The small, picturesque township of Lipno nestled in southern Czech between soaring mountains and fast -flowing ice melt rivers attracts tourists from all over the world to experience the wild water. Lipno was the setting for the 2010 Czech Nationals, an unseasonal cold and wintry winter snap had temperatures plummeting under 10 degrees during competition. Olympian Vavra Hradilek and current Czech title holder pulled a few strings to allow a few top international paddlers to race at this race normally closed to foreign competitors. Mike Dawson was the only Kiwi on the start list. The Lipno slalom course only flows twice a year and training time on the course is limited to 2 hours leaving little preparation and familiarization for internationals on this, a home course for the CZE team.
The Lipno course is no easy slalom river with tough moves and tougher lines quickly narrowing down the field heading into the semis and finals. In slalom every qualification, semi and final is from scratch a new race and competitors need nerves of steel, technical ability and peak fitness to competitively achieve at this top international level
Day One 28th August
After a stunning qualification race , Dawson (NZL) 113.69s in the semi-finals qualified 2nd for the finals behind Lukas Kubrican (CZE) 110.69s. The course was set with gates repositioned allowing for greater difficulty on this demanding course. Vít Prinidis (CZE) 110.88s took out the finals with Dawson moving to 8th position overall. One of Dawson's training partners Heurteau (IRL) feel foul of the course and moved into 22nd position with a 50s penalty.
Day Two 29th August
Fresh from medaling at the 2010 European canoe slalom championship Olympian Vavřinec Hradilek (CZE) 110.59s took out the title with CZE team mates Michal Buchtel 2nd and Lubos Hilgert (CZE)112.16s 3rd allowing an all Czech podium finish. Ciaran Heurteau (IRL) 5th 113.36s put down solid runs during every round day two of competition. Canadian Paul Manning-Hunter experienced a few difficulties on the course pushing him into 10th position. Michael Dawson (NZL) 4th fastest into the final in 115.61s felt the force of the water causing him to lose precious seconds, collecting penalties and leaving him in 12th. overall.
Dawson relished the opportunity and challenge of another race at top level and now with two solid weekends of racing behind him heads back to Ljubljana joining up with the rest of the Kiwi team readying for final training and preparation before the 2010 Canoe Slalom World Championships begin 7-13th September
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Slovak Open ICF World Ranking Race August 20-21st
The Kiwi slalom team raced the ICF WR Slovak Open over the weekend which served as a pre world competition for the Olympic Qualifier 2011 in Bratislava ahead of slalom world championships in Slovenia
With 121 K1M lining up the competition was fierce with only the top 40 going through to the semifinals. Aaron Osborne was the best of the Kiwis from qualification leading into the K1M semi- finals. Mike DAWSON recovering from injury put down an excellent semi -final run which without an unfortunate touch would have seen him easily in the finals but with the 2s penalty pushed him from 4th to 12th overall 3.34s behind world cup medalist Grzegorz POLACZYK (POL) who put down a clean run . In 26th Aaron OSBORNE was 5.87s behind the winner POLACZYK.
Mike Dawson
Johann ROOZENBURG failed to make the cut leaving him in 58th position 107.52, 9.06 s off the qualification leader.
In C1 M Nicolas PESCHIER (FRA) 102.02s took out the qualification ahead of Matej BEŇUŠ (SVK) 103.86s. Young Kiwi Brent BASTIN the best of the NZL C1M put down a clean run 120.82s leaving him in 37th position and just out of the semi-finals. Other NZL athletes on the course were Shaun HIGGINS 46th 138.69s and Ben GIBB 48th 146.78s.
In K1 W Olympians Štepánka HILGERTOVÁ (CZE) took out the qualifications with a clean run 112.60s with Luuka Jones (NZL) 125.22s in 14th position securing her place in the semi-finals. The semis showed the technical difficulty of the course with Corinna KUHNLE (AUT) 101.93s taking out first spot in the finals ahead of fellow AUT Vio Oblinger. Luuka Jones (NZL) moved into 19th position after encountering some troubles and incurring three penalties on the course with a time of 135.65s
Luuka Jones
Following their recent training in Bratislava, many of the senior slalom team members have been training in Tacen, Ljubljana, on the course which will host the World Champs next month in Slovenia.
"We love Tacen" is the verdict of the Kiwis who have made the Slovenian capital home for the past eight weeks
The bad news on the slalom front is the withdrawal of Louise Jull from the Slovak Open through injury, the Kiwi contingency are hoping she will be back on track in time for the World Championships. Louise is the top NZL C1 W paddler, 2nd ranked NZL K1W and a key member of the NZL K1 W team for the world championship where performance goals had been looking promising .
NZL Results
K1M (121 competitors)
Michael Dawson 12th
Aaron Osborne 26th
Johann Roozenburg 58th
K1W (45 competitors)
Luuka Jones 19th
Louise Jull DNS injured
C1M (53 competitors)
Brent Bastin 37th
Shaun Higgins 46th
Ben Gibb 48th
The NZL team now travels to Ljubljana for their final preparation before the World Championships September 7-12th
With 121 K1M lining up the competition was fierce with only the top 40 going through to the semifinals. Aaron Osborne was the best of the Kiwis from qualification leading into the K1M semi- finals. Mike DAWSON recovering from injury put down an excellent semi -final run which without an unfortunate touch would have seen him easily in the finals but with the 2s penalty pushed him from 4th to 12th overall 3.34s behind world cup medalist Grzegorz POLACZYK (POL) who put down a clean run . In 26th Aaron OSBORNE was 5.87s behind the winner POLACZYK.
Mike DawsonJohann ROOZENBURG failed to make the cut leaving him in 58th position 107.52, 9.06 s off the qualification leader.
In C1 M Nicolas PESCHIER (FRA) 102.02s took out the qualification ahead of Matej BEŇUŠ (SVK) 103.86s. Young Kiwi Brent BASTIN the best of the NZL C1M put down a clean run 120.82s leaving him in 37th position and just out of the semi-finals. Other NZL athletes on the course were Shaun HIGGINS 46th 138.69s and Ben GIBB 48th 146.78s.
In K1 W Olympians Štepánka HILGERTOVÁ (CZE) took out the qualifications with a clean run 112.60s with Luuka Jones (NZL) 125.22s in 14th position securing her place in the semi-finals. The semis showed the technical difficulty of the course with Corinna KUHNLE (AUT) 101.93s taking out first spot in the finals ahead of fellow AUT Vio Oblinger. Luuka Jones (NZL) moved into 19th position after encountering some troubles and incurring three penalties on the course with a time of 135.65s
Luuka JonesFollowing their recent training in Bratislava, many of the senior slalom team members have been training in Tacen, Ljubljana, on the course which will host the World Champs next month in Slovenia.
"We love Tacen" is the verdict of the Kiwis who have made the Slovenian capital home for the past eight weeks
The bad news on the slalom front is the withdrawal of Louise Jull from the Slovak Open through injury, the Kiwi contingency are hoping she will be back on track in time for the World Championships. Louise is the top NZL C1 W paddler, 2nd ranked NZL K1W and a key member of the NZL K1 W team for the world championship where performance goals had been looking promising .
NZL Results
K1M (121 competitors)
Michael Dawson 12th
Aaron Osborne 26th
Johann Roozenburg 58th
K1W (45 competitors)
Luuka Jones 19th
Louise Jull DNS injured
C1M (53 competitors)
Brent Bastin 37th
Shaun Higgins 46th
Ben Gibb 48th
The NZL team now travels to Ljubljana for their final preparation before the World Championships September 7-12th
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