Day 1

17:00 Take off from Durban.

19:15 Gone through security and passport control, feeling hungry. Eat the last 5 pea-nut butter biscuits that my girlfriend made for my trip. Sit down at News Café and order an egg, bacon and cheese tramazini with chips.

20:30 Plane takes off for Spain, try to sleep through the planes supper.

23:00 The massive guy next to me has fallen asleep with his reading spot light on. The whole plane is in darkness except for our 2 seats, can’t sleep so decide to read my book, Mao’s last dancer. 

Day 2

03:00 The big guys light is killing me, decide to read more.

05:00 Breakfast is served, one mouthful of fruit salad, a very stale, tasteless croissant with cheese and a rubbery piece of ham on it, a poppy seed muffin- awesome! And 2 blocks of chocolate.

06:35 Touch down in Madrid, Spain

07:30 Arrive at flight check in to Porto, Portugal; decide to go through a stretching routine.

08:00 Check in meant to have started at 07:40 but no airline staff in sight, carry on with my stretching.

09:00 Breakfast gets put in front of me on the plane, I’m starving! Two of the smallest biscuits I have ever seen in my life and half a glass of orange juice, they must be joking! 

08:45 Arrive in Porto 45min late but gain an hour due to time zone change. Paddles and bag both arrive in perfect condition!

09:15 The bus takes us to our hotel. The hotel looks pretty impressive from the outside and has four big gold stars next to its name; think we are in for a treat!

10:00 Walk into my hotel room; It’s massive and very modern. Huge very comfortable white bed, flat screen TV, on suite bathroom, nice balcony, this could definitely make me happy! 

10:20 hit the street to find something to fill my stomach. Come across a tiny shop and buy myself a chocolate croissant, small packet of chips and a pack of marie biscuits. Not ideal but not much else to choose from…

11:30 Catch the bus to the course, feeling exhausted after a night of no sleep on the plane. Trip takes about 45 minutes, traffic is painstakingly slow… The course looks amazing, the sun is shining and everyone looks happy.

12:30 find some of the juniors and we order some lunch together, can’t wait to fill my stomach! A hamburger with an egg, cheese and chips. We cough up enough euros to pay for the meal only to find out that there is free lunch for the athletes just around the corner. Don’t care anymore too hungry, basically inhale what’s on my plate in front of me!

14:00 Borrow Lens boat to go for a paddle, by now the wind is pumping and the waves on the course are a serious issue.

15:00 Shaun and Marcus arrive and we go to Nelo to find our new K2. There is nothing like unwrapping a brand new Nelo, it’s like ten Christmases in one! Flip the boat is sexy, plain white all over and light as a feather. We fiddle with a few things in the boat and then head back to the hotel. My eyelids are staring to close on me now. 

18:00 Leave the hotel to head into the City to meet up with the rest of the team and find some dinner. Traffic, traffic, traffic, what a pain. Now feeling beyond exhausted.

19:30 Hook up with the rest of the team for a quick drink next to the river, really beautiful in the city. After quite a bit of trekking around we eventually find a decent little place to eat. Pretty much all of us order steak and chips which is the cheapest thing on the menu at about R100.

22:00 Climb into my bed after about 39 hrs of being awake for one of my best sleeps ever! 

Day 3

07:45 Climb out of bed and head for breakfast. What a spread! Cereals, fruit salad, yogurt, egg, toast, cold meats, pastries, Nice!

08:30 Head to the course, takes us just under an hour to get there. Start setting up our K2 as soon as we arrive, fitting pumps, seats, handles and pull straps.

11:00 On the water in the K2 with Shaun, the wind is blowing hard, the current is pushing and the waves are all over the place. Wish I had done a few surf ski sessions, Hank and Grant must be smiling! The new boat feels awesome but we take quite a bit of water from the waves, I hope it is a bit calmer on race day.

12:30 Lunch time at the course. Dry fish and spaghetti without sauce. Dip my spaghetti into my potato soup to give it a bit of flavour.

15:00 Get back to the hotel for a quick rest and recharge.

16:00 Drive back to the course to paddle again.

