The other day I received a wonderfull present from my clothing and glasses sponsor. Not only did I receive a good variety of clothing, they sent me their 2 new release glasses, the Radar’s and Flack Jacket’s as well as a pair of Thump Pro’s. The Thump Pro’s are fantastic as they allow me to train while listening to my favourite music which is great while doing my long steady sesions!
I am leaving for Europe on Sunday evening so the next two days will be spent packing and making sure I am prepared for a three and half month trip to Europe. Even though I will be away for a long time, I am really looking forward to what lies ahead!
The last 3 days of racing proved to be very successfull and great training. I did a total of 9 races and I won the K1 3000m, 1000m, 500m, K2 500m and K4 200m. I was 2nd in the K2 1000m and 200m and 3rd in the K1 200m. My goal was to race as many events as possible and to be successfull in all. The K2 races were my most enjoyable as it was very tight racing between myself and Shaun Biggs and Ant Stott and Mike Arthur. Shaun produced amazing performances in the k2 considering his level of fitness. It is always a pleasure paddling K2 with Shaun as we combine so well. Having raced so many races and performed well, I also won the mens Victor Ludorum for the second year in a row.
I am back home now for 1 more week before leaving to race the World Cups in Europe. First stop will be Croatia and I am looking forward to see how i am paddling compared to the international guys.
I have just received a new set of paddles from Braca. Our racing season is just about to take off so I am really happy that Braca were able to send me a new paddle in time. I am leaving this afternoon for Pietermaritzburg where we will be racing the South African sprint champs over the next few days. This competition should be filled good racing and a lot of fun. I am entered for all the K1 and K2 events wich I will be racing with Shaun Biggs. Shaun is coming out of retirement for this event and I am hoping that he will be fit enough to make it down the coarse. This will be the first time since marathon worlds that Shaun and I will paddle together and hopefully we can give the other crews a good hard race.
Tonight was the Gauteng Canoe Unions awards evening for 2006! I am pleased to have won the Best Male paddler of the year award as well as the sprinter of the year award. It is always a good feeling to be recognised for all the hard work and effort that goes into achieving results.
Earlier in the week I received an award of a different type. I graduated from university! I now have a B.Com degree in Sports management. It is great to finally have a degree behind me now while I continue to focus on achieveing my paddling goals.Â
