Hi ,

Just like John Denver, I am leaving on a jet plane tomorrow.

Especially excited about the 10 hour layover in London.

I am taking Oscar's book with me to solicit some sleep, but am certain that some pom is going to annoy me awake.

Another mass exodus, as both the SA lifesaving team and the SA marathon team will be heading out within a few days of each other.

This year's World Marathon Championships is being held in Ponte de Lima, which is very close to the Nelo factory.

The training is over and our team of juniors, U23's, Seniors and masters is raring to go.

All of the main events will be covered by live streaming. I will send you the link as soon as I have it.

We have some exciting prospects for many of the races.

On current form, Hamish Lovemore should be in the mix in the U23 K1. If he manages to go around all of the buoys, he may well be in contention for a medal. Time will tell if his decision to race the men's K1 the next day will be a bridge too far, or whether he can pull off back to back results. My humble opinion is that he will do it. He will have last year's bronze medallist, Uli Hart to work with. Hopefully the podium will have multiple green and golds (not the Aussies though).

Andy Birkett may well have a target on his back after beating the unbeatable Mads Pedersen at the world games a few weeks ago (earning himself a R100 000 incentive from SASCOC which was announced this week). Having been on multiple steps of the podium over the years, Andy must be in with a shot.

Other serious medal contenders (only my guess, so don't quote them, or cross me off your Christmas card list) include Saskia Hockly in the junior K1 and K2 with her sister Valmajean, the tireless lioness Jenna Ward with Pippa McGregor in the women's K2, and Matt Coetzer, together with my offspring in the junior K1 and K2.

The senior men's K2 is, for me, one of the most exciting races to watch. It very rarely turns into a procession with breakaway small groups. The past few years have seen groups of over 10 boats scrapping for most of the race. Huge intervals on a continuous basis, with nobody ever managing to settle down. This dynamic may well play into the hands of our golden oldies combination of Hank McGregor and Jasper Mocke.  Neither will be carrying the effects of a K1 race the day before, and they have more experience in their boat than much of the field combined.

We also have a number of tenacious team members, who I have not mentioned, who have the ability to upset the apple cart on the day.

A full starting schedule and racing program is attached HERE.

The joys of having a world championships in this part of Europe is that the masters classes are always very well supported. There are 43 K1's in the men's 40 - 44 yr category alone. I have also attached a program of those events HERE, which start next Monday.  Our team of coffin dodgers will certainly be looking to continue the SA tradition of large medal hauls. We have paddlers in almost all of the categories, right up to Papa goon Chalupsky in the "I've forgotten my age" class.

Hopefully I will get an opportunity to annoy you with another missive after the marathon champs, but before the Ocean Racing champs the next weekend.

The SA Waveski Association had their AGM recently and sent out this newsletter to their members. Take a read HERE to find out more.

Until next time.

Your SG

Copper

1111

And a quick joke.

His wife's grave side service was just barely finished, when there was a massive clap of thunder, followed by a tremendous bolt of lightning, accompanied by even more thunder rumbling in the distance. 

The little old man looked at the pastor and calmly said, 'Well, she's there...'