17:30 On the water but in K1’s this time for a bit of a session. Shaun lets me paddle in his Beijing Olympic sprint boat, I feel special! My body not feeling the best on the water, think I’m still a bit tired and stiff from the trip.

19:15 Arrive back at the hotel in time for supper with the team. There are about 60 South Africans all together including supporters and the spirits are high. I can’t resist the temptation of the desert table and dish myself a nice piece of chocolate cake and some swiss roll before I get to my main course! The sea food pasta is tasty but has these big chunks of what looks like stomach parts so I push them to the side of my plate. Some one dares me to eat them but I decline.

22:00 In my bed again feeling a bit drained so decide to take the next morning easy. 

Day 4

08:30 out of bed and off to breakfast. The masters have their K1 races today so have all gone to the course already. Spot the Spanish K2 that came 2^nd to Cam and I last year walk across and greet them. Kind of surprised by their politeness and how friendly they are.

09:15 Back in my room to start building up some energy reserves for my race.

12:30 Walk to the supermarket to buy some lunch. A few nectarines, some bread rolls, ham and cheese. Ham and cheese rolls are pretty much standard nutrition while in Europe.

15:30 Shaun and I head to the course for a K2 session, my body is feeling one million times better than it was yesterday, amazing what some good rest can do for you. We do a solid warm up followed by 2x 3min, 3x 2min, 4x 1min all with a 2min rest. The wind is blowing hard and waves are again fairly large. We have a great session and the boat cuts powerfully through the water despite the harsh conditions. Shaun tells me how much better the boat is feeling compared to yesterday, I agree. To finish off we paddle hard up to the jetty, run the portage fast, put back in the water and paddle away digging deep for another 40 strokes. It feels good so we do it again.

19:00 Re join the rest of the team back at our hotel for supper. There’s quite a spread and no one seems to be holding back.

19:30 Our team manager Steve Jordaan whistles to get our attention in the dinning hall. The room is filled with at least 60 South Africans who all become silent as they focus their attention on Steve. An old German man from a nearby but not actually that close table walks up to Steve and interrupts our meeting. He tells Steve it’s extremely bad manners to whistle in the dining room… 60 South Africans immediately begin whistling! 

Day 5

08:45 Arrive at the course in time to see the first of the masters K2 races starting at 9am. Watch every single portage of every lap of every masters K2 race. With the staggered starts each race just ends up flowing right into the next. By the end of it there is just a solid stream of boats linking up the whole of the 4.3km lap. None of the spectators seem to know who’s in which race hopefully the competitors know what’s going on! Our masters bag us a handful of medals, once again doing South Africa proud.

12:00 I climb onto the water, this time in Shaun’s marathon race boat. It’s also plain white, light, comfortable and feels amazing through the water. I do a hard training session, made up of long and short intervals all pushed to the max and end off with two portages. My body is feeling strong and I’m ready to race.

15:30 Arrive back at the hotel for a rest.

17:55 Dressed in our full SA track suits meet the team down stairs in the hotel foyer to catch the 6pm bus to the opening ceremony.

18:20 Still no bus… Some one checks the bus schedule and informs us that the last bus to the opening ceremony left at 17:20! Manager Steve phones the organizers to inform them of our error. They order us another bus and send it our way.

18:50 The bus arrives. The opening ceremony starts at 7pm; we arrive at 20 past… It seems we have not missed much; they have attempted to cram hundreds of people into a small hall built for only 100 people. Most people are standing outside the hall. We stand around for about 20min and then catch the bus back to the hotel for dinner. Although we never achieved much during our outing every one is happy and having loads of fun together. 

Day 6

10:30 arrived at the course to watch the final 3 laps of the junior racing. Brandon Van der Walt is in the front group of 4 boats and looking strong. Kerry Segal has just dropped off the pace of the leading girls after a gutsy effort.

11:00 Brandon climbs back into his boat after the final portage and paddles away with only one boat on his wave. The flat out sprint starts at 500m to go and the two boats are neck and neck. Brandon grits his teeth and finally cracks his opponent to cross the line in 1^st place. Gold for South Africa!
 

