicle. Its very spacious and extremely comfortable to drive. I am very happy with it and I can’t thank Williams Hunt enough for their loyal support over the last few years. If anyone is looking for a new car, I suggest giving the Captiva a test drive at one of the Williams Hunt dealerships. I am pretty sure you will be impressed with it.

I have really enjoyed working with Kaelo and puting together my motivational speech. I have done quite a few school talks which are always fun but only did my first corporate speech last week. The speech was for Nashua and eventhough I was a bit nervous before hand, it went very well. I enjoy sharing my experiences with others so I am really happy to be in a position whereby I am able to get out and share my story.

I am slowly getting back in training which is always quite hard after a long time off the water. I will be doing the Vaal marathon with Ant Stott next weekend and I am really looking forward to be in the boat with him again. There should be some good competition at the race so I am getting excited because I have not raced a river marathon in a while and I always enjoy getting onto the river and racing hard.

The pictures above are of my new car, the Nelo party in Portugal and Kieths Flyover during the Fish Marathon.