Bradys Lake Training Camp

Team Guinea (minus Chris and Scott due to unforseen injury based circumstances) this week journeyed down to Bradys Lake in central Tasmania for a 5 day training camp on the site where National team selection will be held in March 2010.  We managed to complete 8 whitewater sessions over the 5 days and squeezed in some reading, relaxation and most importantly marshmallow toasting! 

Victorian Championships

The Australian racing season has started with the Victorian Championships last weekend. Some very tight racing transpired particularly in the mixed C2 category. With Scotty and Sarah claiming the win in the first run by a significant margin, Leanne and Chris decided to give anything a go to claim that Victorian title. Normally not seen in mixed C2, Leanne jumped in the back and Chris the front which worked well and gave them the win by only 2 seconds. It seems the mixed C2 title will be very fiercely fought for at the National Championships in January.

Other results from the Vic Champs included Chris and Scotty winning the Open men’s C2 class, Chris claiming the Open men’s K1 title and Leanne for Open Ladies C1 and K1.

Team Guinea also decided to make an appearance in t

he C1 team event together, where the starter had to remind us that it was not a race between all of us but rather a race between us and the other entrants. 

Unfortunately Team Guineas success at the Vic Champs was slightly marred by a minor injury on Saturday night. In a completely innocent camp game the members of the Guinea / Guinea C2 crew managed to collide into each other and unfortunately for Chris it seems that Scott’s head is harder than Chris’ nose. Needless to say the game ended promptly and has since resulted in Chris requiring surgery to maintain his claimed ‘beautiful looks’. Hopefully he will be back on the water asap.

New Team Guinea (+1) household!

Team Guinea has relocated to Penrith for the summer and are now proudly renting a house with Sarah Grant in South Penrith for the next 3 months to make the most of the whitewater facilities and coaching. The house is very nice (arguably too nice for a paddlers pad) and even has lights in the kitchen cupboards! 

World Championship Video

The ICF has made a site that has all of the video of the semi, final and team runs at the World Championships. Check it out here.

GOLD SILVER AND BRONZE at the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!

After getting a 50 second penalty on my semi final run I was ranked in 7th position heading into the final, Ros in 4th and Jess ranked 1st! I put down a run which I was very happy with on the difficult course despite hitting the last gate and finished on 137.80 with the GOLD! At the time Carolin Loir of France thought she had finished in 2nd place however a late 50 second penalty was added to her time moving her into 8th position. Ros Lawrence (AUS) finished in 2nd place on 143.10 and Jess Fox rounded out the 1, 2, 3 Aussie domination on 145.41. For all the results check out the ICF webiste  

Earlier, the 3 Aussie C1W used the forerun for a practice teams run for next years World Championships. Fortunately for us... and disappointingly for the crowd there was next to no carnage and  the Aussie girls finished clear ahead of the field of 4 by over 50 seconds. 

Now Team Guinea heads home for a few weeks of rest and relaxation before starting off the new season. 

Qualifications over!

In the women's C1 event today, Leanne finished with 2 good but dirty runs placing her in 2nd position heading into semis behind Teng of China. Ros and Jess finished 3rd and 14th respectively meaning all 3 Aussies advance to the semi finals which will be held on Sunday. 

Unfortunately it was a tough day in the office for the other Australians today with Rob (22) missing out on semis by 0.06 and Will (24) by 0.4 seconds. Both Warwick (35) and Ian (30) were pushed out of the top 20 cut off due to a penalty. Other Australian results included Sam Lyons (51) and Robin Jeffrey (47). 

Tomorrows racing consists of Teams - at which Leanne, Ros and Jess will be doing a forerun prior to the start of racing. 

Chris and Scott were the first Australian boat off in the World Championships and showed everyone the massive improvements they have made over the past year since beginning C2. They had 2 very solid runs down the course unfortunately picking up a few penalties which put them out of the top 20 cut off. The boys finished in 31^st position and they have definitely benefited from the opportunity and experience.