13:30 Decide it’s time to make the hole through the deck of our new Nelo K2 for our pump outlet pipe. I have been tying to put it off for as long as possible. It is always heart breaking… I pull out my leatherman and start twisting the knife blade through the top of the brand new boat! The K2 is now race ready. Sadly Dave Ham spots that the back cock-pit is starting to pull away from the boat. With the cock-pit being my carrying handle for the portages it is vital that I sort it out… We carry the boat back over to the Nelo truck so that they can repair it for us.

15:00 Get back to the hotel and quickly connect to the internet to watch Grant Van der Walt’s race live on my laptop. The link is not the best and I keep losing the race signal. I am able to see just enough and when the race turns into the final straight I see that Grant is looking strong. He powers away to cross the line first and claim the worlds first ever U23 marathon world title.

21:00 After a full day of rest I have fully recovered and my body is feeling awesome.

21:30 Lying in my bed trying to sleep but can’t stop thinking about my race. After watching so many people badly mess up the take-outs and put-ins for the portages I’m feeling a little nervous. This year there have been far more casualties coming into and out of the portage area and I can’t work out why?

10:30 Still can’t fall asleep, far too much is going through my mind. 

Day 7

The seniors race their K1 races today and for the first time ever I’ll only be a spectator. After a K1 bronze medal at last years world champs I can’t help but feel slightly disappointed.

10:00 My dad and brother in law John arrive at our hotel. The first time my dad has ever been able to watch me live in an international competition; I’m keen to try and impress him! 

12:30 Arrive at the course, Bridgitte and Michele are racing in the ladies K1 race and unfortunately neither of them are in the front group.

13:45 The ladies race is over and I climb onto the water for my final training session of the season. I am allowed on the water for 1hr and must be off before the start of senior men’s race. My body is always sluggish after a day of rest so it is important that I push to the max in training today. This will ensure that the intensity of tomorrow’s race is not too much of a shock to the system. I do a 2km warm up followed by a hard 8 minutes, a maximum effort 4 minutes, 2x 2 minutes, 2x 1 minute, 2x 30 seconds and 2x 15 strokes up to maximum speed. I am feeling strong in the boat and the interval session feels almost effortless. I am sure that I have timed my peak perfectly. 

14:40 There are 5 minutes until the start of the men’s K1 race. I say good luck to as many of the competitors as possible and then paddle to the side.

14:45 Watch the start from the jetty; it feels strange not to be a part of it. Although I am not racing in the K1 I feel relieved that I only have to focus my efforts into one K2 race this year. Shaun and Len both have good starts. When the boats approach the first portage I am blown away by how fast the pace is. Len takes out and runs the first portage first; Shaun is hanging onto the back of the large group.

15:15 After dropping back slightly Shaun rejoins the front group. Unfortunately it is not much later that both he and Len drop off the back of the leading group.

16:30 Shaun is back in the lead group but his exhaustion is beginning to show as a result of expending too much energy catching up again. The 5 leading men come into the final portage, Shaun is still there. Reigning world champ Emilio Merchan from Spain tips out his boat at the put-in and the other 4 boats pull away.  Multiple world champion Manuel Busto also from Spain puts his ears back and charges for the line to win by a very clear margin from a British paddler. Shaun narrowly misses out on a medal and gets 4^th place. He looks shattered… I hope he can recover enough before our K2 race tomorrow.I congratulate Busto on his win and in return he tells me that tomorrow it’s my turn!  After that comment I am unable to wipe the grin off my face!    

20:00 The meat at supper looks, tastes and smells a bit dodgy so I push it to the side of my plate. A few of the paddlers are struggling with possible food poisoning from the night before and I am not prepared to take any chances. I am in desperate need for some protein but even sight of the canned sardines in the salad section is enough to make me gag! I go back up to my room to mix and drink a USN muscle fuel shake.

20:50 Have a nice, long warm shower and then spend 45 minutes stretching.

22:00 Switch off my light and unexpectedly sleep perfectly! It is uncommon for me to get a good night sleep before a big race.     

