Nelo Summer Challenge Winner!!

Azurara, Portugal

29^th August 2009

With one of the hottest line-ups in ski racing, 30 degree heat and a good wave running at Azurara beach, the Nelo Summer Challenge promised to be one of the most exciting races of the season. The men's race boasted Olympic champions Tim Brabants, Ronald Rouhe and Erik Larsen. In the women's, Natasa Janic and Katalin Kovac from Hungary were fresh from winning gold medals at the World Flatwater Canoeing Championships two weeks before.

The trip, however, got off to a bad start: after waiting for an hour at Porto airport, my paddles still hadn't turned up and I was forced to head to the beach without them. The loss of my paddles turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as I was able to borrow a pair from my club mate David Green, which were actually a lot better suited to the sea conditions than my own pair!

It would be a Le Mons start (with a kayak marathon style “ReadyGo!!” starters orders), left hand 'round a two-buoy course of roughly 800m, and a sprint finish back up the beach through the giant archway. The organisation was second to none and the Nelo staff were amazing. From electronic marshalling to race vests matching the colour of your ski, it's certainly given us a few ideas for surf ski racing in Britain. The heats, semis and finals were broadcast live online. The footage has been put together in a thirty minute video, which you can see by clicking here (this women's races are first).

The heats were unfortunately a bit of a formality for the women, but with the flatwater paddlers proving to be stronger in the surf than expected, GB's top surf ski guys – Glenn Eldgridge, Mark Ressel, David Green and Colin “Biggles” Smith - had to fight their way into the final through some tough heats and semis. The lack of female entries meant that although heats were run, everyone qualified for the final – women's numbers being probably the only thing that really needs to be worked on for next year.

After getting caught on a wave in the heat, I was really nervous about the final. It didn't help that they held us on the start line for ages, waiting for the waves to die down - not what I wanted to hear! I had a great start, and hoped that the few little waves that came through on the way out to the first turn buoy would cause some problems for some of the others. However, I glanced behind me at the turn and saw Portugal's Teresa Portela on my tail. I pulled away along the back straight, but despite my lead kept battling away towards the finish. My heart sank when I dropped off the back of a runner, and turned to see more waves picking up behind the other girls. I dug in and just managed to pull a tiny runner to take me to the beach. I realised I was first on the sand, but was not taking any chances and legged it up the beach with everything I had left. I'd won, ten seconds in front of Portela.

It was such an amazing race, but not as nerve-wracking as the men's final. With the set of the day hitting the beach on the whistle, Former GB kayaker Glenn Eldridge got off to a fine start with his navy blue ski leading around the first turn buoy and along the back straight, battling head to head with Spain's kayak World Champion Ekaitz Saies. Glenn turned the last can first, but Ekaitz had the sprint power and pulled away on the way back to shore. The waves jacked up again, picking up 4 more paddlers who closed down on Eldridge's easy second place. It became a sprint for the line. Former British Champ Mark Ressel's surf skills shone though and, gritting his teeth through a knee injury, sprinted up the beach to take fourth, with Glenn following in 6^th, both beating Olympic champions Tim Brabants and Eirik Larsen into the lower placings.

But the excitement didn't finish there: at the end of the day came the relay. Athletes were randomly sorted by computer into teams of three – one woman, two men – and I was particularly lucky to be drawn out with men's winner Ekaitz Saies from Spain and Portugal's Joao Ribeiro. The girls were off first, and after a less than smooth start I managed to pull away, but was chased down on a wave by women's silver medallist Teresa Portela, from Portugal. My team mates both had awesome paddles, with Ekaitz crossing the line to take first, and the 750 Euro team prize.

I'll definitely be coming back next year. Now the word has got out about what was a pretty secret squirrel event (thanks David Green for discovering it!) it should be even bigger and better second time around.

Front page of the West Briton!!

For video of my races and my post-race interview, click here.

For the offical event website, including full results and photos, click here.

Back in the lab '09

Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre

22nd July 2009

Just when we thought the season was over and we could relax a bit, our very kind coach Trevor Hunter booked us a whole week of physiolgy, biomechanics and strength testing! So today I found myself back on the paddling ergo with an enormous mask strapped to my face, wires coming out of me in every direction, and a physiologist stabbing my ear for blood samples.

The first test was a step-test, in which you have to maintain a set power output for four minutes. This is done seven times, with 30 seconds rest between efforts and increasing the power output each time. By doing this, our physiologist, Nick Tiller, can measure our oxygen consuption, heart rate, blood-lactate levels and stroke effeciency at each level. This went really well, I felt really strong and relaxed right up to the hardest effort, and my blood-lactate levels remained low.