Sarah and Kate put in 2 fast second runs to make it through to the semi finals on Sunday. Today the rest of the Australian team will be racing in the K1, C1 and C1W events.

World Championships 2009

The World Championships kicked off last night with the opening ceremony march through town followed by some interesting entertainment - suspended guitarists being raised and lowered and girls twirling suspended only by their hair. 

The racing starts this afternoon with the LK1 and C2 heats, with the MK1, C1 and C1W off tomorrow morning. For information and results check out the World Championship website. 

Inaugural World Championships Coaches Run

Who is the fittest slalom coach of them all? Well we had the pleasure of witnessing the gruelling  2009 coaches run from the course at La Seu d'Urgell up to the church on the hill. Impressively all coaches made the climb with the motivation of beer and trophies pushing them all the way. Australia had a strong representation including Mike, Myrium, Yann and Patrick (Team AUS physio) and were all very competitive. Thankfully none of them won the awards for worst outfit, most amount of flesh showing or the 'we thought you were going to win...but you didn't' award.

Weekend Getaway

In preparation for the World Championships this week, Team Guinea along with the majority of the Australian Team decided to have a weekend away from Seu to relax and recuperate. Leanne and Kate headed off to Roses in Costa Brava on the North East coast of Spain, the Guinea brothers, Ian and Sam headed a little further south to Barcelona. Both adventures were filled with soaking up the last little bit of sun, shopping and sea food before we head home in a week. 

C1W article

Check out the article regarding the ICF C1W training camp on the Australian Canoeing website.

Worlds Training - Week 1

The C1W camp is over and nation training slots have started in Seu. The camp was definitely a success and hopefully all of the girls plus more will be in Tacen for the first official C1W World Championships next year. 

The Aussie team went into town last night for the final night of the La Seu d'Urgell Festa which involved the fire festival. Luckily we were warned about the need to have minimal skin showing and got decked out in old clothes and scarfs. Some of the locals even went to the length of wearing gas masks and wetting their clothes to avoid the heat and flames. The fire festival started with a performance in the main square then continued with fire breathing devils dancing through the streets of Seu with fireworks with all the townspeople following and ended with everyone dancing in the main square. It was an amazing night!

C1W Camp

Team Guinea has arrived in La Seu d'Urgell, Spain for the finally leg of their journey. The next 2 and a half weeks will be spent training on the site where the World Championships will commence on September 10th. 

In conjunction with the World Championships, the ICF is running a Womens C1 training camp in Seu. 21 paddlers from 12 different nations are taking part and getting some quality coaching from a range of international C1 coaches. It is great to see so many women paddling C1s! Hopefully this is just the beginning! For information regarding the upcoming World Championships in La Seu d'Urgell visit  http://worldseu09.parcolimpic.com

Slovenian Open

GOLD! After a heat and semi final run riddled with penalties, Leanne was able to put down a fantastic finals run penalty free which landed her in 1^st place! Well done to Caroline Loir and Ros Lawrence who also finished on the podium.

The Guinea brothers put in a solid performance during heats which progressed them through to the semis on Sunday, however despite a descent run it was not enough to make the finals.

All results from the weekend can be found at the following link.

The atmosphere at the race was unbelievable – Mexican waves, saucepan lids being banged, a HUGE Kauzer cheer squad, country theme songs…. the World Championships at Tacen next year will definitely be something to look forward to!  

Parallel Slalom night race

In the lead up to the Slovenian Open this weekend a flat water parallel slalom race was held last night on the main canal running right through the middle of Ljubljana (basically like holding a slalom at Southbank in Melbourne). There were stacks of entrants (minus Team Guinea as there was no C1W or C2 class) and the banks of the river were filled with spectators, which also overflowed into the main square where a big screen was projecting the racing. Team Aussie did well with Ian and Christian making the round of 16 in C1, and the 3 Aussie girls (Ros, Kate and Sarah) all making it through to the top 8. Unfortunately Ros and Kate were drawn to race each other and in a tight race Ros advanced into the final against Corrina Khnule. Unfortunately the Austrian was too fast and took away the win.

