Losing my coach & New Business Opportunities for 2012

Coach Zoltan Bako and his daughter

Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances my coach was forced to go back to his home country Hungary and left to find a new coaching position internationally. This has created a huge upset amongst his athletes including myself, as we have built a strong relationship with him and have grown from strength to strength with his knowledge and expertise. I had only spent 2years under his wing as coach and believed we had achieved alot in a short space of time but had so much more to achieve. He had taken me to some of my best results to date IE.

3rd SA Marathon Champs

2nd Liffey Decent (Ireland)

2 x 1000m K4 SA Champ

1 x 1000m K2 SA Champ

3rd 500m K1 SA Champs

2nd 500m K2 SA Champs

1st 1000m K2 ALL Africa Games (Mozambique)

3rd B-final 1000m K4 World Cup (Szeged, Hungary)

7th in B-final 1000m K4 World Championships (Poznan, Poland)

These were just a few to mention and proof of his good coaching ability. We are still in contact on a regular basis as i still follow his programs and seek his advise. I train on my own most of the time but do have other paddlers who wish to reach there goals who train alongside me.

2012 will be a tough year as ill be put to the test of self motivation and self discipline in my training in order to reach the goals i still wish to achieve. Through the year ill also be starting a new business opportunity in Cape Town to further myself in a career and build a base for my future after paddling. It is really exciting to see the prospect of being a business man again and learning new skills. I am in Johannesberg at the moment going through training as ill be opening a branch for Dyna-Fog Africa.

Best4 Rietvlei Rumble

This past weekend i had flown up to Johannesburg to visit some family and do a little bit of altitude training. Weeks prior to this i had heard about this Dusi qualifier which was being held on Rietvlei Dam in Pretoria but never took much note of it as there was alot of running involved which isn't my strong point. Only once i had arrived in Jhb did i realize it was on while i was in the area so i did some last minute calls to organise boats, paddles and a life jacket. Once entered did i only decide then to find out what the race entailed. It started with a 10km paddle around the dam with a 6km run through the nature reserve back into the water for another 6.6km paddle into a 3.5km run and ending with a 3.3km paddle. This made me nervous as i only recently had got comfortable with my running but to run with a boat on my shoulder changes everything.

With a 7am start i was up early enough to get to the race to get my boat set up and all the necessary preparations done. Only on arrival did i find out that it was actually a K2 race and i was entered in for K1 which meant even harder racing was coming my way. When signing in i was fortune enough to hear that Joberg local Mike Stuart was looking for a partner as his partners wife had gone into labour and was unable to make the race. In a rush we set up the K2 with him in front and me in a unfamiliar place in the back. With no warm up we were on the start line with seconds to spare.

We sat on the front bunch comfortably and made sure we were in the right place at the right time for the portage. Within the first few kilometers of the run everyone was spread out and the runners started to pull through and over take the stronger paddlers. As we progressed the altitude and the heat started to get the better of me and my legs began to cramp. Thankfully Mike is a strong runner and at some stages carried the boat on his own while i tried to recover. We eventually made it to the finish line in 14th place overall. It was a respectable performance as almost all the top Dusi paddlers were there form around the country.

Vaal River Marathon 2011 - 6th Place

Catching up with race organiser Peter.

Last minute changes before selling 'The Rush' K2

Paddling past Vaalower 10km into day 2

After long discussions and decision making we finally decide to take part in the 55th running of the BSI Steel Vaal River Marathon this year. I partnered up with my fellow training partner and K2 sprint partner PW Basson for the two day river race. We were very fortunate to have Knysna Racing Kayaks send us up a NEW K2 'The Rush' to race in. It is arguably one of the best river K2's ever made. After only being launched last year it has taken the market by storm.

So with our equipment in order we made our way up to the Vaal where i have the most amazing family who are always willing to accommodate us. We couldn't have had a better venue to stay at, right on the river banks on a section of day 2. Dennis and Gisele hosted us like kings and made us feel very honoured to be staying there. They cooked some amazing food and ensured we had a good nights rest. The next morning we made our way to the start of day 1 just below the Vaal Dam. The hype was huge with almost all the top marathon paddlers out to compete for the 2011 title. Having never done this race before it was going to be quite challenging navigating my way down river. Having come off a sprint season we knew not to worry about being up there for the start of the race. From the word go we were in control and pulling the front bunch for the first few kilometers then settled onto diamond. Unfortunately we got squeezed back on the first portage allowing three boats to get away. We put down the hammer and some lucky decision making through some channels we managed to catch them again. We stayed together for just over an hour when another weir proved to be a problem with not knowing where to go we fell back and just lost touch of the front bunch. We worked hard trying to catch up but they worked even harder to keep us off. We were then caught by a chasing bunch of three and finished the day 1minute 50 behind the leaders in 5th place

Day two proved to be just too far for us as the cramps settled in early and fatigue started to hold us back. We pushed through it for some time until everything gave in. The guys around us raced a perfect race and did well to work us off. We held on to cross the line 6th place. Disappointed with not finishing in the top 5 but happy none the less as we hadn't had the time to put in some distance training.

