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News from 9 August 06 until 10 May 07
including Australian Team Selection 07(Click here for more recent news)
Latest entries at top.
Kate raced well at the second weekend of Australian Team Selection Races, ensuring her spot on the 2007 Australian Team. Kate will compete in World Cups in Czech Republic, Slovennia and Germany, and the World Championships in Brazil.
Jacqui placed 3rd on Friday and needed to win Saturday's event to claim a spot on the team, but didn't make it. Jacqui will travel to Europe from May to July to seek out good training and racing opportunities, and her focus is now on Olympic Team selection in a year's time.
Rosalyn was also disappointed with her racing and didn't achieve her goal of a place on the Under22 Team. At just 17, its great to see Ros striving to beat the older girls, but there's always next year, and she has already secured her spot on the Junior Australian Team for this year, to race in Czech Republic.
Two races done in Tasmania this weekend and two to go (Penrith), and Kate is in a strong position for selection onto the Australian Team this year, with a 1st place and 4th place under her belt.
Jacqui's races can probably be described as disasters, and she now needs to win the final two races this coming weekend, in order to have any chance of making the 2007 team. Despite mild illness and injury (shoulder) in the lead up to the races, Jacqui felt physically fit on race day and simply needs to keep those nerves under control!
Rosalyn had an unusual injury to contend with - a bee sting on her eyebrow caused her eye to be swollen and barely open for several days, luckily clearing up by race day. Rosalyn's performances also left much to be desired, and she will need to step it up in order to make the Under 22 Australian Team. So cross your fingers for us next Friday and Saturday!
Just one week to go before the three of us travel to Tasmania for races 1 and 2 of the 2007 Australian Team Selection events on 31 March and 2 April. Jacqui and Kate are aiming to be on the Senior Team and Rosalyn is aiming to be on the Under 22s Team. Both teams will travel to Europe to compete in world-class competitions. It wont be easy - and as the pressue and anticipation build we have to be confident in our abilities and in the fact that we have done everything we can to be in the best condition for these selection races.
PS: Sorry about the lack of news in the last month, but due to a range of circumstances we have had limited access to the internet recently.
At the first of the 2007 Canoe World Series races today Jacqui placed third, 2.8s behind Austria's Violetta Oblinger and 0.8s behind Australian teammate Louise Natoli. After a Qualification performance that left much to be desired on Saturday, Jacqui is really happy that she performed well with two clean runs on Sunday to pick up the bronze medal - and prize money!
Kate was fast during Qualifications, but penalties and small mistakes during her semi and final run put her in 4th place, despite some great sections. Rosalyn narrowly missed making the A-final along with the Senior competitors, but still picked up 2nd place in the Junior division behind Emmie Barratt.
Today at the Canoe World Series - Australian Open, Junior Australian athletes battled it out for Selection to the Junior Australian Canoe Slalom Team to compete in the Czech Republic later this year. The race is the third out of four races, with the last being contested tomorrow. Yet Rosalyn has already secured her spot as first ranked Ladies boat on the team, having won the Junior Ladies K1 race today as well as the first two selection races which were held in January.
Kate has won the title of 2007 Oceania Champion for Ladies K1 Slalom. In fact, Kate has won this race every time since it was first run in 2005, making this her third win in a row! The race was held on the Mangahao River near Palmerston North, New Zealand, where Kate defeated a small but elite field of competitors, coming in ahead of Louise Natoli (2nd) and Jacqui (3rd) - good to see that the Aussies took out all the medals in the Ladies class! Jacqui was not satisfied with her performance, but the positive is that these results will count towards the girls' World Rankings.
The lead up to the race was exciting and extremely hot, with temperatures reaching around 40 degrees on most days. The international athletes must have taken the heat pretty hard because even the Aussies were finding it hard to deal with. Ros did not paddle well in the qualifications, but it was nothing she couldn’t remedy in the semi-final and final the following evening.
Her semi-final run was solid, with some room for improvement, and she was coming 3rd with 2.4 seconds to make up on 1st. Unfortunately a roll in gate 2 in her Final run cost her a chance at a medal, and she placed 4th behind athletes from China, Japan and Australia. The international race experience has only made her more determined to give it all she’s got at the Junior Pre-World Championships in Czech Republic later this year.
