HOT, HOT, HOT!!! On Thursday Mum and I took my 2 boys out to the International Regatta Centre at Penrith to have look at the Sprint Kayaking events at the Sydney Youth Olympic Festival. It was 43 degrees celcuis plus! The breeze was nice and hot too. At least we were in the shade up in the grandstand. We had to keep pouring water over ourselves (and the boys) to keep a bit cooler. I don't know how the athletes did it. To have to warm up, paddle up to the start, wait around for the start, race and then cool down, all whilst being out in that heat, in the sun, without any shelter!!! It really was so hot. I felt extra sorry for all the athletes who have come from Winter in their countries. Even with the heat, I thought there would be more spectators out there. It was really disappointing to see such a lack of support for such a big event. The racing was great, and definately worth the effort to go and see. One of the highlights for me was the Mens 1000m K4 - its always beautiful to watch elite paddlers in perfect timing, paddling so fast. The Womens 1000m K1 was also very interesting. The winner was so far out in front of the rest of the field, we didn't even notice her until she was about 300m from the finish. The photo at the top left shows her near the finish. One of the competitors in this race also fell in about 50m after the start, apparently due to heat related factors. I don't know about anyone else, but whenever I hear of someone else falling in, it makes me feel a little more normal! One other point of interest was the absolute domination of Nelo kayaks at the event. The place was full of them. It seems that this is the craft of choice for most of the elite paddlers. I've never paddled one, but would love to try it one day. 
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