Day 9: 25/6/05

Our first day in Bratislava.

A late night for some with boat repairs lasting well into the wee hours of the morning and others catching up on the days gossip in room 102, Hotel Kormaran.

We were welcomed to Bratislava with the not so good news of an international rafting race on all weekend at the course. Our only options for training were to get up early and paddle before the event started or wait all day and train in the evening. We opted for the morning but didn't realize that it would take 30 minutes of driving and 30 minutes of waiting for the ferry to cross the mighty Danube to get to the course. Hence, we were late and had to settle for a half hearted busy float on one of Europes finest artificial slalom courses dodging the local tribes of rafters, swimmers, liloers and the occasional play boater.

Deciding to fight fire with fire we entered 2 rafts in the competion. Australia 1 consisting of Kate, Roz, Phil G (Konan), Tim, Tom and Jono put down a solid run to finish in the lead after their run (they were first off!). Australia 2 (Farrah, Emmie, Robby, Dave, Craig and Ben J) came through with the goods, had no missed gates and stayed in the lead for long enough to snap off a posterity shot (see photos). The success of first runs must have gone to the heads of the competitors or it could well have been something to do with hanging out in 35 degree heat for the day because a few more missed gates went down and both Aussie 1 and 2 slipped back in the field after the completion of second runs.

We thought it prudent to have another go at actually doing some slalom for the day but were once again shut down by various forces greater than our combined excitement and high spirits. Lets hope that tomorrow, after the rafting is all said and done that we can have a beneficial session on the canal and less gear repairs.