Adidas Sickline
It was a long Journey
to one of my favourite locations on the Planet, the Otztal Region. It is a
place of natural beauty. Clean air, Mountainous scenery that refreshes the
mind and soul.
I traveled out with my girlfriend who took a stint at the wheel
to help with the drive. When we arrived the river levels were a little
higher than last years race level which was making for some interesting
spectating with lot of people getting a working in the rapids.
The AdventureX Team Head Honcho Ben Mason came out with the new Team Bus and a couple of UK ambassadors to watch and support me at the event.
.
The
Rules and Regulations were tightened this year to make keep everyone
safe on the class 5/6 rapids so the next stop was kit check and Race
Briefing at the Saal EZ Center.
The river level was
perfect for and after a few practice runs I was feeling good on the water.
Feeling really comfortable in my new Cag from Nookie Paddling Gear and well
fitted in the new Burn from Pyranha and with my new Helemt from Robinhood
Watersports all glistening in the Autumn sunshine It was time for the racing to
begin.
138 of the World’s
Best White Water Kayakers competed in the qualifications. This consisted of two
runs. The times of the two runs are then added together and the lowest 48
totals move on to the Finals.
My Lines were good on the top and
fitness was getting the better of me towards the end of the
qualification run and I took a few hits in some of the features. However
my runs were consistently good and put me through to the Semi Finals
The
Finals work on a
head to head system whereby two competitors will race one after another
and the
fastest will progress to the next round. I was up against fellow British
Paddler David Bain. He went before me and posted a very respectable time
which
was going to be hard to beat. I was on form for a quick time too with
some good
lines on the top, however I clipped a rock after the TNT Rapid and took
the
Champions Killer minus 1 whole central and found myself at the bottom of
the
river. I was down for some time and clashed with a rock losing my kayak
in the process.Fortunately with the river being on a class 5/6 rapid the
event have the worlds
best rescue team on standby who are sponsored by Hf. A big thank you to
them as
well for their quick and effective response in my rescue.On the brigh
tside it
gave me the chance to really test out the Flotation support of the Nookie River
Monster PFD Jacket which did the job well, and the protection from the ice melt
river water from Nookies Dry Cag and Dry Trouser Combo was fantastic.
So A big thanks to
the Adidas Sickline Team who put on another amazing event, and to Nookie
Robinhood Water Sports and the Hf Rescue Team for their Life saving gear and rescue
aid!
I hope to come back
next year and go a just a little further.
We stopped off in
Munich on the way home for the last day of the famous German festival
Oktoberfest. It was an amazing experience with thousands of people in
huge marque tents celebrating life with beer at the ready. Barrels and
barrels of the stuff. It was good to relax with the Team and rewind
after the race.
