Olympic Warm Up for Tauranga Locals

KAYAKING: Olympic warm up for locals

 Bay of Plenty Times

Wednesday, May 9, 2012 8:58

 

FOCUSED: Top slalom kayaker Mike Dawson is staying in Slovakia for three weeks of training.

 

Top New Zealand canoe slalom paddlers Mike Dawson and Luuka Jones have had a sneak preview of the Lee Valley whitewater course, ahead of the London Olympics.

The Tauranga pair, who have already qualified for London, were invited to compete as fore-runners in the Great Britain Olympic trials, kick-starting a three-week training block on the purpose-built artificial course.

"The course has changed a bit from when we were last here racing in October but there are still heaps of holes and stoppers to knock you off-line and into the poles," Dawson said. "The configuration of the course means there is a lot going on as you try and get through the gates. You can get thrown around a bunch and it's really easy to take a lot of water over the boat.

"I love paddling here but it's really physical - after 10 days of hard training, my arms feel like lead and my body feels like it's falling apart."

Jones, who also competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, is happy with the way her training is going, though she admits the build-up to London is proving mildly distracting.
 

  "With less than 85 days to go until the Games, the venue is on lock down, with only accredited athletes and officials allowed entry," Jones said.

"The grandstands are being erected around the outside of the course and temporary buildings being put up - it was exciting to see them and it enforced how close the Games actually are."

Both took a break from their London sessions to compete in the Slovak Cup over the weekend, on the same course they qualified on at last year's world championships.

"There were definitely some good memories here and a strong sense of nostalgia although we had to adjust quickly to the different feel of the water compared with London," Jones said.

"The idea was to get another race under my belt as you can't replicate that 'start-line feeling' in training and it is always a great indication of how training is going."

With a field including reigning world champion Austrian Corinna Kuhnle and Slovakian star Jana Duk�tov�, Jones was delighted with a fourth placing on the first day and a sixth on the second day, while Dawson finished fifth and fourth respectively.

"I raced well and was pleased with where I was at in this phase of the year," Jones said. "I'm heading back to London super confident and fired up."

Jones has another week on the Olympic course, before heading for her base in Nottingham, while Dawson will stay in Slovakia for a further three weeks of training.

Jones is the first New Zealand woman to compete in canoe slalom at Olympic level, while Dawson is just the third Kiwi male, after Donald Johnstone in 1992 and Owen Hughes in 1996.

Olympic Canoe Slalom Team announced

 Heading to the London Olympics with  Luuka Jones K1W will be Kidda Rapsin UK coach  and with Mike Dawson K1M will be his long time support and mentor Les Dawson. Jane Borren Waiariki HP   will be supporting both athletes at the games. Both athletes are thrilled to acknowledge  Kidda, Jane and Les as their support team heading into the London Games.

Dawson secures Olympic spot

Mike Dawson secures Olympic slalom spot

by Jamie Troughton | Monday, September 12, 2011 7:47

Jubilant New Zealand kayaker Mike Dawson has just two goals left for the year, after qualifying for the London Olympics at the world canoe slalom championships in Slovakia overnight.

The 24-year-old finished 16th in the K1 semifinals, good enough to qualify as the 11th-best nation. He joins fellow Tauranga paddler Luuka Jones, who also qualified over the weekend.

It capped a remarkable year for Dawson, who has funded much of his European campaign through prize money won in various extreme races. He's eyeing one more extreme prize - the adidas Sickline world championships in Austria at the end of September - before beginning his Olympic buildup in earnest.

"I'm going to sit down today and make a bit of a plan for the next few months but I'll definitely give the world extreme championships a crack," Dawson said. "After that, I'm super-keen to get home for the Rugby World Cup final - if anyone has any spare tickets, I'd love to hear from them!"

Dawson is just the fourth Kiwi slalom racer to qualify for the Olympics after Donald Johnstone in 1992, Owen Hughes in 1996 and Jones in 2008.

After qualifying 10th for the semifinals in Bratislavia, he admits he had a few nervous moments in his final run.

"The course was pretty hard and totally different from what we'd done in training. I made a big mistake at the start and lost more than 5secs with a touch at the top but from there to the bottom, I had a good run. I was quite stressed out and nervous the rest of the way down the course.

 "Luckily I'd qualified high and there weren't too many guys after me so I knew I'd made it pretty much as soon as I'd finished my run.

"I was gutted at having a shitty run and to be within a touch of the final but at the same time, that Olympic spot was the key for me and I was so stoked to nail that."

Dawson's top-16 finish should secure him SPARC performance funding for the next year, which comes at a good time - his apartment in Slovakia was burgled a fortnight ago and he's down to his last 150 Euros in prizemoney.

Slovakia's Peter Kauzer won the men's K1, holding off Poland's Mateusz Polaczyk by 1.21secs in the final.

Dawson then helped the New Zealand men, along with Johann Roozenburg and Aaron Osborne, to ninth in the teams competition, 10.83secs behind winners Germany.

Jones - who qualified for London on Saturday by finishing 32nd and 15th nation in the women's K1 - joined Nikki Whitehead and Louise Jull to finish 13th in the women's team race.

