After ensuring that I reloaded up on carbs and had an early night to bed, I woke up feeling excited about racing in the TK2 with Mick. I felt refreshed and ready to go. I knew it was going to be fun and couldn't wait to have a good hit out against Dave and Leah, Craig and Liz, and Mark and David (all from the Central Coast Canoe Club) and Liz Van Reece and John McIntosh also in a TK2. I expected some serious racing and tactics, and thought that Mick and I would do well together again.
This was only the 2nd time Mick and I had ever paddled in a kayak together and just like last time we clicked straight away. Our warm-up went really well and I was feeling confident. At the start we all lined up together and the mood was great. Off we went and Dave and Leah took off. The 3 remaining crews soon settled into positions with Mick and I taking the lead and the other 2 crews wash-riding us.
With Dave and Leah in Dave's new TK2 their turns were amazing and they gained on us each time. Occassionally we would get within reach, but would lose too much ground on the turns again. I think we were paddling about the same speed, but they increased their distance on us with each turn. We dropped back to try and wash ride one of the other kayaks, but everytime we did this the other kayaks would slow down and Dave and Leah would get even further ahead. I think that if we had all worked together a bit better we would have been able to catch them, but as it turned out most of the race was spent with the other 2 kayaks wash riding us, and as hard as we tried we could not catch up to Dave and Leah on our own.
Towards the end of the second lap (half-way into the race), a speedboat came past and the other 2 crews (Craig and Liz, Mark and Dave) didn't stay with us through it, so Mick and I took the opportunity and made a move. Within about 30 seconds we had made enough of a lead and got them off our washride and we just kept getting further in front of them from that point on. By the end of the 3rd lap we had a significant lead on them and knew they couldn't catch us. So in retrospect I think that they didn't take over the lead place and let us wash-ride them because they were probably struggling to keep up with us as it was.
Now that we were well and truly on our own we again busted our butts to try and catch Dave and Leah, but every metre we made up we lost again on the next turn. Half way through the last lap we realised we couldn't catch them and eased off a bit. The others were way behind us, it was amazing how much distance we had made on them in just over a lap, and we finished a strong second to win the silver medal. Dave and Leah did 1:47:41, we finished only 50 seconds behind in 1:48:31, Mark and Dave finished almost 2 minutes behind us in 1:50:17 and Craig and Liz in 1:50:39.
Considering we were hoping to do 1:50:00 Mick and I were stoked with our time. And considering it was only our 2nd time paddling together I think we did amazingly well. Throughout the race, without even speaking I could feel what Mick was trying to do...increase rate, increase pressure, surge, ease off. He didn't have to say anything, I could just tell by the feel of it. Our timing was great and I really think we paddle well together. I hope we get the opportunity to do it again, because I think with experience we could be very good.
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