My first international regatta of 2009 has come and gone and I am both satisfied and dissatisfied with my performances. I made the final of the 500m K1 and finnished 7th which I am haapy with, but I had a disaster 1000m K1 semi final and only made it through to the c-final. I won the C-final fairly easily but I was very dissappointed that I never performed better in the semi and never made the A-final.

I ended the weekend of with a really fun 5000m race in which I came 5th. After a good start, I got squeezed off the front group going round the first turn. It took me another 3km to catch up again and with about 1km to go I was with positions 3,4,5 and 6 but unfortunately I had spent to much energy trying to catch up to the guys again and wasn’t able to win the sprint for 3rd. It was a good race though and I think the 5000m should become a more regular feature at the international competitions.

I am now off to Budapest to train before moving to Szeged for the last World Cup of the year. In Szeged I will race 500m K2 and 1000m K1. I am looking forward to race the k2 again since my last international k2 sprint race was back in 2003. I will be racing with Mike Arthur and hopefully we will be able to mix it up with the top crews.