After a weekend of intense racing on the legendary Wellerbrücke rapids in Austria’s Ötztal valley, 27-year old Gerd Serrasolses from Sort in Spain outpaddled a field of the world’s finest kayakers in every single round of the competition.
The air to breath is a completely special one at the Augsburg Eiskanal: Slalom national team exercise along leisure paddlers, and Olympic winners share the eddy with hobby captains. Still the Olympic distance of 1972 find itself as local arena for top class fights like the ECA in 2015.
Waking up....a quick glance out of the window....no....hold on....that was indeed snow! 4 inches of snow! If there's anything I don't like it's being cold, apart from the obnoxious feeling in my stomach, caused by the thought of facing the Notch and Gorilla today, the class V key rapid of the course.
After a weekend of intense racing on the legendary Wellerbrücke rapids in Austria’s Ötztal valley, 25-year old Joe Morley from Leeds in Great Britain outpaddled a field full of the best kayakers in the world in his final run, claiming the second Extreme Kayak World Champion title of his career, ahead of Kiwis Mike Dawson and Jamie Sutton.
For the seventh time in a row, between the 2nd and 4th of October, the world’s best whitewater kayakers from over 20 different countries meet in Austria’s Ötztal, Tirol’s longest alpine valley, to determine the adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Champion on the legendary “Wellerbrücke“ rapids.
The 27th edition of the Red Bull Dolomitenmann proved one of the most closely contested in the history of the event, with Adidas Outdoor emerging victorious in the Dolomites. The top five teams were separated by just six minutes.
This years Gene17 Val Sesia river festival was again a huge success with lots of paddlers coming from all over Europe to compete in the Individual, Team and Sweet Rumble races! This year the levels rose rapidly prior to the event starting due to a huge storm coming down in the area bringing with it lots of snow melt.
On Friday 28th of February a large swarm of paddlers once again descended on the small town of Murchison, located on the banks of the Buller River in the central upper South Island, ready for New Zealand’s largest kayaking festival – Bullerfest to kick off.
I find slalom videos tend to bore me, no mountains, just artificial sites with blocks making features, sure there is a lot to be learnt from watching video but for pure interest and enjoyment its about white water, pushing the limits of paddling.
32 feet are damn high. So high, so terrifying, the first sight of the horizon line made me cry. I had read about this waterfall long before, and for even longer, I had been dreaming of running a waterfall this high or even higher. I had run an 8m high drop before, but that 10 m mark seemed magic, like a door to a new dimension.
Feeling nervous before a race or running a big drop is natural. It’s your body’s response to a dangerous situation. The danger comes from a risk to self-esteem (“what if I mess up in front of everyone”) or from the physical risk (“what if I land flat and break my back?”). But why is it that nerves sometimes interfere with a good performance, and at other times they help us “see things very clear” like Roger Federer?