NIKOLA GIRKE- Sailing

After an incredible 3 weeks of training, I'm going home tomorrow, but just for 10 days before I head back to Weymouth for the Pre-Olympics. Some may ask why I am going home for such a short time...with all that jetlag to deal with etc... and well, over the years I've learned how I work and perform at my best. Five weeks away is my cut-off and if I didn't go home, I'd be gone for 7+, whilst racing the Pre-Olympics in those last 2 weeks. Plus it keeps my training away intense and exciting!

The training camp in Santander with the girls was awesome... We pushed each other hard both on and off the water. Sailing, gym, surfing, running, biking, yoga, eating and sleeping was on the menu each day and by the end of the 11 days I was too tired to sleep. My body had had it... I was done, I had given it my all.




My last day in Santander started with a morning surf, then went straight from the beach onto a bus that took me to Bilbao 1.5hrs away, from where I flew to Germany. Thunderstorms and missed connections had me and 3 others stranded in Munich late at night when we wanted to get to Nuernberg, and thus Lufthansa ended up sending us in a taxi. Yikes....a 250euro cab ride. Three days in Germany to visit with my family and go to my cousins wedding was my treat for the long day of traveling. And all was great until I got some sort of stomach flu...

Arriving in Weymouth, still feeling a bit under the weather, it was perfect that there was absolutely no wind on what should have been my first training day. I soon regained my strength and the past 4 days of training have been really good. Both yesterday and today it was very windy...about 15 degrees with intermittent squalls that had the wind get up to about 30+ knots today. Being out in those conditions for more than 2hrs each day is very tiring and I thought it was a good idea to call it a day when I lead around the top mark on the 4th practice race of today. A nice way to end my training here in Weymouth... and the sun even came out to dry everything nicely as I packed up.


Cheers,
Nikola

CAN SMEDLEY- Canoe/Kayak

World Cup #2 & #3

It’s always fun and exciting to explore new race sites and cities, and this year we had two new places we got to check out.  The site for the second World Cup was in L’Argentiere, France and it’s a beautiful little town on the edge of the Alps.  The water is glacier fed which makes it very cold.  As for the race course it was long and open, and combined with the altitude made racing interesting.  Qualifiers went well as I had a fast second run without penalties allowing me to move on to the semi-final.  My semi-final run went well but I touched two of the gates which added 4 seconds to my time resulting in a 25^th place finish.

We then moved on to Leipzig, Germany for World Cup #3.   The site reminded me of a slalom course in the United States where we frequently train.  So even though it was a new for me it felt as though I knew the river.  And as it was my best finish at the World Cup races so far I would like to think that it helped.  The day the races started the wind had picked up making it even tougher to stay away from the poles.  I again pulled through on my second qualifier run and I was able to stay clean and finished 8th, easily putting me through to the next day of racing.  It was a nice change being able to watch some of the paddlers in front me do the course and give me an idea of what might be the fastest line.  Unfortunately I took 2 touches in the semi-final putting me back but I still had a fast time overall so I finished 16^th.

Last week some teammates and I decided to do some training in Bratislava as we had a few weeks between races and it is always good to get comfortable with course that will be hosting the World Championships and the Olympic Qualifiers.  But tomorrow I head back to Canada for a small break before preparing for our National Champions in 2 weeks.  It will be nice to back home for a few days in this long racing season!

Cam

ROBIN RANDALL- Waterpolo

Hi everyone!

Robin Randall here from Team Canada Men's Water Polo Team.  A lot has been happening since I last wrote you, and I'm excited to fill you in on the details...

June saw the squad travel to two cities in Montenegro en route to Florence, Italy, and the 2011 World League Super Finals.  In Herceg Novi and Podgorica, Montenegro, Canada trained with that nation's team daily to prepare for Florence where they would square off against the top teams in the world.

In Florence, Canada managed to beat China in their final match, securing seventh place.  In other matches the Canucks fell short to Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia and Australia in hard-fought battles outdoors, where temperatures exceeded 35 C daily.

