Thanks to everyone for all your support

I guess most of you will already know our result - 7th. I don't know how much was broadcast and hence how much of the race you saw. In short, we paddled really well except for a short section in the middle where we picked up three penalties in three gates, giving us 6 seconds of penalty points. Our time was a competitive low 98 seconds, and would have placed us in 4th had we been clean, and comforatbly in the final with one touch fewer. That's canoe slalom though, and that's why we love it. If it was easy, it would be boring.

A huge storm arrived about an hour before our race and after letting the semi final of the C2 run, the competition committee delayed the start of the women's event, and later postponed it until tomorrow.

We'd both really like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has offered us support over the last few days, weeks, months and years. Many people will see the result of 7th, and like us, be disappointed with it, but I know we will look back on it in the future and be proud of what we have achieved. More importantly, we have had an incredible opportunity to get to know each other and more importantly, ourselves, through the constant challenge of training, competing and travelling together. It has been an amazing journey and we'd like to thank you all for contributing and being a part of it.

Beijing, August 14, 2008

Through to the semi after an anxious hour or two...

Firstly, we should apologise to everyone for any heart attacks or other incidents we may have caused today.

We had the qualification race for the C2 and women today, after a huge day yesterday for Australia, where Rob Bell won Bronze and Warwick Draper finished an amazing fifth, after coming second in the semi final.

We felt perfect in the lead up to the race - relaxed and focussed, after a good warm up. We knew where we needed to be on the course and set off well. the top of the course went well, but took three touches in four gates through the middle of the course. and then another at the bottom of the course. We crossed the finish line with the scoreboard showing 96 + 10 seconds of penalties and in 11th place. The time, though, was still competitive and we knew if we repeated it in the second run and stayed clean, we would make the finals.

So after a fairly anzious 100 minutes, we started again, and, apart from a shaky section through the middle, we were pretty happy with the run and we crossed the line in 2nd, and comfortably through to the semi final.

Tomorrow stars with a clean start, and we are confident that we can improve on our runs today, and progress to the final. The course for tomorrow looks good and the changes they have made make it a little better for us, if anything. We will still need to put it together in the first run, though.

Thanks everyone for your good luck messages and kind thoughts. We'll give it a good shake tomorrow.

Beijing, August 14, 2008

Racing starts!

Mens Kayak and Canoe qualifiers were on this afternoon, with solid performances by both Robin and Warwick sending them through to the finals tomorrow. The course was fairly straightforward, making it a very tight tussle in the mens kayak. At one point the top 7 were all within 0.7 seconds, and after first runs, Warwick was 1.3 secs from 2nd and 1 second ahead of 15th. Crazily close... Second runs spaced things out a little, but we'll see tomorrow what the different course brings.

Racing starts at 3pm China time, or 5pm Eastern Australian time.

We race on Wednesday just after 3pm China time.

Beijing, August 11, 2008

Opening Ceremony

Last night was huge, though having said that, many of you at home would have seen much more of the show than we did.

Most of the day went as usual. training in the morning, with a good set of fulls setting us up well for our race on Wednesday.

As we returned to the village, people were already dressing up and getting ready, with the nations that marched early leaving the village a full 2 hours before we had to, at 7pm. We were bussed to the Gymnastics venue where we were held in our country groups, to wait for our turn to march. Unfortunately, there were only a few moments of the coverage of the ceremony shown to us courtesy of China's ironically named main TV channel, CCTV. It gave the team plenty of time to mingle, though, and the wait was punctuated by moments of humour such as China's superstar basketballer, Yiao Ming's exchange of olympic pins with our own Laurie Lawrence.

Eventually our moment came, and we were ushered out of the hall in a rush, to wait a few metres outside in the heat. Over the following half hour we wound our way through a maze of madly shouting chinese volunteers towards the Bird's Nest. The tension built as we entered the underpass and the roar of the crowd was huge was we entered the stadium. It was like daylight inside, and the heat was intense, so after one round of the stadium, we were drenched. Fortunately, thanks to the Chinese alphabet, only Zambia and China followed us in, to a deafening roar.

James Tomkins on the way to the stadium

The whole team was buzzing, and we spent the next hour wandering around the quater of the field that we were cordoned off in, meeting other athletes.

What we saw of the show was amazing and it was an incredibly impressive way to light the flame.

We all poured out through the underpass to get out, and then walked the 20 minutes back to the village for a late finish to the day.

Today, we had our last session on the course. Tomorrow is demos and we will stay in the village to avoid the head and save our course preparation until the Monday, when we'll be out there to watch Robyn and Warwick in their qualification races.

Beijing, August 9, 2008

Australian Team Reception

Yesterday was a big day in the Australian camp. In the afternoon, we had the Australian Flag Rasining Ceremony in the village and in the evening, the Australian Team reception.