Tonight is the official Opening Ceremony of the Australian Youth Olympic Festival, in which Rosalyn is competing. Rosalyn moved into the "athlete's village" on Tuesday along with her fellow Australian Teammates, as they prepare for the races on Friday and Saturday evenings. We will let you know of the results!
Kate and Jacqui’s performances were not up to their usual standard at the Australian Championships early this month. The girls were both fast, but gate touches penalised the girls heavily, and they finished 4th and 5th respectively.
Rosalyn carried the Lawrence name through the Championships, medalling in every event she entered and winning most of them, including K1, C1 and C2 disciplines. Her performances earned her the title of Overall Champion Girl in the Australian Schools Championships, and Australian Junior Champion at the National Championships. By winning the Pre-Australian and Australian Championships (over 10s ahead of 2nd), she is well placed for Selection to the Australian Junior Canoe Slalom Team.
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Well we had a bit of an epic drive home on Saturday. Two and a half hours into the trip the car broke down just out of Singleton. When the NRMA guy came he said it was the alternator (charges the battery as the car is going). He charged the battery enough for us to get to the auto-electrician in Singleton (who was supposed to close shop but kept it open for us), only to find out it couldn't be fixed as he couldn't get the necessary part. So we had to hire a car, but it didn't have roof racks so we had to leave the boats with the car in Singleton. We drove the hire car to Glenn Innes where we could drop it off, and then Dad had to drive two hours to come and pick us up! What is normally a ten hour drive took close to 13, but we finally got here! Now we'll borrow some old slalom boats for training, and while we are here we can do some cross training and improvised gym...
On Friday night we all gathered at Lachie's house for wood-fired pizzas and more importantly, to say thank you and farewell to Mike Druce as he steps down from his position as AIS Head Slalom Coach due to family commitments. Mike's technical advise over the past 7 years (he first started working with Jacqui when she was 17, but has been with the Australian Team for longer than that) has been invaluable. Hopefully Mike will still be able to be involved with the Team to some extent. Congratulations to Myriam Fox who has stepped into Mike's position.
On Thursday night we attended the annual Awards Dinner for the NSW Institute of Sport. Kate was nominated for an Academic Excellence Award, and although she didn't win the award this time, it was still a great excuse to get all dressed up for dinner with friends. The Female Athlete of the Year went to swimmer Sophie Eddington and the Male Athlete of the Year to triathlete Brad Kahlefeldt. Ian Thorpe was also there to present some awards and speak about his decision to retire from swimming last week.
Rosalyn flew to Sydney today to live - the move has been a long time coming, she has been counting down the days since the beginning of the year! She finished her HSC exams earlier this month (Phew!), and attended her School Formal (photo), and is now living with Jacqui and her housemates. Its a big change from Old Bonalbo, but she is really looking forward to all the whitewater training!
Jacqui and Kate just spent two days at the AIS in Canberra with the rest of the Australian Team, taking advantage of some of the facilities and discussing planning and training in the lead-up to the 2008 Olympics. In between information sessions, we got to do some strength testing, play indoor soccer and water polo, and use the awesome new Recovery Centre - it has three types of spa (hot), plunge pool (freezing), wading pool (freezing), and 'river' (to walk against the current or float around with it).
Our strength testing results:
| Jacqui | Kate | |
| Body weight | 63kg | 52kg |
| 3-rep bench press | 60kg | 50kg |
| 3-rep bench pull | 62.5kg | 50kg |
| max chin-ups | 24 | 24 |
Photos to come soon!
The last few days have seen serious bushfires in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, which over 600 firefighters have not been able to contain. Hopefully the cooler weather predicted from tomorrow will help the situation. There has been smog and the smell of smoke throughout Penrith, even though the bushfires are a long way away. This picture is just a small fire (nothing compared to a real bushfire) that could be seen from the slalom course, which was put out within a day. To see pictures of the real bushfires, click here.
Well Sunday is usually a rest day from training, but today we took part in a twighlight race that was organised to test some new timing equipment. As entry was free, even our coach Myriam Fox, and High Performance Director Richard Fox took part in the racing! The results in the Womens event - Kate 1st, Jacqui 2nd.
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The NSW State Selection Race and NSW Championships were held this weekend at Penrith Whitewater Stadium. The weekend's races were Selection races for the Australian Youth Olympic Festival Team coming up in January, for juniors. Rosalyn struggled during the first race but an excellent performance on Sunday saw her ranked as the first junior girl for the Team. Kate also had some problems on Saturday and finished 4th, while Jacqui took 2nd with two solid runs.
