I am back in New Zealand after my European campaign. Please check my blog if you didnt notice the link. It has all the stories.
I am training back in Rotorua with Aaron Randell and doing some cross training before getting back in my kayak in the 2nd weekend of november.
Good news, I am a finalist in the BOP sports awards along with Mike Dawson, Sam Sutton and heaps of the Mountain Bikers from Waiariki. Go the academy!

After an Epic 24 hour drive, a few wrong turns and 400 Euros worth of petrol and road tolls, we were relieved to arrive in Bratislava, Slovakia. On arrival, our already tired selves were branded with some bad news. The river here is flooded, more water is to come from Austria, the river is flooded and... the race may be cancelled!! Really bad news when you have crossed four countries and driven through the night especially for the world cup. So today we hung out with our fingers crossed, went paddling on a fast torrent of muddy flat water and finally, found out that the race was on!!!

Training on the course doesnt start till Thursday. Only a few days to learn the features of a new course, hmmm.

Pretty happy with my Pau result, but contradictory to the quote in the paper, I did believe it would happen to me, and after the training I have been doing, I wasnt particularly surprised either.

We have been having some great guitar sessions. Ive written a new song, we have Johnny from the UK (paddling for Nigeria) hanging with us who has some mint songs he has written and Mike is also working on a solo masterpiece of his own. We will have an album for sure at the end of the trip.

Last week was spent training in Pau on the new artificial course for the first world cup race of the year. Fortunately Mike was spot on with accommodation and we found ourselves a fairly cheap apartment that was an extention of somebody's house. The week was very eventful (as eventful as a tapering week can be). The Van throughout the week was driven into a fence, a tree and a building which ripped a whole in the roof- Hilarious! Mike and I did a first decent on the sluse at the course (see mikekayak.blogspot.com for more information on this) and we went for a proper French dinner at our new friends Gerard and Claudette's. Gerard and Claudette are retired and owned the place we were staying at. The rose gardens and house were pristine and the five course dinner they cooked for us was one of the best dinners I have ever had. They came down and supported us during training and racing and were generally really amazing people.

Back to the race…

My build up during the week had its highs and lows. The course is extremely difficult and one of the last sessions saw me crash into quite a few rocks, and as I put my hand out to stop my kayak from being broken, I was in danger of cracking my wrist.

Saturday came about and was a super hot day. The course was fairly tricky and the cut off for semis was top 20. With over 40 women, I needed to be in the top half to make it through. I was optimistic but knew it would be very tough.

After going through the course, I warmed up for my first run, wanting to put down a good one. It is best of two runs, a change from last year's rules of adding both runs together. I did my run and it went quite well. I looked up and was in 2nd, with about 30 paddlers to go. I did a 109+2 which was very competitive and after 1st runs, to my surprise I was in 6th place!!! My second run wasn't very good, rather disappointing but I ended up qualifying for semi finals in 10th place, pretty stoked!!!

Mike had some really fast runs but unfortunately had a 50 in and some touches, without them he would have easily qualified. Lou had a few costly errors along with Aaron and the Juniors. The Junior team raced really well in their first world cup and have some really good things to take from it.

So I ended up being the only one from NZ in the semis. Big thanks to the Juniors for their support. Letting me have kidda as a coach for the semis and to Sue for making sure we had video of our runs for the whole weekend. Much appreciated!!!

The semis course was pretty brutal with two spin moves in changeable water. The first spin move got the better of me in the start of the course and I fought to maintain the run from there. It was trying to go even harder to make up for lost time, cutting lines etc and didn't have a very good remainder. I finished up in 19th. I was super disappointed as my expectations were raised after Saturday's performance. It was pretty awesome qualifying into semis in 10th however, and I can take a lot of good things from that race.

I am writing this on our way to Bratislava. We still have about 20 hours still to drive. Sooo brutal! The second world cup is this weekend. Im looking forward to this next race and improving on my results in Pau.

More information on

Will post official results link soon. Along with photos. Check out the Europe '09 album in the photo gallery.

So we spent four days in the high temperatures of Spain, training on the all important world championships course. On first impression I though ha! Its not even that big (compared with courses like Beijing). Seu is narrow, with a few high drops but nothing overly frightening to look at. But as always, looks can be deceiving and that is what this was all about. Discovering how a smallish looking course can beat you up big time! (literally, I have scrapes to prove it!) I had some good sessions and some bad ones, the good ones leaving me in high spirits and the bad ones leaving me in tears. Hard times but that is all part of it.

Any way, we left yesterday via a fleeting visit to the tax free town of Andorra and arrived in Pau after stopping for dinner in one of the weirdest, creepiest French towns I've ever had the misfortune of coming across.

Today was an eventful one. We paddled for the first time on the course this morning. It is a huge contrast to Seu, a big artificial course, fairly wide with big waves, holes and overall very pushy and challenging water. It was a lot of fun paddling on it and this afternoons session was also really fun. I am looking forward to racing here. Unfortunately I have heard the artificial course in Auckland that was proposed is not going ahead because it couldn't get support from the Manakau city counsel. Pretty gutted about that news. training on an artificial course like Pau is so beneficial, its no wonder the French dominate our sport. I was also looking forward to NZ one day hosting a world championships. hmm.

So in addition to the training sessions, I have written a song about the NZ canoe slalom team. Probably my best song ever and also cooked a cracking carbonara for dinner. The place we are staying at is great, an apartment off the side of somebody's house. The people who own it are amazing! Really, really nice! I had my first journey from the course in Mike and Louise's van. In the period of one day, the van was driven into a fence and a tree (separate occasions) and I've not laughed that much in a while!