The flag raising ceremony is held in the village amphitheatre, and was attended by the Mayor of the village and Kevin Rudd, among other dignatories. It was held in sweltering conditions but provided us with the first opportunity to see the team in close to its entirety, with just the men's football and athletics teams absent. It was great to sing the national anthem for the first time of many this games.

We had just a short break of half an hour or so to grab a bite to eat and a drink from the food hall before been bussed out to the Sofitel for the Team Reception. It was also well attended, with Kevin Rudd and Therese Rein, John and Janette Howard, Prince Frederik and Princess Mary all present, among many others. An inspiratioanl video of past Olympics was shown and Bruce McAvaney spoke briefly about some 'special' moments.

Kevin Rudd was given the privelege of announcing the Australian flag bearer for the opening ceremony, James Tomkins, and following James' words, addressed the crowd. It was a fantastic evening all round, but will pale in comparison, I am sure, with tonight's opening ceremony.

We are training on the course this monrning; our second last session, and this afternoon we will take is easy before getting ready for the opening ceremony, which starts at 8 minutes past 8 tonight, Beijing time.

Dinner with the big man, John Eales.

Kevin rudd announcing the flag bearer, James Tomkins.

Mark with Nathalie Bassingthwaite

Mark with the PM, Kevin Rudd.

Lachie with Princess Mary and Hockey player, David Guest

Beijing, August 8, 2008

Heating up in the village

Training is going well despite temperatures over 35 degrees and crazy humidity. People complained about the smog and after the smog cleared, it just got hotter which people then complained about more.... I guess we can't win...

The course from the bottom bridge

The course from the press grandstand

Mark with his new inflatable thong

We've been paddling once or twice a day and we're feeling good on the water, though full runs are still testing all the paddlers. Everyone is doing their best with recovery and rehydration. Some wear ice vests - we like to go for a swim after our sessoin to cool off, though the water is a balmy 28 degrees or so.

We had our induction on Sunday, where we were given our framed blazer pocket and were roughed up by team mascot, Laurie Lawrence. Steve Waugh, one of the athlete liaison officers, came along to offer support.

The canoe slalom and sprint teams together after their induction

Lachie with our new mascot

The Australian camp in the vilage is filling up, now that the swimmers and rowers have added bulk to the numbers with their 50+ strong teams. I think around 130 more arrive tomorrow which will mean that almost everyone bar the athletics team will be here, just in time for the Australian Team Flag Raising Ceremony on Thursday. On Friday we'll be training in the morning before heading off to the main stadium for the Opening ceremony in the evening.

The international zone of the village

Beijing, August 5, 2008

Settled in to the village

Three days in, and the dust has settled; we're finally feeling at home in the village. It's starting to fill up as other Australians and other teams gradually filter in. Apparently about 150 Australians arrive today, so the village will turn to a sea of yellow and green over the next few days.

The dining hall too, has gone from being a dine alone affair to a crazy flurry of activity with perhaps the best people watching opportunity anywhere on the planet. I reckon that you'd have contenders for all classes of extreme human being shapes - smallest, tallest, strongest, fastest - it's great trying to figure out which sport people come from just from their appearance.

This morning we had a solid session split between the whitewater and the flat, and we're feeling mroe and more at home on the course. It's full on whitewater though, so we'll need to back off the intensity a little over the next few days so we can freshen up for the race.

Tomorrow we have the day off to recuperate and our Australian Team Induction.

Beijing, August 1, 2008

Day 1 in the Olympic Village

After a 12 hour flight and a couple of hours' delay, we arrived last night at Beijing's brand new airport, welcomed with a flurry of media attention, courtesy of being the first of the Australian athletes to reach the village.

On arriving at the village, we were met there by an entourage of Australian staff, who helped us find our apartments on the ninth floor of one of the huge accommodation buildings in the village. We are in a prime spot, just a couple of minutes walk from both the main dining hall and the transport hub.

This morning, we were bussed out to the Australian Team Recovery Centre for our team processing and to collect our uniforms. They look great, thanks to some great work by uniform sponsors Adidas, Mileno and Sportscraft.

Following a rushed visit to the dining hall for lunch, we headed out to the Shunyi Whitewater course for our first session on the water. It was great to get back out there again, and we felt comfortable on the water immediately.

The first 24 hours have been a blur, but is great to be back in the village and in the swing of the Olympics. We'll sleep well tonight.

Check back again soon for another update, and hopefully some photos.

Beijing, July 29, 2008

Safe arrival in Beijing

After two weeks of solid training on our home course in Penrith, we left Sydney this morning for Beijing. We were accompanied on the Qantas A320 by the entire New Zealand Rowing team. The flight went without a hitch and we arrived safely tonight at the new Beijing airport.