Today Sarah, Susie and Leanne ticked another box on the to do list by cruising down to the coastal town of Opatija in Croatia for a day of relaxation. Definitely recommended! 

New Poll - Please Vote!

A new poll has been added to the Team Guinea website. It is a matter of pride for both of these sibling tribes so please vote! Scroll down to the very bottom of the Team Guinea webpage to vote.

Slovak Open – Semis and finals

Todays racing started at a much more decent hour than yesterday and Leanne had a fantastic start to her semis run however ran into trouble from gate 15 onwards and received a 50 on the final gate. This put in her 2^nd place heading into the final behind Ros Lawrence (AUS). Chris and Scotty also had a good start to their run however ran into trouble at the same gate, but managed to finish the course with no 50s and in a Steven Bradbury style semi final which saw C2 crew after C2 crew miss and recirculate gates, the boys finished in a very respectable 12^th place, narrowly missing out on finals.

Leanne was disappointed with her finals run which was solid until the second half again and her troubles with the final gate continued with a 50, resulting in 3^rd position. Well done to Caroline Loir of France who took out the gold.  

 

Team Guinea now moves onto Tarcen tomorrow for the final race of the Pro series. 

Day 1 Slovak Open - Bratislava

Team Guinea has had a relatively successful first day in the office at the Slovak Open. The C1W class started off the racing this morning at 7.00am!!! The course was incredibly difficult and all C1W competitors had major difficulties. I was able to put down a run with no 50s which put me into 1st place heading into semis tomorrow. Chris and Scotty had a solid run with a few penalties but it was enough to secure 17th place and a run in tomorrows semi final.
During the week Team Guinea did some sight seeing through town including viewing a few statues that are said to be very ‘lucky’. Hopefully the luck will be with us tomorrow.

Budapest...more like Budabest!

Scotty and Leanne along with Sarah and Susie took a well earned break from training in the lead up to the Slovak Open and made a fleeting visit across the border to Budapest, Hungary. The city is amazing, with many old remarkable buildings and statues. Definitely one of my favorite cities so far!
Chris and Scotty had to invest some of their hard earned cash into buying desert for Yann on Wednesday, after having to eject from their sinking C2 after Chris' deck popped on the first stopper. Luckily there was no damage to the boat or themselves!

Winning Ugly at the German Open

GOLD...Even if it was done with 2 very 'ugly' runs! The course that was set for the semi and finals seemed to be a little more straight forward than the previous day however Leanne had quite a few difficulties on both runs with a roll in gate 10 and 3 spins per run. Luckily it was enough and she was able to take away the gold medal. It was good fun racing under lights, there was a fantastic atmosphere, loads of spectators and a few carnival activities such as laser shooting, soccer kicking power, surfboard riding and a duck race.
Earlier in the day Chris and Scott combined with Phil (K1), Heather (LK1) and Christian (C1) to compete in the CAT 4 teams event. They had a solid clear run on an intense course which involved at least 4 up stream gates on each section and finished middle of the field in 7th.
Now the Australian contingent travels to Bratislava for the Slovakian Open next week. Information and results can be found here.

German Open day 1

Today the heats were held for the German Open in Leipzig. The course was quite tough and the Guinea brothers had two runs which in the words of coach Le Pennec 'gave him plenty of ideas for sessions to come'. Unfortunately the boys finished in 27th position and missed out on a semi finals berth. Leanne also had 2 less than desirable runs on the technical course however managed to hold the lead heading into the semi finals tomorrow. The semi finals and finals will be a twilight race held under lights starting at 6.00pm. Results and further information can be found here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS

Chris celebrated his 23rd birthday today in style with a whitewater paddle, shopping trip around the Leipzig town centre, ice cream and chocolate cake! How perfect! Hope you had a great day Chris.