Day 8

07:30 Wake up shower and mix my race juice. 1 litre to go in the bottle on my chest and 2x 750ml in two separate Tripper bladders. I will drink 500ml from my bottle in the first 3 laps, use one of the bladders for lap 4 and 5.The last bladder for lap 6 and the remaining 500ml from my bottle on my chest for the most important and final 7^th lap.

08:15 Go down to the dining hall and have my normal breakfast. A mixture of corn flakes, bran and muesli followed by some scrambled egg. I see the Spanish K2 crew and attempt to be hardcore by ignoring them. They are good friends of mine and I can’t help myself from sneaking them a quick smile!

09:10 A quick skype call to my girlfriend Sue. She wishes me luck and tells me how fast I am. Exactly what I needed to hear on the morning of my race!

09:40 Go through another half hour of stretching.

10:30 My bags are packed and I’m ready to head to the course.

10:50 In the car with Shaun and Marcus and on the way to the course. I slowly force down the two ham and cheese rolls that I had made myself for lunch. The last thing I feel like doing is eating but I know that I’ll need this energy later on during my race.

11:15 Arrive at the river and there are cars parked all over the place. It’s a beautiful day and the spectators have come out in full force. I plug my music into my ears, Hillsong United pumping and we take on the walk through the crowds to get to our boat and the athletes area.

11:50 Both SA ladies crews have had mechanical problems with their boats. Meticulously check every moving part in our K2 and immediately feel a bit more relaxed.    

12:15 Start changing into race kit and resume some more stretching.

12:35 Go for a quick jog to the waters edge and back to remind my legs of the work they will need to do on the portages.

12:42 Pick up our boat and paddles and head through check in and then climb onto the water. Spend just over 10 minutes warming up before we are called to line up.

13:00 READYGO!(one word!) And we are off, the 2009 K2 world marathon champs has begun!
 

13:02 My body is already hurting, from start to now has all been maximum effort. We are not quite in the best position yet and continue to push into the red zone to ensure a safer position on the group before the first turn.

13:07 We go around the first turn I give it my final hard burst of energy to get to the front of the group. I am not sure if my body can manage this kind of intensity for much longer… Finally we are safe and take out and run the first portage in 2^nd place. We put back in and brake away with only three other boats, perfect! Coming in and out of every single portage I can think of nothing else but exiting and entering the boat perfectly. Even a minor slip up could cause us to loose contact with the leading group. Fortunately Shaun and I are faultless! We hit the final portage at full speed and both feeling strong. Still four boats together, we run this one far harder than all the previous portages. The Spaniards put in first with us right on their tail and they try to break the imaginary elastic between us. There is no way we are letting them go and stick to them like glue. We take the final turn with only 500m to go to the line, the Spaniards still leading. 400m to go, Shaun turns his head and looks me straight in the eyes. He doesn’t say a word but I know that it means be ready to kick past them.250m to go and we put the hammer down. We slowly head past them and I get flashbacks of mine and Cams win last year in Czech. We hold them for a while but they slowly claw their way back at us. Our muscles are cramping and hating us for putting them through so much pain.  On the day the Spaniards are stronger than us and they sneak back into the lead to take the gold. Shaun and I after a perfect race get the silver and the ecstatic Czechs the bronze.I am happy with Shaun for racing a perfectly tactical race and very impressed with how well he recovered from his K1 race. When you are racing against the best in the world although gold is always nicest a medal of any colour still needs to be treasured. 

13:45 Dressed in full SA track suits we proudly climb onto the second step of the podium to accept our silver medals! The Spanish national anthem plays but in my heart I am still happy. A good, clean race with no dirty tactics was raced and in the end the strongest boat won. We congratulate the winners one last time before posing for a few more photos and then stepping off the podium. My medal still hanging round my neck and content with the fact that I know that I could not have paddled any harder today. I will go to sleep tonight with a smile on my face. Just knowing that in my paddling career I have truly been blessed far more than I could ever have dreamed of! I guarantee you when I wake up in the morning that smile will still be there!  

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