Marathon World Cup Skanderborg, Denmark 9th & 10th June 2007

The Australian Marathon Team competed at beautiful Skanderborg Lake near Aushaus in Denmark.

Both days were very hot, with calm flat mornings and strong winds picking up by the end of the women’s / start of the men’s race. The team stayed in wooden cabins in the forest by the lake, with stunning views and extra long days with sunset at 11pm.

The Aussie team spent the week before training and setting up borrowed kayaks at Malmo Canoe Club in Sweden. Nights were spent camped on the canoe club floor on the banks of the local canal, which runs through the town. Some Swedish clubmembers had paddled the Australian Murray River Marathon, so stories were swapped. To get everyone “race ready”, Terry Poole ran a successful handicap race with Swedish and Australian team paddlers.

The senior men’s race was particularly exciting with two crews in the first pack. Ben Poole and Cameron McMullan finished 6th out of the field of 17 crews and 2 ½ minutes behind the winners. Mark Rantall and Nicholas Woodward finished 10th after a sprint finish, and stopping earlier to fix a rudder problem.

It was the first international race for many of the athletes. Team Manager, Liz Hirrschoff reported:

“All junior paddlers did well and finished their races, even if they were paddling by themselves at the back of the pack. It was a great experience for the developmental athletes and part of it all is learning to adapt to borrowed boats overseas”.

Sandra's Diary
K1 Race Denmark – 8th – 28.8km marathon

Our first meet on the World Cup tour was in Skanderborg, Denmark. Out of the 3 Australian women racing I was the only one to finish the gruelling 28.8km marathon. I was very happy with an 8th place finish at my first international event.
 

The conditions were a lot rougher than I am used to back home and it was very difficult racing only 6 days after travelling. This wasn’t really enough time for my body to get used to a new time zone and perform at its peak. It took 40 hours to get from Sydney, Australia to the Malmo, Sweden training camp, (3 planes, 1 train and a very long walk) so I was still quite tired for this race.

K2 Race Denmark – 9th – 28.8km marathon
The next day was the K2 doubles race and we had a great start, but unfortunately after 100m the rudder broke and that was basically the end of our race in terms of a medal. We finished in 9th place.
 

Crestuma Marathon – Portugal Saturday 23rd June 2007.

Competitors from many countries stayed in the city of Porto, 20 minutes from the course.

Race day began as a fine sunny 20 degree day.

Racing was conducted over a 30km course comprising of four laps and three portages. The portages were challenging, there was significant river flow, and wind and waves combined to test the competitors’ skills.

The singles (K1) races were held in the morning.

Megan Braithwaite and Sandra Burwood jostled early in a great race finishing 1st and 2nd respectively.

Daniel Jenkins did a lot of hard work throughout the race finishing 10th in a large field.

During the day conditions deteriorated with strong winds and large waves being the feature of the afternoon racing (doubles K2).

Ben Poole & Cameron McMullan worked well to be up with the leaders early in the race, finishing 4th. Mark Rantall & Nick Woodward withdrew.

Crestuma is a challenging competition course and will host the 2008 World Cup and the 2009 World Canoe Marathon Championships.

Sandra's Diary
K1 Race Portugal – 2nd, Silver -much better race – 28.8km marathon

After Denmark, we then moved onto Portugal to race 2 weeks later at the International Crestuma Cup. I was feeling a lot more acclimatised by this race and I am very fortunate to have brought home the K1 Silver medal. It was almost gold. I led out from the start quite comfortably but unfortunately a combination of a few wrong decisions and another boat crashing into me, the gold slipped through my fingers. The portages were also quite steep and tough and long. I lost a bit of ground there because the boat I was allocated to race in was a couple of kilos too heavy so it slowed my running down a bit. (Please call me if you want me to explain what portaging is) Racing overseas means you just take pot luck in terms of the equipment you are allocated to use. Being a local European would certainly be a distinct advantage.

I am excited now by the potential for medals at the World championships coming up in September in Gyor, Hungary. I have a lot of work to do between now and then and I can’t wait to get there and race my hardest.
 

This World Cup trip has taught me a lot about racing, things you can only possibly learn by being amongst it at an international event. I now know what to expect, both best and worst case scenarios, and I feel that my preparation for the coming events will be more specific and focused. I have made myself a very long list of things I really need to work on in order to get the gold!