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.