Just a quick note to let you know that Nelo is sending a container over filled with boats that the British Olympic sprint team will be using on a training camp for a few weeks in South Africa and then selling afterwards. This is a great opportunity to get the best boat on the market without the hassle of transport admin and costs. I am helping to sell the boats for Nelo here in SA so if you are interested in buying one of the sprint boats at a real good price or if you want to take advantage of a container coming over and ordering a marathon boat, K2 or surfski then contact me ASAP at ruby@shaunrubenstein.com
The 2011 marathon world champs has come and gone and I am happy with how well I did, while at the same time completely disappointed. I had a great race. After the start I found myself well positioned on first wave for the first 2 kms of the race. There was a big front bunch of about 8 boats and about half way through the first lap there were a lot of intervals while the paddlers were jockying for position. My gameplan for the race was not to get involved in any of the early intervals and try and save myself for later on the race. The heat in Singapore is very intense and I knew that if too much effort was expended early on then I would pay later on in the race, especially considering that my base was exactly that big after years of 200m training. I eased up and waited for 2nd bunch to join me. I joined forces with Ben Brown and Ben Fouhy in the second group and we all worked very well together, keeping in touch with the front guys, but not closing the gap too soon either.
After 3 laps we eventually joined the front group and after some intervals and reshuffling the group now included 6 boats. Hank and myself for SA, Portugal, Spain, Hungary and New zealand. At this stage I was feeling brilliant and I started to believe that I was going to win a medal. Hank and I worked very well together ensuring that neither of us ever sat 2nd wave. It was a great advantage having 2 SA boats in the front bunch and we made the most of it.
On the last lap my lack of real long distance training started to show and I started to feel some real fatigue. The race finished with a portage and then a 800m sprint to the finish line. on the run in to the portage we were caught by 2 boats, a Czech and German. Now a 8 boat strong group, I got a little boxed in coming into the last portage and only ended up taking out towards the back of the group. I had a good portage but still put in 4th behind Hank and a Czech guy that had just caught us from behind and then the Hungarian guy. Hank and Czech had about 5 seconds on me and the Hungarian. We chased very hard but werent able to close the gap and the race finished Hank first, Czech 2nd, Hungarian 3rd and me 4th, about 5 seconds off the pace.
A huge well done to Hank who had a fantastic race and flew the flag high for SA. I really wanted to be on that medal podium also but unfortunately I just ran out of gas in the dying stages. I am however very proud of my attempt to get back on top of the marathon racing world with such a short preparation time. Next year I hope to be back and to fight for that medal that eluded me this year. 
The last 3 weeks of training h ave absolutely flown by. I am very happy with how they have gone. I did some awesome sessions with Tim Brabants for the first 2 weeks which was unbelievable. Always a great privilege to train with Tim. Not only did we do some great sessions on the water we also cycled up to the mast on top of the Tokai mountain. It is an 11km non stop clinb to the top and we did it in 1h10. It takes about 20mins to the bottom as you cant go fast because of all the switchback turns. I have really enjoyed this session and I have done it twice since with my best time going up now being 60mins and 13 seconds.
The last week has been spent training with Ant Stott and Graham Solomon. Great to have quality guys to train with again and I got some good marathon experience trying to hang on their wave while they were doing their K2 sessions. For now I only have 1 week left training here in Cape Town before I head off to Singapore. Most of my tough sessions are now behind me and I am just going to concentrate on maintaining the good rythm that I have found in my k1 and also try and get my speed up and portages waxed.
I have really enjoyed my whole build up to this world champs. Not only is it great to be doing something different for a change, I am really enjoying building up for this event without any pressure. Not even I know whether I have managed to build up enough endurance over the past few weeks to last the pace and distance of a marathon world champs and with Hank going so well at the moment, all SA’s hopes lie with him to bring us back a gold. I have been able to just lie low and do my own thing under the radar and I have loved it. After all the pressure of trying to qualify for the Olympics and the low of not having achieved that, these last few weeks have been a real pleasure.
So for now its just making sure I am completely recovered and healthy for race day and then to hope that my experience can get me through with a sniff of a medal 
As I am sure that everyone following this blog knows that I have had a bit of a roller coaster ride the last few weeks even though I havent posted for a while. So unfortunately world sprint champs went pretty crap. I am still not sure why we werent firing on the day that mattered most, but it turned out that it just wasnt meant to be. We missed our chance to qualify a K2 for the Olympics which was a real disappointment as I am sure you can all imagine. There is unfortunately no more chances for SA to qualify a K2. SA has however qualified a K1 spot through African qualification but we will have to wait and see whether SASCOC is willing to send a boat to games considering our results at the world champs was below par across the board, besides for Bridgitte.
Anyway this is now out of my hands so I am trying not to think about it too much. What I am thinking about is the marathon world champs at the end of October in Singapore. Mt request to compete at the marathon world champs was accepted by CSA and my quest to transform back from a 200m to a marathon paddler has begun. Its quite a daunting task considering that I have been training for a 32 second race for the last 3 years and now I am trying to prepare for a 30km race in just 6 weeks. My training however has been going well and I am definitely getting fitter and getting back into the rhythm of marathon paddling. Whether I will have enough in the tank come race day will be a mystery untill the day as there are no pre races that I can do in order to test myself properly. I am however really training hard. I have a brilliant training partner for the next few weeks in Olympic Champ, Tim Brabants. Yesterday we bust out a tough 20km wash lead session which was great and definitely the kind of training sessions that will get me onto the front bunch at worlds and hopefully keep me there. Anyway I am super excited to go into an event with no pressure and no expectations. I obviously have set myself pretty high goals for the race but I am under no pressure considering my limited preparation for the event. I will be relying on a lot of experience come race day!!! Exciting Times!!!
Off the water I am pretty busy working on an exciting business initiative and also trying to finish off my studies. Days seem to be flying by which is a good thing as it means that I am busy. Will do an update on my marathon progress again pretty soon.
What are the chances that I will be celebrating like this on the 22nd of October???? Only time will tell… Its a long shot but I will certainly be trying!!!
I have been in Hungary now for about 2 weeks, completing my final preparations for World Champs in a little town called Szolnok. I have spent most of my pre world champs training camps here over the last few years so I feel very comfortable here and I always get to do a good quality of training here. So far, this year has been no different.
Mike and I have had a great 2 weeks of training. Our k2 is going really well, we are both healthy and strong so now its just to put the last 3 years of preparations into play when we line up next weekend in Szeged for the World Championships and the Olympic Qualifications. This race is by far the most important race for us as a k2 combination so while the pressure is on, we both feel as if we are in the best shapes of our lives and we are paddling faster than ever, so were are excited to get into the racing and see what we can do.
I am super excited to race in Szeged. Not only will the atmosphere be unreal, with thousands of spectators lining the side of the race coarse, my wife will be in town to watch me race internationally for the first time. Alongside my wonderful wife will be my parents, my brother and sister in law, my in laws and 3 of my mates from back home so it is going to be a great weekend with lots of proudly SA support.
The pic below is of Mike and I doing a time trial in our new Vanquish Quatro. Nelo have designed such a spectacular boat. Just when you think it cant get better, Nelo come up with the goods. I am proud to be associated with such a great team.