It caps a golden month for Bay of Plenty kayakers after Ohope's Lisa Carrington won the K1 200m title at the world flatwater championships, also qualifying for London with Erin Taylor in the K2500m.

Jones secures Olympic spot

Luuka Jones grabs Olympic kayaking spot

by Jamie Troughton | Saturday, September 10, 2011 17:47

 

Luuka Jones qualified for her second Olympics at the canoe slalom world championships in Slovakia.

Paul Roozendaal

A brilliant world championship paddle by Mike Dawson has been overshadowed by his New Zealand teammate Luuka Jones qualifying for her second Olympics in Slovakia today.
While Dawson nailed his second preliminary run to qualify 10th for tomorrow's semifinals at the Canoe Slalom Worlds in Bratislava, Jones agonisingly missed out, finishing 32nd and just 0.15secs off the top-30 needed to progress.
But her placing, amid a strong field of European paddlers, was enough to qualify her for the London Olympics - the 23-year-old clocked 105.46secs, good enough to be the 14th-fastest nation in the women's division.
The three-time national champion became New Zealand's first female Olympic canoe slalom paddler in Beijing in 2008 and is delighted at getting another Olympic shot.
"It will be hard watching the semifinal tomorrow when I know I should be there but I'm stoked to have qualified for the games and will have a lot of time to plan and have a really good build up," Jones said.
"I just went all out, left nothing behind and had a really sweet run but unfortunately picked up a couple of 2sec by touching gates at the top of the course, which kept me out of the semifinals."
Jones' elevation is also good news for another Tauranga-born paddler, Ella Nicholas, who is now representing the Cook Islands. The Otago University medical student finished 63rd in the heats, 26secs off the pace, but with Australia and New Zealand both earning spots in London, Nicholas is a strong bet to secure the Oceania spot for the Olympics.

 

  Dawson needs to finish in the top 15 nations to qualify and still has work to do, with paddlers from 23 different countries making the semifinals.
But the 24-year-old made a huge stride towards his goal, after a faultless second run rocketed him up the leaderboard.
He was three spots outside the semifinal cut after his first run, courtesy of a pair of 2sec penalties, but his second run left him 10th and just 1.5secs behind top qualifier, Germany's Alexander Grimm.
"I never thought it would be that tight here but they set an easy course, with gates in all the worst possible places, which made it a strength-based muscle-man course," Dawson said. "I was a bit shaky on my first run but my second run was way better. I held it together and was in a good head-space, just trying to stay in the middle of the gate and get the boat moving instead of having to work for it. I'm just really stoked to get the job done and make it this far but getting that Olympic spot on Sunday is going to be just as hard. I'll get some sleep and rest up and go from there."
Dawson's 89.44sec run was 0.18secs faster than Slovenian star Peter Kauzer, winner of the last world cup round, and 1.5secs better than 2008 Olympic bronze medalist Benjamin Boukpeti (Togo).
Fellow Kiwi Aaron Osborne (Rotorua) also had a dream second run, clocking 93.05secs to leave him agonizingly close to making the semifinals, 0.34secs adrift in 44th. After a tough year with injury, the other New Zealander in the field, Johann Roozenburg, also had a sharp second run, comfortably inside the top half of the field in 55th after clocking 94.82secs.
Of the other Kiwi women in K1, Te Puke's Nikki Whitehead had a clear second run to finish in 52nd, while Otaki's Louise Jull was 55th after a 115.94sec time.
After the first two days were cancelled due to high winds, organisers have compressed the racing schedule, with New Zealand's three C1 canoe paddlers, Brent Bastin, Ben Gibb and Shaun Higgins, all racing tonight.

2011 World Cup One Tacen Ljubljana SLO

Photo Glenys Travers NZL

A brilliant semifinal run has given New Zealand whitewater kayaker Mike Dawson his best result on the World Cup circuit in Slovenia overnight.

Dawson eventually finished 10th in the first ICF championship event of the season in Tacen, drawing a 50sec time penalty in the K1 final to fall out of medal contention.
But he'd already created a little bit of history, becoming the first Kiwi male to make it past the semifinals at a World Cup round.
"Unfortunately I knocked the last gate in the final with the wrong side of my head, so was credited with missing it," Dawson said. "But I'm delighted with my performance and life tastes pretty good at the moment. It's certainly a big confidence booster with Olympic selections coming up."

The result is easily the 24-year-old's best at senior level, surpassing his 21st placing at the same venue four years ago, and comes just a week after starring in extreme races at the Teva Outdoor Games in Italy.

Dawson's superb semifinal run was the key, clocking the second-fastest run of the round with a 97.06sec effort. Only a single touch at one of the gates dropped him back to 10th position, still good enough to ease into the final 0.1sec ahead of Italian world champion Daniele Molmenti.

Slovenians Peter Kauzer and Jure Meglič dominated the final to finish first and second respectively, with Kauzer using his local knowledge to clock an amazing 95.48sec final run, repeating his victory at the same event in 2008. German Sebastian Schubert was third in 99.57secs.

