The past months have been full of competitions, the first and biggest being the World Championships in Plattling, Germany. It was a pleasant experience actually, and was a low stress, enjoyable Worlds for once. Pulling through the rounds with slight improvements I landed in an eight place finally, which was within in my goal of top ten. Of course there were the normal up-sets and surprises during the rounds of competition, but it in the end it was great to see the best girl and guy on the day of the finals win their golds.
We drove directly from Plattling to the westcoast of Norway: Voss. I love this week of kayaking, hanging out with good friends, listening to musci in the festival tent at night and of course, competing on one of the most beautiful rivers in Norway: Branset. This year we were 13 girls lining up for the start, and it was exciting as the water levels had been raging all week. For the competition day the level was perfect, and I made it through the first round with some minor mistakes, which put me in top ten men. For the second run I messed up a it more, but still made it in front of the next girl with a combined time of 17 seconds lead.
The mighty Milkywave also came in due to the high levels, and it was sweeeeet…
For the Sjoa festival the main race is always the prestigous Sweet Rumble down the Åmot gorge. The past five years I have actually won all the rounds through the entire boaterx up until the finals, where I have alwasy messed up the last eddyline. Yeah, I know, it sounds strange, seeing it is my home run and all that. But. This year, the last rapid had changed from a big flood, and we had the goal in a different eddy. Now, that was all it took to brake the curse, and I cruised into first place with many meters to spare in front of the next girl. And finally, all my friends that have rooted for me the past years could cheer with me in the eddy as I claimed the victory.
A few days kayaking on the Rauma and the Laagen Canyon sharpened up the creeking skills.
Now, I am again back in the promised land of northern Norway, and enjoying the water, the sun and the company… Next week Ron and myself will head to my property just outside of Norway´s second biggest glaciar, and take a day or two off from kayaking to explore the region. Then, we meet up again with the boys to run some more classics, and perhaps a new run or two as well…
