Almost there…

One down, one to go!

I am feeling a bit relieved, the excitement starting to creep in, trying to remain focused and determined, a little disappointed and sore!

I just spent the last few days racing at the Oceania Championships out at Penrith. It also doubled as Australia’s first round of Olympic selection races. To be honest, it didn’t really feel like Olympic selections, or maybe it was my plan going into the regatta to treat it just like a normal race and forget about the extra pressure and added bonus if you win! To gain selection to the Olympic team for sprint kayaking you must win two out of three races in an event. My target events for the regatta were the K4 500m, K1 200m and 500m.

First up was the K1 200m selection race. It was pretty harsh having the first race of the regatta a direct final with so much to gain or lose. I had an awesome start and first 100m but lost my aggression in the last 100m and was overtaken by world-class paddler from WA, Alana Nicholls. I finished second by 0.4 of a second. The race went so quickly and was over before I knew it. You don’t get anywhere for coming second so onto the next race. Unfortunately I had a shocker in the second selection race so lost my chance to race in that event at the Olympics. All credit to Alana, she placed fourth at the world championships last year and looks a real chance to push for the medals!

Next race: K4 500m! My K4 crew and I were excited to get racing as we wanted to start the process of securing our positions on the team. We had a couple of training sessions before the racing started to sharpen up and get the feel back in the boat as we hadn’t paddled together for almost three weeks. Our race warm up went to plan and we were feeling good. We won the race by 1.6 seconds from the other Australian crew. It was a relief to cross the finish line first, that race hurt a lot! It wasn’t our best race as we were a bit fatigued but we know what we are capable of and will be training hard to go faster next time. We now just have to win the next K4 selection race at the national championships to be nominated to the Olympic team! 

Onto the K1 500m. A new day and a new challenge. I was looking forward to racing this event as I had only raced over this distance once in the last two years. I had a small cheer squad in the stands, mostly made up of my family members who were overly excited and made a lot of noise! I won my heat but it didn’t feel so good. I have been battling with a sore back for the last two weeks which progressively got worse as the racing went on. 

I decided in consultation with my coach and physios, it would be best to withdraw from the rest of the regatta to allow by back to recover quicker so I will be in good shape for the national championships in 10 days time. When I was lying on the physio table with numerous needles been jabbed into my back, I thought it might have been less painful to be out there racing!! It was disappointing to have to pull out as I knew I was missing an opportunity to enhance my selection on to the team but I had to think of the bigger picture and my priority event, K4 500m. The K1 races were always going to be a bonus. I am a little out of race practice with my K1 since I injured my shoulder in 2010 but I still love to race them.

I will head back to the Gold Coast for a week of training and fine tuning, then its back to Penrith to earn my spot on the Olympic team!

Last week I commenced my studies to become a paramedic via distance education through Charles Sturt Uni. I was a bit excited at the beginning of the week when my text books arrived in the mail and so I started reading them straight away…nerd!! It didn’t last long as my focus shifted to racing, so this week I plan to get back into the grove of university life again. Studying via distance is a great option for me as I will be able to complete my work anywhere in the world as long as I am connected to the internet. Lots of online forum postings, discussions, readings and assignments to do…hmm I’m not sure if this sounds so fun anymore! I just want to be out on the road working as a paramedic but I guess I have to learn how to do that first!!

Jo