New Zealand's Beijing Olympian paddler Luuka Jones wasn't so lucky in the K1 women's event, finishing 31st after the heats and just missing a spot in the semifinal by a solitary place. Otaki's Louise Jull was 45th.

In the men's C1 canoe heats, Tauranga teenagers Shaun Travers and Brent Bastin were 43rd and 45th respectively.

Most of the New Zealand team will now head to the next World Cup round in L'Argentiere, France, next weekend, with Dawson also eyeing a chance to race the London Olympic course at the end of July, with an invitational race at the Lee Valley White Water Centre.
Jamie Troughton Dscribe Journalism and PR ,Tauranga, NZL

Buenos Aires to Auckland

Making the most of the last day in Buenos Aires the team headed to the famous cemetery - city of the dead- in the middle of the city. It was well worth the trip. The mausoleums are owned by families costing up to USD 35K with an annual fee of about 20USD to maintain the roads. The family is responsible for maintaining the crypt. It is just like a miniature city for the dead, narrow avenues are named after famous people. Just like real estate it is location location location- the more valuable crypts are on the main avenue and the further away the cheaper they become cost is on sq m. There are up to 24 coffins in each crypt layered in three levels in each crypt. All the coffins are metal inside and sealed. If a coffin leaks then the family must have it cremated immediately. As more family members move on the old coffins are cremated to make room for the latest deaths. Burial underground in Buenos Aires is only for five years and then the family must exhume the coffin and have the coffin cremated. There is also a concrete storage wall where sealed coffins can be stored but that is only for up to 15 years and then the family must also remove the coffin and have them cremated. Eva Peron is in her family vault at this cemetery.

After lunch everyone went their own ways for shopping and exploring.



Tonight most of the team fly home. Mark stays on a for a couple of weeks to explore the region, Kay and Mike have a couple of days in BA and everyone else head towards NZ, Uni exams and well deserved breaks from paddling. With the Oceania race now the major qualification for both NZ and Australia the pressure is on.

Safe travelling everyone

Andrew's Personal Best

The 3kg challenge
Qualifications, semi-finals and finals- Gold medalist

Travelling- South American style

All went smoothly out of the hotel in Foz do Iguacu, cars loaded and headed towards Foz airport Argentina for the trip home. Arrived at the airport and breathed a sigh of relief no one around- first clue NZL missed ( also the Italians on the same flight). Aeolineas was out on strike but fortunately just a short strike. With the plane only delayed until 3.30 check-in was smooth and all boats loaded and the wait began.

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Arrived safely in Buenos Aires and staying at the Waldorf Hotel in the middle of town.




A traditional restaurant, leather chairs, character of a waiter, food, wine, beers and relaxed times. Ordered a mixed grill-goat,pork,lamb,beef,chicken- the guys eyes were definitely bigger than their stomachs except for Andrew more to follow


Exhausted and replete

Kiwis leave for NZ

Boats have been disinfected, bags packed and last minute organisation finished as the Kiwis prepare for the two day trip back to NZ.

Safe travelling to all the Kiwis.

K1W and C2 men Results day Five Brazil

K1 Women and C2 Men Semi-Finals Day Five 23 September 2007 Brazil

With 30 C2 crews in the start line today the former Olympic gold and world champion C2 crew of brothers Peter and Pavel Hoschorner SVK once again showed their world class standard by easily taking out the C2 title in 206.81 with one touch. This season has seen them unbeatable in World Cups and European Opens. French brothers Pierre and Christophe Luquet were second in the medal count down by 8 seconds in a time of 214.83 with Benetti and Masoero ITA taking out 3rd position. The NZL C2 crew Nicholas and Robinson never quite found their form and had forced errors down the course putting paid to any hopes of Olympic qualification in the C2class. The course showed its challenges to C2 crews driving through gates 7-9 and 14-16 proving how easy it was to be off line, incur a 50 second penalty and struggle to fully recover.

Forty K1 women lined up with NZL’s Tania Perrett second starter today. The K1W had its drama with top paddlers incurring 50 second penalties often on gate 5. Perrett started well on the top of the course but had a slow time when coupled with forced errors between gates 12-16 leaving her near the bottom of the field. She found it difficult to maintain her speed and accuracy on the technically demanding course. At this stage final K1W results haven’t been posted on the web

Canoe slalom with high audience profile is seen as the most technically and physically demanding of all the Olympic sports . With inconsistent water the athletes are always adjusting their performance as they paddle down the course.

To all the NZL athletes competing in Brazil at their own cost, training without a coach and maintaining top 30 positions in the world be proud of your efforts. You have done the hard yards and it was unfortunate it didn’t happen on the day that counted. Teams with full support, paid coaches, paid athletes and paid managers, physios and nutritionists did not out do your performances at times in these world championships.
Thanks to Alison Perrett for her support, Sue and Kay for their help with the Kiwis and Kidda for his time and effort away from his work to be with the seniors

Watch out the Kiwis will be back for the Oceania Olympic Qualification Championships in Sydney March 2007.