According to the AOC website, we're the first Australian athletes to reach the village where we'll settle in tonight before doing our team processing tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow afternoon we'll head to the course for a session on the whitewater.

Beijing, July 28, 2008

Back Home Training

Well, we're safely back home after an epic 45 hour journey from Spain. It was relatively uneventful, and we're both recovering well from the trip and minimal jet lag.

Training has been good thus far, straight back in the gym and on the water. We planned a solid block of training in the first 10 days we're back home and then lightening up before we head over to Beijing on the 28th.

Penrith, July 17, 2008

La Seu d'Urgell Pre-World Championships

Finals: 7th

A disappointing result for us on a day that showed the best form we have had so far this season.

Our first run was one of the best we have done. Great lines and really good pace all the way down, but two touches pushing the fastest time of the semifinal into 6th place, but only 1 second outside a medal and 3 from first place.

Second runs was about doing everything we had in the first but without the penalties, and it started well, with the top section equally quick. time errors in the middle and the bottom though, dropped out time by several seconds and a penalty on the last gate was the nail in the coffin, pushing us back to 7th.

We were stoked to have paddled so fast, but disappointed that we couldn't pull off a better result in our last European race.

The other classes also had great results. Warwick Draper had a breakthrough performance in the mens' kayak, finishing 4th, a mere 0.16 seconds outside a medal in what was his first top ten performance in Europe. Anthony Brown was only marginally behind, in 6th, with 2 clean runs giving him his best performance of the season.

In the K1W, Kate Lawrence continued her blistering form, finishing in 5th, despite having mistakes in her runs. And in the mens' C1, Kynan Maley finished 9th, despite not paddling to his usual potential.

Overall the race was fantastic for Australia. The first time I can remember making the finals in every class, and it is obvious that the team has taken a big step up this year.

We are in Singapore on the way home now, and have just two weeks until we're off to Beijing to continue the season, and hopefully finish it with a bang.

Singapore Airport, July 15, 2008

La Seu d'Urgell Pre-World Championships

Qualifications: 6th

After a late program change last night, we ended up racing the qualification race this morning and this afternoon. A slowish first run with a touch put us in 9th place at the end of the class, and about 2 seconds off the lead. It surprised us, because we hadn't felt that the run was quick enough. Second runs were better, as we improved our time by 1.6 seconds and paddled the course clean to the fourth fastest time of the day and 6th place overall.

The other classes were also successful today, with Warwick Draper being a standout performer as he finished in 7th in the mens' kayak. Kynan Maley's second run was the fourth fastest time of the day as he finished 7th in the C1 and Kate Lawrence both paddled well in the K1W to fnish 8th and 10th respectively.

I hope those of you that tried were able to follow us via the 123result website. We'll be racing tomorrow morning and early afternoon again and the results will agin be available here.

La Seu d'Urgell, July 12, 2008

La Seu d'Urgell Pre-World Championships

We've had a great week preparing for the race in Spain this weekend, enjoying the aftermath of the Australian victories last weekend and the perfect Catalan weather.

This afternoon we have demonstration runs and then the opening ceremony for the race this evening.

K1 and C1 will be racing tomorrow morning while K1W and C2 are in the afternoon.

Semifinal for all classes on Sunday morning and finals are in the early afternoon.

Live results will be available via siwidata.

Live results

If the above link is broken, try navigating through this one

La Seu d'Urgell, July 11, 2008

Augsburg World Cup #3

Kate gold! Rob gold!

Fantastic performances by both Kate Lawrence and Robin Bell produced wins in both the C1 and K1W.

Kate was 5th after the semi finals and produced a fantastic second run, moving into first place. She was briefly pushed back into second by Jana Dukatova, who later had a touch added to her score, giving Kate the win and her first world cup medal.

Rob and Kate both also won the world cup overall.

Official Results

Augsburg website

We have now arrived safely in La Seu d'Urgell and paddled this morning to loosen up. We have a whitewater session this afternoon. It is great to be back here at the farmhouse and in Seu and we are really looking forward to racing here again this weekend.

La Seu d'Urgell, July 7, 2008

Augsburg World Cup #3

13th in the semi final

First off in the semifinal this morning, we felt good, but a big hit to the tail of our boat at the top of the course pushed us into a pole, incurring a two second penalty. Another time mistake at gate 6-7 cost us 3 seconds and, despite a fast and clean bottom half, we were unable to pull it back for a finals birth.

On the upside, we were faster than last race and felt that we were not far from producing our best.

The kayaks all paddled well, with Will Forsythe progressing to the final in equal 4th place. Anthony and Warwick both picked up questionable touches pushing them down the order from 6th and 11th respectively. We are still waiting for the final results.