Now the team finds themselves en route to the 14th FINA World Championships in Shanghai, China.  Having trained with Montenegro again in Guangzhou (formerly Canton), the Canadians will face Croatia, Japan, and Brazil in the preliminary round before defending their best-ever eighth place ranking from the previous World Championship.

Watch our boys in action by following the links online at:

www.fina.org <http://www.fina.org>

Thanks for reading, and as always, GO CANADA GO!!!

Robin Randall
Fulfilling your goaltending needs
Since 1987

JOHN HASTINGS- Canoe/Kayak

World Cup #1 Recap

So, I finished 8th in the first world cup of the season. I feel a slight sense of vindication making the final here in Tacen, especially after missing the semi at last years World Championships. So am I happy with my result, kind of. Making a World Cup final...it's tough, and I am pumped to have achieved that, but just like everyone else in that final, I kind of wanted more. 

After my semi, I was sitting in eight; however, I knew I had a little left in the tank and could probably go a second or two faster. In the final, I got off to a fast start, but got tied up in the tough gate 4 - 5 combo. I tried making up for the time-loss by cutting lines, but in Tacen where the water ebbs and flows like the stock exchange, this decision worked against me. Needless to say, my time was slower than my semi time and after I picked up a touch at the bottom of the course winning a medal became pretty unlikely. I am positive though, and as my dad always says, there's always another race.

You can check out the finals and the semi-finals at http://video.digotel.com/eurovisionbest/icf/index.html. Scroll over to Canoe Slalom World Cup K1-M Finals and cue up the video to 1:19:00.

Anyways, highlight of the week was meeting a "family friend" of Taylor Swift at the annual Parallel Slalom in the downtown core of Ljubljana. Paul, a huge fan of Taylor, gladly handed over his phone number to this guy as he promised he would deliver it to her, and get her to call him next time she was in Calgary. I was a little more skeptical of this guy and this relationship...so to test him, I requested he get Taylor to simply tweet good luck to the two of us for the race.....yep, that didn't happen....I am not going to say I am a better judge of character as I will admit I will be pretty jealous if she does call Paul....and I want to stay positive for the little guy. 

Anyways, off to France today for World Cup #2. We will be in Southern France in L'Argentiere La Bessee. 

Ciao,

John

NIKOLA GIRKE- Sailing

After two weeks at home, I'm off again... No competitions this time, just training. My first week at home was spent recovering, the second was back at training - both on the water, dryland/gym and at the end of the week, just to finish me off, a fitness test! Needless to say...yoga was quite tough the following morning.

I arrived here late last night, my training started today (our session was already over by 7am my time!), in Santander, Spain (atlantic coast), at the Spanish Olympic Sailing Team training center. I'm joined by a really great group of girls - both on and off the water. Within our group (World #1 - Spanish sailor Marina, Lee from Israel, Demita from Mexico and Vicky from Hong Kong, and myself), we've got experts to cover all the bases: heavy, medium and light winds. The training facility is world class (we sleep here in dorm rooms looking out over the boat storage area and the harbour), there is a gym here on site as well as a gym/pool close by that we can go too. The sailing conditions here are good too, as is the surfing. It was a requirement to bring a surfboard :) And for all of you who've expressed some jealousy that I'm in Spain...it's NOT the warm part of Spain I just found out. It was a normal summer day today; 16 degrees and rain. Hmmm... I wonder why nobody told me that before I got here.

Attached are some pictures: the loading of the Spanish Van in Weymouth after Sail For Gold...little did I know until packing day that there are about 8 guys training in Santander too...and everyone's equipment had to go in or on the van. Not much room left for anything else!!! The pile of gear that we had to sift through to find our stuff. Our dorm room...before and after we moved in, and the view of where we are at the club. The town is very close...although I haven't seen any of it yet because it's been raining too hard.

And now it's off to try to sleep - should hopefully be a bit easier after a full day of sailing and the gym!