The fight for the title of NSW State Champion took place on Sunday. Racing was tight amongst the senior women, with strong competitors like Olympic representative Louise Natoli who is on a comeback from shoulder surgery. Kate laid down two good runs, while Jacqui had a below average first run then a much-improved second run, giving her the fastest ladies single run time of the day. With both runs added together, Kate was the winner and Jacqui second. But when the medals were presented, all three Lawrence sisters took gold - Jacqui in the Open Ladies class, Kate in the Under 23 Ladies class, and Ros in the Junior Ladies class!
Mum and Dad came down for the race too, Dad competed in his new plastic boat and Mum helped out with judging.
Today there was a working bee on the Nepean River to set up some slalom gates for a small training course. While walking in the water, Kate stepped on something that caused a sharp pain which got worse and worse. She had three small punctures in her foot in a neat row - no one had any idea of what it could have been. So it was off to the Emergency department in the local hospital, where the nurses bandaged up her foot with ice and she was put in a wheel chair! However neither ice nor hot water nor panedine fort would ease her pain and she ended up needing a shot of morphine. As there was no doctor available for several hours, we called Dad to get his opinion on what she might have stepped on. The verdict: a Bullrout - a type of fish with many venomous spines in a row. Well it wasn't exactly the most enjoyable way to spend a Sunday but she is home and well now, and will be back training tomorrow if she feels okay. Lesson learnt: If you are going to tread on a fish, wear shoes!
Jacqui and Kate competed in an alternative format, fun race this morning at Penrith Whitewater Stadium. Normal rules applied except that it was three runs, in whatever class you want (K1, C1 or C2), and best run counts (i.e. no adding times together). It was a close race in the womens class with the three senior women (Jacqui, Kate and Louise Natoli) finishing on the same second - a 101. Jacqui then did her third run in C1!
Well we're back into training full-swing, and with no major competitions until early next year, now is a good time to work on base strength and fitness with lots of cross-training sessions including running, roller-blading and rock climbing (pictured), as well as continuing with technique training on the whitewater.
SBS will be re-showing the highlights package from the World Champinoships this Sunday 3 September at 10am. Hopefully we will get to see more than 5 minutes this time!
31 August: AIS 25th Anniversary Gala Dinner
We headed down to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra with some fellow Aussie Team paddlers to attend the AIS 25th Anniversary Gala Dinner. It was a great night with a huge attendance, and plenty of the famous faces of Australian Sport. It was our first time at the AIS so it was exciting to stay in the Athletes Residence and have a look at some of the facilities. We have a training camp down there in a couple of months so will get to experience the range of services the AIS has to offer.
Well a whole bunch of us met up for a bbq and to watch the SBS coverage of the World Championships today and, as any of you who were watching would know, about 5 minutes in to the program the TV went blank and stayed that way! Its very disappointing, nobody at SBS could tell us what went wrong and we don't know yet if they'll try to show it again.
So to provide you with some alternative entertainment, check out the photos of us when we started canoeing on the background page.
A 1 hour highlights programme from the Canoe Slalom World Championships in Prague will be telecast throughout Australia on SUNDAY 27th AUGUST, at 11am.
Make sure to watch it, and please ring SBS on Sunday afternoon and compliment them on the broadcast - we'd like more coverage in the future and Australian Canoeing would like to foster a good relationship with SBS by providing good feedback for the SBS management. The SBS number is 1800 500 727 - a free call from anywhere in Australia (except mobiles).
12 August: World Champs Wrap-up
You can read our individual reviews of the World Championships now:
Sorry it has taken us so long to get them written but sometimes a bit of time is needed to provide perspective!
Thanks to everyone who has taken an interest in our endeavours, over the past months, wished us luck, or run down the bank cheering for us… Bring on Brazil (World Champs 2007)!!!
(we'll keep updating the site in the meantime)
9 August: World Rankings
Well we're back in Australia and adjusting to the 'real' world. We'll each write a wrap-up about our World Championship performances and put it up soon...
The Ladies class was won by Slovak paddler Jana Dukatova, who put in an excellent performance and flogged everyone!
Kate is now ranked 10th in the world and Jacqui is ranked 19th. See the rankings here.