The next test is the dreaded 4 minute max test. It started off really well, I was working really hard, feeling sick and my legs burning (yes, this is a good thing), but just as I picked up the power going into the last minute the cords on the ergo reacted badly to the increase in rate, sent the paddle in all directions and the two tangled around each other. This was really annoying as I was feeling quite strong and mentally up for doing my best. Luckily, I had already reached my peak Oxygen consumption so I'll still be able to get results from the test.

From this testing my coach will be able to see what our physiology is like when we are at our peak, compare this to other tests taken this and next year, and find out which specific areas of fitness each of us needs to work on.

National Surf Ski and Paddle Board Champion!!!

Tolcarne Beach, Newquay

22^nd - 23^rd August 2009

Although I've been focusing on my sprint career over the last year, I always set myself goals in surf lifesaving as well. The National Championships this year were to be held on Tolcarne Beach in Newquay. Not known for its massive surf, this suited me really well since I've been training on the river and racing on lakes for a couple of years now.

I spent the two weeks leading up to the championships at home in Cornwall with the hope of fitting in a couple of training sessions a day. I managed to do a few sessions club sessions at Portreath, but not as many as hoped because I also wanted to fit in seeing my family and friends, as well as some work experience and helping out with the National Youth Championships in Falmouth. After a disastrous display in the IronWoman (ski/swim/board) at the Cornish Championships, I realised how much different surf lifesaving was to racing k1, and how much harder it was than I'd imagined. I wasn't doing nearly enough board training and, when I did, it felt pretty pants, so my confidence before Nationals was not high!

My weekend started with the 2km Run. With my sprinting going to pot since moving to kayaking and having done a bit of distance running over the winter I thought it'd be a good place to pick up some points and maybe a medal. It was so much harder than I expected, and the girls that took the first two medals - Felicity Elliott from Exmouth and Natasha Diment from Perranporth - totally blew the rest of the field away, leaving me to pick up bronze.

Six Man Taplin

The highlight of Saturday's racing was, however, the Six Man Taplin. With clubs petitioning for its return to domestic competition for several years, it did not disappoint. Teams were a mixed sex and age, so clubs could put out an elite team to fight for the top spot as well as B, C and even D teams for some fun racing. What made the event even more of a spectacle was that it was on high tide, with the banners and inflatable archway lining the transition area. Pre-race banter had highlighted Portreath and Saunton as the favourites. The race itself was nail-biting, with the final board paddlers coming in on the same wave it was decided by the sprint finish. Portreath A took gold, with Saunton in 2^nd. My team, Portreath B, came 7^th.

Sunday was a big day – all individual ocean finals and all relays. I woke up feeling very nervous and pretty tired. I didn't know what to expect from the board race but had put a lot of expectations on myself for the ski.

Board Final

Board race was first. Although my sprint starts aren't what they used to be, I had a pretty good one, and found myself in second, behind what I thought was race favourite and top British IronWoman Rachel Pascoe. Not until I started gaining on the leader did I realise it was my club mate Sara Rowe – on excellent form considering she'd taken the winter off. I dug in and pulled into the lead at the first can. I realised Rach must have had a bad start but also realised I couldn't let her paddle me down. Once I pulled onto a tiny wave I glanced across to find there was no one next to me, smiling and shaking my head in disbelief I crossed the line first. Interviewed afterwards, I said I was so stoked about winning the board race that I didn't care what happened in the ski now – that wasn't true!

Ski Final

The ski final turned out to be the closest race I've ever done. Pascoe had her usual lightening start (looking at the photos afterwards, her ski is out of the shot before the rest of us had got our bums in our seats!!) but it took me a lot longer to catch her than I'd hoped, and didn't drop her until I turned the last can. Unfortunately clear water means nothing when there's even a tiny wave running. Rach picked up a runner that brought her level with me again. This was not going to be a re-run of 2005, when Rach had caught a wave to overtake me right on the line. Rach is renowned for her powerful finishes, and she was ahead of me until literally the very last second when I pulled in front of her by no more than a an inch. Still I wasn't certain that I'd done it. There have been several nerve wracking moments in my career where you sit on the finish line, waiting for the judges to tell you whether you've got gold or silver. It happened when I won my first National Title in 2002, and again when I picked up the European Title the following year. Thanks to a lot of determination and a little bit of luck, I'd come out on top again, regaining the national title that I was unable to defend in 2008 due to injury.

