This years Spanish National Champs were held over the past weekend in Castellon. It was a great turn out with around 400 Surfski Paddlers taking to the water. There are races for all age groups, held at a different time to the Seniors,U/23's and Master's, so it is great to be able to support and cheer on our club mates.
I arrived on the Friday evening and we were only racing at 4pm on Saturday, as to try and get the best possible wind and the Juniors would race after us.
This weekend there was heatwave on the mainland of Spain, and it was extremely hot. The race went off at 4pm as planned and there was a section of about 2.5km of flat to get out the harbour. After which we would go for 5km directly into the wind and then turn back and finish where we started. The wind had virtually died and we were left with some waves to catch but it was hard to work the runners that were left over and no time to rest. I had a good start and tried to break away after the harbour wall, Amaia and Aurora were strong and after a while were back on my tail. The heat was intense so I decided to rest on their tail for a while. Going up to the turn it was difficult to recover from the heat and I knew I was going to have to work hard all the way back. Aurora managed get away and created a small gap. I worked hard to close it all the way back to the harbour and when we hit the flat she was too strong and I could not match her pace. Well Done Aurora you had a great race also well done to Amaia, it is always great to race with you.
Big congrats to Sara, my club mate, who came in 4th - great race!!
Ladies Final Results:
1st - Aurora
2nd - Chloe
3rd - Amaia
4th - Sara
I arrived on the Friday evening and we were only racing at 4pm on Saturday, as to try and get the best possible wind and the Juniors would race after us.
This weekend there was heatwave on the mainland of Spain, and it was extremely hot. The race went off at 4pm as planned and there was a section of about 2.5km of flat to get out the harbour. After which we would go for 5km directly into the wind and then turn back and finish where we started. The wind had virtually died and we were left with some waves to catch but it was hard to work the runners that were left over and no time to rest. I had a good start and tried to break away after the harbour wall, Amaia and Aurora were strong and after a while were back on my tail. The heat was intense so I decided to rest on their tail for a while. Going up to the turn it was difficult to recover from the heat and I knew I was going to have to work hard all the way back. Aurora managed get away and created a small gap. I worked hard to close it all the way back to the harbour and when we hit the flat she was too strong and I could not match her pace. Well Done Aurora you had a great race also well done to Amaia, it is always great to race with you.
Big congrats to Sara, my club mate, who came in 4th - great race!!
Ladies Final Results:
1st - Aurora
2nd - Chloe
3rd - Amaia
4th - Sara
On Sunday we raced doubles on the same course, we raced at midday so it was, once again, really hot. I raced with Sara and we had a great start, followed by a very hard but fun race. We took Gold in the overall Ladies. Thanks Sara, it was great to race with you.
A big thank you to my club, Club Amigos de Piraguismo, it was a great weekend and everyone from the club raced so well and we placed 4th overall in the club points and first in the medal table.
As always thank you to Living Sea, Carbonology Sport, Knysna Racing and Vaikobi for my awesome and reliable equipment.
Next I will be representing and joining the Spanish team in Sardinia, Italy for the European Championships. They will be held between 21st and 26th of September.