2011 Fish River Marathon

This past weekend we took a road trip to Cradock where the all famous Hansa Fish River Marathon takes place. This year was the 30th Anniversary of the Hansa Fish and promised to be a good one as the race entries topped over 1700 entries making it a record entry for the 30th Fish.

We arrived on the Tuesday before race day to get settled in at camp and scout the river for any changes. I was very fortunate to have Knysna Racing Kayaks sponsor us a new Boat "The Rush" K2 as well as a new paddle. The combination of the two just made paddling on the fish that much more pleasant knowing i have trusted equipment to take me down river.

Race day came sooner than expected and all preparation had to be done as the nerves began to sinc in. The Fish has a Le man start with all the boats lined up on the waters edge and all the paddlers about 100m back making it a mad dash to get in and have a clean start.

The gun goes and its frantic pushing to get through to our boat only to have the paddle next to me inform me that my partner had run back to get his shoe??? Confused, i carried on jumped in and realized he wasn't joking. Zaren had lost his shoe in the mud and some how convinced himself that it was a good idea to go back and get it after reaching the water already. So the start wasn't what it should be but we put the hammer down in hope to catch most of the field before the dam wall portage. I had worked so hard across the dam and most of the portage that with 200m left to reach the river put in i had to walk. The sprint across the dam and most of the run had just killed me. I thought this was the end, from here on its a social race. But what is SOCIAL? This is river racing and anything can happen so keep racing. We were probably around 30th position when we finally climbed in the boat. The entire day from there on went smoothly and with no further mistakes to finally end the day in 13th. Disappointed but happy with the work we had done to catch up.

Day 2 was always going to be a tough day. We started on our own in elapsed time with a group of 5 boats hunting us down. Everything was going well until i lost steering 5km down river. It took some time to reach the river bank and fix the problem and by then the chasing group of 5 had passed us. Unsettled and annoyed we went off in a flat sprint trying to catch the back of the group. Through doing this we had used up too much energy and only lasted another 10km with them before we fell back and just tryed to hang in there for the rest of the day. Fortunately we had created a large gap so we could paddle quite conservative. We finally ended the stage in 18th overall. A long day day out and many lessons learnt.

The overall victory went to Hank Mcgregor and Grant Vd Walt winning there 3rd consecutive title. The surprise of the day was Tom Schilperoort and Jasper Mocke finishing in 2nd place having just come off a very successful international surfski tour.

The Hansa Fish is famous for its after party and boy what a party it was. They had the brilliant band of "Good Luck" on stage and rocked right on into the night.

1st on Podium for 1000m K2

All Africa Games 2011 - Mozambique

Last week we as the SA canoeing team set off to compete in the 2011 All Africa Games being held in Chidenguele Mozambique. Having never been to Mozambique before but heard so much about the place I was really excited for what lay ahead. After arriving in Maputo we spent a few hours at the athlete’s village where all the other sports events are being held. The organizers had built brand new stadiums with state of the art equipment and a bunch of flats for everyone to stay in. It all stuck out like a sore thumb as everything else around was pretty run down and not well looked after since the closing of the war. Unfortunately the canoeing was being held 300km out of Maputo in a town called Chidenguele so we were unable to watch any of the other sports compete. I say unfortunately but in actual fact it was amazing. We were staying in a resort right on the Nhambabale Lake with excellent accommodation and great restaurant facilities. We were only 3km from the beach so on our off days we would go spend a bit of time playing in the waves and soaking up the sun.

Race day – Having expected the worst with rumors going round that the course hadn’t arrived, that there were not enough boats, we were quite pleasantly surprised to see a perfectly straight 1000m course and boat racks full of the worlds leading boat manufacturer’s boats made by Nelo. The racing started off well with Bridgett Hartley winning the 500m K1 and K2 with Tiffany Kruger. She then went on to win the 200m K1 event as well, making it a triple Gold. Nick Stubbs had the hardest race of the games having finished second to Tunisia. Calvin Makoto then went off to win the C1 1000m in great style and followed it up by silver in the 200m C1. After having been sick for a week already I had saved just enough energy to make sure I would make it on to the water for racing. Myself and PW Basson went on to win the 1000m K2 after making it straight through our heat to the finals. The 200m speedster Greg Louw went on to win the 200m K1 event with Shaun Rubenstein and Mike Arthur also winning the K2 200m. Of a possible 11 Medals the SA team won 7 Golds and 2 Silvers.

Killing Time on the Water