IronWoman Final

Sadly, the IronWoman was a straight final. Although I wasn't complaining that I didn't have to do it twice, it was a shame that there were not enough entries to make heats. I felt relaxed about the race for two reasons: a) I already had better results than I had expected and b) I knew that I did my best races when I enjoyed them. The order was swim-board-ski, ideal for me because I could draft for a while on the swim. Nevertheless, I came out of the first leg equal last, but saved myself too much embarrassment by catching a nice body wave to the beach. In the ski leg I overtook quite a few people, and found myself in fourth going into the board leg. I paddled myself into second place in the board leg, overtaking Sara Rowe and Rhian Thomas from Wales. While the gold medal had been comfortably taken by reigning champion Rachel Pascoe, three girls came down a wave behind me to make an exciting race for the last two medals. Sara was up and running first, and it looked to be head to head for third place between me and Woolcombe's rising star 16 year old Eva Murphy. But Eva took a stumble on the run out of the water, leaving me to sprint to the line and take Bronze. Although it was another surprising result for me, it was awesome to see so many junior and youth competitors rising to the challenge at senior level. It looks like GB Lifesaving will go from strength to strength in the next few years.

Under 23 European Championships 2009

Junior and U23 European Flatwater Canoeing Championships

16th - 19th July 2009

Lake Malta, Poznan, Poland

The time had finally come, the pinacle of the year and everything we had been training for - the U23 Europeans. Despite illness leading up to the event, we knew we had done everything we could to prepare for the race, and that we were in the best physical condition of our lives. What we didn't know was what the competition had been up to, or how we should expect to fare when it came to final placings. It had probably been a secret hope for all of us to bring home a medal, because the team had come 4th in 2007 and 2008. However, our crew is a young and inexperienced one (Angela Hannah and Viki Towers first sat in a kayak two years ago) so it would be a tough call to match that.  

Abi Edmonds and I had a fantastic K2 1000m heat. Drawing Lane 1, we couldn't see the rest of the competition and just concentrated on our own work. The boat felt completely solid and very in control, with Abi setting a great rhythm. I worked hard but felt I had a little something left in the tank for finals day. We came 3rd, qualifying for the final with the 4th fastest time and bypassing the afternoon's semi-final. It was a great way to start the competition and gave me a lot of confidence for our K4 racing the next day.

The K4 500m is what we had been focusing on as it is the Olympic distance for women, and I had put a lot of expectation on how we would perform. Coming fourth in our heat, I was very disappointed not to qualify straight through to the final. Having to do another race actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we had a fantastic semi-final. We came 2nd behind the Polish crew but executed our best race yet. It gave us that crucial extra bit of experience of pushing ourselves to the limit and the confidence in how well the boat could run.

Unfortunately our K2 final did not turn out how we expected. I thought we could make top 5 without too much trouble, and if we had our best race ever we could be pushing for the medals. After a good start we crossed the half-way point in fourth. But that's when it all started falling apart. I called the boat up after 500m but we couldn't find a change of pace, and when the other boats came past us we didn't have any fight left. We had been perhaps too enthusiastic and too determined off the start and treated it like a 500m race. We crossed the line in a disappointing 9th.

It was difficult not to remain downhearted about the previous day when it came to our K4 500m final, but my crew mates were great and cheered me up so that by Sunday morning I was ready, determined and excited about the race ahead of us. Although we didn't get the perfect start we had in the semi-final, we picked up the pace and hit a high stoke rate (140 strokes per minute!! eek!!) very quickly. The first 300 felt very strong and very fast, I knew that each one of us in the boat was racing to our absolute max. As we agreed in our race plan, I tried to call an "UP" with 200m but it came out as more of a wimper, the second "UP" was more forceful but completely unneccessary because I knew that none of us could try any harder than we already were. The last 100m was a blur of jelly arms and jelly legs trying to pull as much water as possible as the finish line seemed to not get any closer. We crossed the line in 6th, just pipped by the in crew in the lane next two us.

Having qualified with the 8th fastest time we were extatic with the result. Grins and excitement ensued as you can see from the photo gallery from the event.

I'd like to say a massive thanks to my team mates and our coach Trevor Hunter who all worked so hard to bring the boat together for such a great race and a brilliant way to round off my under 23 career.

See below for press coverage of the competition:

Hawkey set to compete in Poland (BBC Online)

Hawkey progesses into K2 final (BBC Online)

Hawkey competes solidly in final (BBC Online)