German Open - Leipzig

Team Guinea is back together again! Chris and Scott arrived safely into Frankfurt airport yesterday with Glenn and Danielle before meeting up with the rest of the team (Heather Ceaser, Phil Gibbons and Ethan Hodgson) in Leipzig for the start of the Australian under 22s tour.
The boys are looking particularly professional after collecting their new camo printed C2 and have been enjoying fitting it out in their spare time.
Leanne has also made it to Leipzig after a 4.5 hour road trip across Germany with Yann and Heather. The little white merc treated us well and the soft racks even held up while travelling along the motorways!
We are now all training for the German Open this weekend, before moving to Bratislava for the Slovak Open and completing the World Series Circuit with the Slovenian Open in Tarcen.

Adventure in Oetz

Ros, Kate and myself decided to take a break from our hard training schedule at Augsburg and get away for a weekend of fun and adventure in Oetz, Austria. Over the 2 days we managed to fit in 2 river trips (Oetz and Inns) and climbed a 200m vertical cliff face using a via ferrate (a cable to which you are attached by 2 carabineers). We made some new raft guiding friends who taught us a traditional Austrian game called nails and witnessed the cost cutting measures taken in Austria for road works (using manikins rather than real humans!) I am now back in Augsburg for a final week of training before heading over to meet the rest of Team Guinea in Liepzig.

The Team Guinea C2 is going to the World Championships!!!

The final selection race for a place on the Australian Team for the 2009 World Championships has been completed and all 3 members of Team Guinea will be competing in La Seu d’Urgell!
On day 1 of selection Chris and Scott managed to make the required 126% in their 2nd run meaning they only had to make it again on one of their 2 runs on day 2.
The course for day 2 was much more difficult, however the boys had an exception run… until the very bottom and finished with 126.00036%. Unfortunately selection policy states that you need to be under 126% however the result was appealed and selection onto the team was confirmed.
However, that’s were the boys luck ended as the roof racks were ripped off their car while passing a truck on the drive back to Melbourne. This caused some minor damage to their boat, which will have to be repaired in record speed (for them) before their flight on Saturday.
Other results from the selection race include Sam Lyons being selected for Mens K1 and Jess Fox selected to field a full team for the C1W class.
Next stop for the Team Guinea boys is Liepzig where they will meet up with Leanne and start their under 22’s tour of the World Series events.

Augsburg Training Camp

Following the 3 weeks of intense racing on the World Cup circuit, Ros, Kat, Elena and myself have settled down into a nice appartment in Augsburg for the next 3 weeks so we can have a solid block of training. Then we move onto the World series circuit before finishing in La Seu d'Urgell for the World Championships. Unfortunately in typical Augsburg style we have seen very little sun however that hasn't stopped us purchasing a fleet of very cool bikes which we use to get around town. Augusta, Cycho, Bella and Alf have done us proud and although there has been a few minor incidents (exploding tire and multiple bruises) they have been a very welcomed addition to the team.

World Cup 3 - Augsburg, Germany.

The World Cup series has finished for 2009! Unfortunately it wasn't the fairytale ending I was hoping for. After finishing second in the semi final I improved my final run and had solid lines down to gate 20, where it all became unstuck and I missed the stopper crossing into the upstream gate causing a 50 second penalty putting me back into 4th position. However Roz Lawrence (AUS) had a great run winning the World Cup gold! We now stay in Augsburg for the next 3 weeks for a solid block of training before starting on the World Series ciruit.

World Cup 2, Bratislava – Slovakia

The majority of last week was spent on the road as we had to journey from Pau in Southern France to Bratislava, Slovakia. Luckily the 2000km road trip was broken up as the course in Bratislava had been flooded and there were queries as to whether or not the 2nd World Cup would run. We spent a few extra days in Ljubljiana to get in some decent whitewater training and luckily the river level dropped and reached a normal height by Thursday leaving 2 days of training on the course before the race.

