End of Winter Training

Wow, these past few months have been great. Coming to Durban was a fantastic idea, as not only did I get to train in the relative warmth of Natal’s Winter (whatever-you guys have no idea what a winter is ), but I got to do the Winter Surf Ski Series, which was epic. Managed to win every race I entered, and win the B Grade men’s section as well.

The Downwind’s here are superb, with the best part being that the water is warm. Such a difference, when a wave crashes over your legs, and you don’t lose your breath and get numb feet as a result! Besides training in the sea, managed to get most of my flatwater training in at La Mercy-what a beautiful “secret” spot. Thanks to Barry for joining me in some crazy sessions!

Tomorrow is the National Sprint Trial, good to see such massive changes in the way CSA is handling the sprinters, all-in-all it’s so positive, and great to see a plan being put into action. Then on Saturday and Sunday it’s the SA K4 Champs, held at Shongweni Dam – another amazing Natal spot. Getting most of the Olympic K4 together for this, except for Nikki. Should be fun to paddle again together, as it’s been over a year since we raced in Beijiing…

And then it’s the long drive back to Plett, with a last 2 weeks of training at my home base, then off to Portugal for World Marathon Champs:)

Here are some photo’s of the past few months in sunny Durban.

Dunlop Durban World Cup

Photo by Anthony Grote/Gameplan Media

Surf Ski paddling is so much fun! Especially when the wind is blowing, the water is warm, and the dolphins come cruising past.

Sunday morning dawned, and the wind was blowing outside my digs in Durban North. Yes! I had nightmares the night before of a 32km flat paddle, not ideal. So, to get down to the beach at Durban Undersea Club, and have my ski roll in the wind (dinging my ankle in the process) was actually a pleasure, as it meant that my day was only going to get better.

The runs were great! I potentially went a little too shallow, but all in all, my line was good. I got away at the start, and then just tried to concentrate on stringing the runs together so that my boat speed never slowed down. Managed to negotiate the shorey at Westbrook successfully, so no embarrassing ski-on-head episodes there.

Lightie (Clint Pretorius) stormed the field to win from Matt, and Oscar! That guy just gets better with age! Michelle Eder was 2nd in  the women’s race, and Tiffany Kruger was 3rd.

Great event, thanks to Dunlop for coming to the party, and to Billy and TRacy for organising it.

At Nagle Dam now for a flatwater training camp. Next stop, Portugal for World Marathon Champs!

Photo by Craig Dutton