Tuesday, 17 August 2010 09:40
SA paddlers prepare for Youth Olympics and Sprint Kayak World Champs
The cream of the SA paddling crop are currently preparing for two separate International sporting extravaganzas - the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and the Sprint Kayaking World Championships in Poznan, Poland.
Two of South Africa’s top junior paddlers, Kerry Segal and Luke Stowman, have been in Singapore since the 10th of August, preparing for the Youth Olympics Games, which are to be held at the Marina Bay reservoir from the 14-26th of August. These talented youngsters were selected to compete in the Canoe/Kayaking events due to their exceptional all round ability in sprinting and slalom paddling. Team manager, Mike Chiazzari, is full of praise for the event thus far, saying: “The Youth Olympic event is very closely run to the senior Olympic format, so everything is very well organised.”
A day after their arrival in Singapore, Segal and Stowman had sufficiently recovered from their jetlag, and were able to put in some quality training sessions on the top class slalom and sprint course. After the spectacular opening ceremony which was held last Friday, both of these athletes are feeling the excitement of the event and look forward to competing in the sprint events on the 21 and the 22 August, and the slalom events on the 24 and 25 of August.
The SA Senior sprint team is currently in Hungary preparing for the Sprint Kayaking World champs to be held in Poznan, Poland, from the 19 to the 22 August. Last year’s World champs, held in Dartmouth , Canada, saw South Africa claim its first ever medal at this event, when Bridgitte Hartley powered to Bronze in the 1000m K1 event.
While Hartley has been in Hungary training with coach Nandor Almasi in Budapest since July, the rest of the team arrived in their training home of Szolnok on the 8th of August, with just over 10 days to get used to the warmth of the European summer. Szolnok lies just to the east of central Hungary, approximately one hour's drive from Budapest, on the banks of the Tisza River. Training began with two fairly easy days of paddling which allowed the team to recover from their journey. After this, the volume and the intensity of the sessions was upped in preparation for this week’s World Championship racing. For the dynamic duo of Shaun Rubenstein and Mike Arthur, training in Szolnok included some race pace training with Olympic Champion Ken Wallace, and the rest of the Australian squad.
A week after arriving in Poland, the team moved camp to the race venue of Poznan, allowing for 4 days of preparation on the event course before the competition begins on Thursday.
We look forward to seeing what these exceptional athletes can achieve on the International stage against the best in the World.
For more information on the Junior Youth Olympics please go to www.singapore2010.sg. Further information on the Senior Sprint Kayaking World Championships can be found at www.kayak2010.com.
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