STEVE VAN KNOTSENBURG- Rowing

Amsterdam/Erba/Lucerne

It has been a while since I wrote last – I’ve held off writing because I don’t want these posts to become mundane training updates with nothing else of any substance.  The past three weeks have been a solid block of training and Dave and I have gotten some good work in.  We have had a few minor illnesses and injuries to deal with but nothing that has derailed us all that much.  Many of the other Canadian boats have been gradually selected and have started to come together and pick up speed.  We tried to avoid last minute selection for the crews this year but in the end that is exactly what is happening.  It’s not ideal, but the boats are melding together well and starting to post some impressive times.  The races over the next month will serve as a speed check for all of our crews and will determine whether these line-ups stay together or whether we need to reshuffle things and try out new combinations.  So, while the athletes are excited to get over to Europe and race in their respective boats, the boats are still very much works in progress. Preparing for these two races is exciting but our focus is the World Championships at the end of August.  A trap that I think we have fallen into in the past is focusing too much on preseason time trials and races – they are definitely important and can help to build confidence, but it is possible to try to peak too many times and end up feeling a bit dull by the end of the summer.

We travel to Amsterdam on Monday to race in the Holland Beker regatta next weekend. Only a few international crews will be there but it will be a great chance to get used to being around a regatta site again and go through the process of getting ready to race.  I’m sure it will all come flooding back, but I haven’t done this sort of thing for 3 years!  It will take a few days to adjust to the 9-hour time difference and recover from the jetlag but we should be ready to go by the weekend.  From Amsterdam we will be traveling to my two favorite places in the rowing world.  For the past 8 years the Canadian team has held our European training camps in a little Italian town called Erba, just south of Lake Como.  There isn’t much to do there, but we have the lake to ourselves and the food at the hotel is incredible.  It is a great place to settle into life away from Victoria and to prepare for the upcoming races.

The World Cup race in Lucerne, Switzerland is always the main preseason race that most international crews to go to test their speed against the competition.  The city itself is beautiful and the lake that we race on, called the Rotsee, is ideal.  The lake is barely large enough to fit a 2km rowing course and the water is typically completely flat with no wind… leading to fair lanes and great racing conditions.  I have had some of my best races on the Rotsee and I can’t wait to go back!

The docks in Lucerne

Start for the final of the pair in 2008

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
-Walden

This is the song that I listen to right before I go out to race.  Not a huge ‘pump up’ song… Just one that reminds me how great it is to be alive and to be in the position to race against the best rowers in the world.

SARAH BOUDENS- Canoe/Kayak - Slalom

Canadian National Team Trials

After a stressful weekend of racing for all of the athletes, the 2011 Canadian National Whitewater Slalom Team has been determined.  The venue was changed a week and a half before the competition due to high water levels in Jonquiere, Quebec and moved to Valleyfield, just west of Montreal.

The whitewater in Valleyfield is much smaller and less technical than what we commonly compete on internationally.  This meant that the times were super close resulting in a nail biting competition.  We had 4 races over two days with the best 3 of 4 counting for each athlete.  The times were so tight that even after the 4^th race was completed we needed to wait for all of the math to be finished to figure out who had made the team. 

Congratulations to the following athletes for some great racing over the weekend to qualify for the 2011 National Team.

K1 M

David Ford

Paul Manning-Hunter

John Hastings

K1 W

Jessica Groeneveld

Thea Froehlich

Sarah Boudens

C2

Jamie & Adam Cutts

Thomas & Daniel Purcell

C1

Cam Smedley

Julian Potvin-Bernal

C1 W

Alexandra McGee

Haley Daniels

Sindy Audet

The team is off to Slovenia for the first World Cup of the season next weekend.   The team will compete in 4 World Cups over the summer and the athletes in the Olympic disciplines of K1M, K1W, C1 and C2 will be competing in the London Test Event on the new 2012 London Olympic course in July.  The season will culminate in September with the World Championships and the first Olympic qualifying event in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Sarah