Tauranga rafter makes third for NZL Credit Sunlive . Interview Brent Bastin currently training in Slovenia
21 Jul 2010
Tauranga rafter Brent Bastin and his New Zealand team have placed third in the down river event at the 2010 Teva Rafting World Championships. It was held in the Netherlands on Dutch Water Dreams, an artificial course built in the last five years, with 48 teams from 37 countries competing in four different disciplines; time trial, head to head, slalom and the down river.
Brent Bastin with team mates rafting at the World Championships in the Netherlands.
The event, which occurred over the weekend, did not start too promisingly for the New Zealand team, but it did well to place third."After a slow start on Thursday morning in the time trial we were not looking in the best shape for a swift finish," says Brent."However, as the afternoon rolled in we got our stuff together and had our first head to head down the course with Serbia."We had a good start that allowed us to get a jump on the Serbians to take the win."In the quarter finals we came up against Hungary and took the lead early to win by nine seconds, however, we were accused of intentionally cutting them off acquiring a 10 second penalty to knock us out of the semi-final."The second event was the slalom on Friday."In our first run we got given a 50 second penalty as we missed a gate due to being full of water. "In the second run we smashed it out - did the third fastest time of the day, however, we had a delayed 50 second penalty added due to one of the paddlers just missing the gate."Brent says this was a 50/50 call."Saturday was a day to redeem ourselves in the downriver. The downriver is a 30 minute paddle made up of laps, racing down the course, out around the lake then back down the course with the field split into two pods."It was brutal as we had last lane pickings, but managed to get ahead of the field really early in the game and held our lead to win by a little over a minute. However, in the second pod the Brazilians and the Japanese managed to take first and second with us in third by 20 seconds. "With a podium finish this gave us points to finish ninth overall. Not the place we were hoping for, but with the lack of time in the boat together not a bad result in the end."The kiwi girls which included Louise Jull ( Otaki) also performed well in the slalom with a silver medal to add to the collection. With a close battle for first place the girls were happy with their result."
21 Jul 2010
Tauranga rafter Brent Bastin and his New Zealand team have placed third in the down river event at the 2010 Teva Rafting World Championships. It was held in the Netherlands on Dutch Water Dreams, an artificial course built in the last five years, with 48 teams from 37 countries competing in four different disciplines; time trial, head to head, slalom and the down river.
Brent Bastin with team mates rafting at the World Championships in the Netherlands.
The event, which occurred over the weekend, did not start too promisingly for the New Zealand team, but it did well to place third."After a slow start on Thursday morning in the time trial we were not looking in the best shape for a swift finish," says Brent."However, as the afternoon rolled in we got our stuff together and had our first head to head down the course with Serbia."We had a good start that allowed us to get a jump on the Serbians to take the win."In the quarter finals we came up against Hungary and took the lead early to win by nine seconds, however, we were accused of intentionally cutting them off acquiring a 10 second penalty to knock us out of the semi-final."The second event was the slalom on Friday."In our first run we got given a 50 second penalty as we missed a gate due to being full of water. "In the second run we smashed it out - did the third fastest time of the day, however, we had a delayed 50 second penalty added due to one of the paddlers just missing the gate."Brent says this was a 50/50 call."Saturday was a day to redeem ourselves in the downriver. The downriver is a 30 minute paddle made up of laps, racing down the course, out around the lake then back down the course with the field split into two pods."It was brutal as we had last lane pickings, but managed to get ahead of the field really early in the game and held our lead to win by a little over a minute. However, in the second pod the Brazilians and the Japanese managed to take first and second with us in third by 20 seconds. "With a podium finish this gave us points to finish ninth overall. Not the place we were hoping for, but with the lack of time in the boat together not a bad result in the end."The kiwi girls which included Louise Jull ( Otaki) also performed well in the slalom with a silver medal to add to the collection. With a close battle for first place the girls were happy with their result."