Racing went well for the Aussies with 6 athletes competing in the semi finals and all 4 girls battling it out in the final. Kate had a fantastic final run and finished with a silver behind Elena Kaliska (SVK). I managed to markedly improved upon my semi final run and although hitting 3 gates finished also with a silver behind Jana Dukatova (SVK).

We are currently in Augsburg, Germany training for the final World Cup competition with heats being held on Friday and finals for the C1W class on Saturday.

World Cup 1

What a fantastic start to the 2009 World Cup circuit! The French organising committee did a wonderful job and definately thought of everything...Unfortunately they couldn't control the rain during the opening ceremony, however there was still a brilliant turn out. After leading the way during heats and semis I wasn't able to hold on during the finals and I was awarded a 50 second penalty on gate 19 - however I still managed to finish with bronze. Ros Lawrence also of AUS claimed the silver.
We are now on the road to Bratislava (1700km road trip! Ouch) to the destination of the 2nd World Cup.

New Boat

My new Lady Lizard finally arrived in Seu two days before leaving which left me just enough time to fit it out to paddle in Pau where the first World Cup will be held this weekend. The course in Pau is amazing with fast whitewater and an incredible club house. C1 has proved tricky on this course due to the speed of the water but hopefully a few more sessions before the race will help.

New Guestbook

We have recently added a guestbook feature to the Team Guinea website so please feel free to drop us a line or say hello.
You will find the link in the right hand column of the site under upcoming events.

Off to Europe

One third of Team Guinea (Leanne) has left for Europe to start her 3 month tour and is currently in La Seu d'Urgell, Spain training on the site where the 2009 World Championships will be held in September. The team will train in Seu for the next week before starting the world cup tour kicking off in Pau, France. For more information on the World Cups see the following links. 

World Cup 1 - Pau 27th - 28th June

World Cup 2 - Bratislava  4th - 5th July

World Cup 3 - Augsburg 11th - 12th July 

World Championships - La Seu d'Urgell 9th - 13th September 

Whitewater Stadium in Melbourne

A potential new site for the Melbourne Whitewater Stadium has been found! We need your help to make this a real possibility so please register your interest on the Vic Urban website. 

Support for C1W

The ICF board has shown their support by officially approving the inclusion of women's C1 at the World Cups in 2009, as a demonstration event and the 2009 World Championships and as an equal event at the 2010 World Championships. Hola Espana!!! Visit here for more details from the ICF board.   

For up to date information regarding C1W in both slalom and flat water visit www.justcanoeit.com 

Team Guinea selected to represent Australia!

The 2009 Australian selection trials have been completed and I'm happy to report all members of Team Guinea were selected. Leanne was selected alongside Ros Lawrence to represent Australia at the 2009 World Cups and potentially at the World Championships (depending on the ICF meeting held later in March). Scott and Chris were selected to compete for the Australian Under 23 team which will race the World Series races in August. Check out the Australian Canoeing website for more information. Unfortunately Guinea/Guinea narrowly missed selection into the senior team however will have the opportunity to gain selection at a race in Penrith later this year.

The event concluded with a celebration for Phil Gibbons' 21st with the theme 'Acceptable in the 80s'. There were some fantastic costumes and some.... not so fantastic! 

Australian Open 2009

The first selection race for 2009 was run in conjunction with the Australian Open - the first of many world series events. Guinea/Guinea had some fantastic runs and finished in 4th place on .2 seconds behind the other Australian pair of Maley and Jeffrey. The international field was too strong lead by the Hochschoner brothers 14 seconds ahead of the Australian pairs. Leanne improved on her semi final run and had a strong performance in her final finishing 18 seconds clear of the other competitiors. This event was the first international race to officially  include C1W and have equal prize money - a great step to gender equity in our sport. Other winners for the event included Danele Molmenti (ITA) K1, Jana Dukatova (SVK) LK1 and Matej Benus (SVK) C1. 

Check out a video clip of the winning racers here.