Ben Fouhy World Champion K1 1000m Kayaking New Zealand

Another good day for the team crossing the line with over 10 minutes lead. Sven took out the fastest time in the paddle, followed by Ian Huntsman.
The river conditions were really low so it was important to make the right braids. Once again I had to carry my boat, quite frustrating but reinforced my appreciation for the purity of the K1 1000 where there are far fewer variables.
All in all a really good weekend. A lot of fun racing with other New Zealand reps from different codes.

Good day for the team coming in with about and hour lead.
I struggled on the paddle and took lots of bad lines. I didn’t break the boat but put some creases in it. Good testament to the durability of Sisson kayaks. I was really frustrated having to get out of my boat and carry it down a rapid when a fisherman told me to go the wrong line, I think he just didn’t want me to paddle over his fishing hole.
I hope he enjoyed his dinner.
Sven took out the fastest paddle time in 1hr 40, Ian Huntsman had the second fastes time in 1hr 44, I was third in 1hr 46.

Good day for the team. We are now in a good lead with a 28 minute buffer. All our team members got the fastest times today, so it’s nice to have a cash bonus.

Todays paddle was a 18k leg across lake Pukake. I had some unexpected competition from Sven Bruss of South Africa who has represented SA at junior marathon worlds, won the 144k Avon descent is Aussie and recently came 4th in the Dusi. So a pretty handy paddler to keep me honest. At the start of the paddle he left not far behind me, after 20 minutes he was still close! I didn’t know who this guy was so I had to pick it up a few gears and managed to put a 3 minute gap on him.

Tomorrow we paddle the Rangatata river which I have not paddled before. I am told a few boats have been broken down there so fingers crossed I make it alright.

On my way to Mt Cook for the race which starts tomorrow. Busy morning getting boat ready and picking up car for the trip thanks to Peugeot. This is my team mate and runner Carsten Joergensen, he’s run under 28minutes for 10k so he’s pretty fast!

I have just got back from a weekend in Dunedin. Nice to have a break after the Australian regatta. I am very pleased to say that I am now engaged to my Girlfriend Helen. I chose to propose to her on the top of a mountain on one of her favorite runs, the thing was it was 45min running to get to the top of the hill and I have only ran once in three months, as she is quite a good runner it meant I was under the thumb so to speak the whole way up the hill. Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come…

On the Monday I had an oppertunity to paddle in the flume at Otago Universtity. The flume is basically a small swimming pool in which there are a series of pumps recirculating the water so that you can paddle or swim continuously and still stay in the same postion. It is also a controlled environment so it is very useful for all sorts of testing. In a kayak though it is a bit on the small side and requires a reasonable level of skill not to bang into the side,and stay in the right postion. This was a good oppertunity to get between three and four different camera angles at once on a split screen. This will give some good insight into what is going on with my technique.

This afternoon I am flying to Chrishchurch to meet uo with my team mates for the Mt Cook (Highest Mountain in New Zealand) to Christchruch Multi-sport race. My team mates are Robin Reid – NZ Olympic cyclist, Clinton Avery – NZ representive cyclist ( mountain bike ) , and Carsten Jorgenson top Danish runner.

I am looking forward to getting back on to some whitewater and having some fun competing in a differnt event.

Good to have 3 kiwis in the race. Mike Walker came in 9th with Fred Tear in 8th place.

I came in 2nd to Ken Wallace. Good finish for Kenny. I probably over commited to early on and paid the price. Good to know there’s some serious competition close to home now with Baggaley not racing.

I am now looking forward to having a week off and forgetting about paddling for a bit.

Good day of racing. After seven false starts – they only have held starts here not buckets like Europe, I managed a close win of .03 seconds over New Zealand team mate Steven Ferguson. It was great to have two kiwis over the line with a boat length and clear water to spare.

This afternoon I won my heat and semi. Finals for the K1 1000 are tomorrow morning. It will be good to see how my 1000 is going as that is where more of my focus has been. Should be a good race with 1992 Olympic Champion Clint Robertson back racing and also World number 5 from last year Ken Wallace to keep the pace honest.

Hows the Serenity! Emu Plains trailer Park

So far all is going well. We have settled in to our accomodation, and everybody seems to have their equipment so a good start to the trip.

Racing started today. I won my K1 500 semi and have the final tomorrow morning. 1000 heats start after lunch.

This afternoon we will relax and do just a short paddle before we watch Troy and Steve race their K2 500 final.