2nd run update: Will Forsythe had another solid second run, with a 2 second gate penalty on 14 pushing him back to 7th. A fantastic result for Will and for the team as a whole. The Australian Junior team arrived in time for the finals and are paddling, bleary eyed from the flight, as I write.

Tomorrow, the girls and C1s will race, while we head off early for La Seu d'Urgell, where we race the Pre-Worlds next weekend.

Try the link below for results

Augsburg website

Augsburg, July 5, 2008

Augsburg World Cup #3

Through to the semi's....

We had an early start this morning and felt sluggish through the race, with a slow but clean first run, and a faster second run with a penalty qualifying us for the semifinals.

The kayaks all went through to the semifinals, with Anthony Brown in 15th, Will Forsythe in 16th and Warwick Draper in the low 20s.

The girls and C1s are off this afternoon.

Results should be up soon through the website below.

Augsburg website

Augsburg, July 4, 2008

Augsburg World Cup #3

Everyone is getting ready for the third world cup of the season, which opens tonight. We have qualifications tomorrow - a smaller field than the last race means we have to make top 15 to go through to the semi finals on Saturday.

Augsburg website

Augsburg results

Augsburg, July 3, 2008

Tacen World Cup #2

Final results - Kate had a solid, clean second run in the finals in Tacen, improving by one place to her best world cup result - 9th. Congratulations Kate!

Tacen website and final results

The team have arrived now in Augsburg in dribs and drabs and it is only a few days until we'll be getting ready for the third and final world cup of the season.

Augsburg, June 30, 2008

Tacen World Cup #2

Semifinal runs are over, with some great performances by Australian athletes. Kate Lawrence again showed her speed, with a fast run qualifying her for the finals, despite 4 seconds of penalties. Sarah Grant had a solid performance with a clean run placing her 14th. Warwick Draper again showed his speed, with a time that would have placed him in 5th, if not for 4 seconds of penalties.

In the C1, Ian Borrows couldn't continue his form of the qualification runs, crashing out with a 50 second penalty. Rob Bell too, didn't produce the blistering speed of last week's race and finished in 17th, with a touch.

Good luck to Kate for second runs!

Race website and Live Results

Augsburg, June 29, 2008

Arrival in Augsburg:

Having spent the last four days in Leipzig, training on the new course, we arrived in Augsburg last night.

The rest of the team is in Ljubljana, getting ready to race at World Cup #2 tomorrow and Sunday. We elected not to race this week to allow us to do some heavier training work to maintain our condition through to Beijing. It will be good to get back on the main channel here in Augsburg - it is always a blast to paddle here.

We will ease the training back a bit towards the end of the week to allow us to recover for the world cup next weekend.

Augsburg, June 27, 2008

Day 2 and 3 of Prague World Cup #1:

7th at the first world cup of the season! We were happy with how we raced today with 2 very solid clean runs on a fairly challenging course and a full field of competitors. A little bit off the pace compared with what we're capable of, and therefore there was some room for improvement. We were really happy to have made the final and it is a much better start to the world cup series than last year.

In the C1, Robin Bell won a silver medal, second to dual Olympic gold medallist, Tony Estanguet, while Kynan Maley started to show some of his form of old, with two solid runs and 7th place. Warwick Draper paddled a very quick semifinal run in the mens' K1 with a brush of a pole with his helmet on the exit from the last upstream between him and a berth in the finals.

Race website - Results

Following the race, we made a fast exit from Prague and are now in leipzig for 5 days of training while the rest of the team prepares for the Tacen World Cup in Slovenia, next weekend.

Leipzig, June 22, 2008

Day 1 of Prague World Cup #1:

Not a bad start to the season with two comfortable solid runs in the Qualification race. in 11th overall, with plenty of room to improve and some big name casualties out of the finals. Kate Lawrence also finished 11th, and Rob Bell was also on the money with his 7th. Overall, we had 9 of 10 boats progress through to the semi finals. Links below to the race website - come back tomorrow to watch the live video link or check the results. K1W an C1 Saturday and C2 and K1 on Sunday!

Race website - Results - Live Results - Live TV

Prague, June 20, 2008

Arrival in Europe:

We arrived in Europe on Wednesday and both headed off for a couple of days of R and R. Mark headed to Edinburgh and Lachie to Dresden. We are in Prague now and paddled on the course yesterday. The course feels tiny and easy after Beijing and is a welcome relief. We're looking forward to a good week of preparation and testing it all out on the weekend!

Prague, June 15, 2008

Beijing Training Camp:

Mark and Lachie are in Beijing for 10 days on a training camp on the Olympic course. It has been a tough camp with loads of whitewater, and has been a good test of our skills and fitness in preparation for the Games.

Beijing, June 9, 2008