The Reason Why I Love Canoeing...

[Simple: The start line.]

I race better than I train, some say it’s a bit backwards – I often agree. While some work hard mentally on race day to stay calm and in the zone - Just do what you do best on a daily basis - I’m constantly trying to put the pressure on in training.

So coming into the first race of the season I was overly excited <-- Understatement.

Tully is always an eventful race. It’s the first race. It’s a natural river. It’s physical!!! Baring that in mind, think of a 50m wide river, set in a valley combined with a 6 hour watershed. You guessed it, overnight the river had a completely different persona: from Fridays ‘stream’ to Saturdays ‘torrent’. The river had raised 2m!

Let’s just say Saturday’s format did not go to plan, people were running about like headless chickens and I observed three different courses within 2 hours. Whilst it was quite amusing hearing gate changes announced, that were clearly miscommunicated, the organisers work hard so that we could race in the afternoon: in a one run wonder style. Sunday was on the slight reverse of Saturday to a less extreme extent. Whilst river levels dropped a meter from the start of the race day to the end, the most experienced, competent, skilled and adaptive paddlers were phased by nothing and dominated the field on both days.

I came away from the weekend feeling…good! It’s always hard to evaluate the first race when it’s been 5 months since you last sat on the start line. Overall I really enjoyed racing; especially on Tully. It’s one of the few sights that is on a natural river and where I used to train most of the time when I was a junior.