The Kiwi Juniors have a race tomorrow at another slalom course about an hour from Pau and then are joining us for the world cup build up. You can check out their progress at www.kayaknz.blogspot.com

Today we left Foix in the early hours of the morning and headed over the mountains to Seu D'Urgell for a 9am training session. The course was used for the Barcelona Olympics and is fully artificial equipped also with a conveyor belt. It is very narrow, especially after being on Foix and has some trick drops. Our training sessions are at opposite ends of the day, today the sessions are 9am and 8.45pm, leaving a lot of time during the day for recouperation and also to fit in a third training session.

We met up with Mike and Spider Jull, a joyous reunion. They have been touring around Europe in a run down van which is surprisingly still working. Mike has been dominating extreme races around Europe and in America. The kiwi team of Mike, Jared and Sam just won the Teva games in Italy!!

Aaron and Steph arrive tonight which makes the team complete. We are staying about 10minutes out of the city centre in an awesome house set in vast wildernesses. It's a great place to chill out.

We are here for the week, making the most of free training sessions on the course and also soaking up the Spanish Culture.

Adios!!

This weekend was the first of my European races this summer. The race in Foix was a triple whammy, being the pre junior worlds race, the last of the french national championship series and an ICF world ranking race.

The course in Foix is nice, I like it. It is on a natural river and is technically quite challenging. The water is fast with lots of big waves down the bottom. I had five training sessions on the course before qualifications on the Friday.

With nearly 50 entries in my category and a cut to top 20 for semi finals, I knew I had to be on my game. I also wanted to race well and to my potential. The course had some tight moves in it, especially down the bottom of the course where you are nearing the end of your energy sources.

It was a nice day for the race, I had a clear picture of the lines I needed to take thanks to Kidda and was confident in the preparation I had done. This was not a big race for me, I did not taper for it as the world cups in a few weeks time are the big ones and I want to be fully prepared for them.

My first run was solid. I nailed all the hard moves and it felt really smooth although I was quite low in a lot of the ups, costing me some time and had two touches (one of them I blatantly didn't get). My second run, I was not as smooth in the difficult moves, but nailed thee majority of the upstreams. I was a second faster than my first run and had a 2 second penalty. I qualified into the semis in 10th place with a time of 112 + 2, the fastest in the women was a 107 + 2. So I was not too far off the mark.

Semi Finals were today and I really wanted to make the Finals (top ten). I walked the course, which had changed and was very challenging, chose my lines and was ready to lay it down. Unfortunately, I had a time error at the top of the course, having picked a risky line and lost my rhythm. It was hard to pull it back from there and my run did not feel smooth at all. I ended up with 8 seconds of penalties and finished in 14th with a time of 131 + 8, four places away from the final. I am disappointed but not dwelling on it. I have bigger things to concentrate on now. We head to Seu tomorrow to practice at the world championships site and after four days there, we head to Pau to race the first of the three world cups. I am also studying for my upcoming exam.

The Kiwi Juniors raced as well and the Junior worlds will be held here next year. It was a good learning curve for them and important for becoming familiar with the course. Jane paddled well for the top part of her qualification run but had an unfortunate error down the bottom which was very costly. Shaun and Callum raced well but did not make semi finals in their respective classes. The C2 of Brayden and Ben paddled extremely well over the weekend, qualifying for the final and finishing in 8th place overall and 2nd in the junior category. A brilliant achievement for them. The Juniors will be paddling at Seu next week and will be racing the world cup in Pau which I think is a great experience!

Big thanks to Kidda and Sue for their support over the past weekend. it was great!

Ive just had two great weeks of training in Nottingham. The new course is exciting and challenging and it was really beneficial training there before heading out to Europe. Big thanks to Zach for letting me stay at his house!

So the latest is, I have picked up the car that we are going to be rocking around Europe in. A 1999 Ford Escort Finesse. It did a great job of getting myself and Kidda (who will be coaching the kiwi juniors) across countries and into France. We Nottingham on Monday afternoon and drove to the Ferry. Managing to catch an earlier ferry, we were on good time. After about 15 hours of driving, a few hours of sleeping in a layby and a small problem of running out of petrol we made it.

Now I am in the beautiful town of Foix. Paddling on the course this afternoon I discovered it was quite pushy, bigger than I expected and overall, a pretty cool site. It will be a good race this weekend.

I'm staying with the Kiwi Juniors at the moment in an awesome house. There's not too much to update, im starting to feel a bit nervous about the world cups which are creeping up. Pretty stoked to be back in Europe and looking forward to catching up with Spider Jull (Louise Jull) next week.

I'm uber tired and off to bed. Will get snap happy with my camera and post some pics soon.

On Saturday I left the inclement weather of New Zealand, north bound and after a 28 hour journey, landed safely in the UK. I am training for two weeks in Nottingham before heading out to the vast lands of the European continent.

I have just finished fitting out my new kayak and cannot wait! to paddle it tomorrow. The European championships are on this week, and I have spent the previous days watching and learning from the other athletes.

Next weekend I will race the pan celtic champs on the newly renovated Nottingham slalom course and will travel to Foix (France) on Monday to compete in an ICF world ranking race the following weekend. Following the Foix race is a training camp at the world championships in Spain before heading back to France for the first world cup in Pau.

Its great to be in Europe, but I have had such a great training routine in NZ over the past few months that it seems a shame to break it. I have been doing a lot of training with Aaron Randell from Waiariki and even though it has been really hard, ive enjoyed the constant challenges and feel the improvements in my paddling.

I am looking forward to racing this summer and am aiming to achieve some good results.

Stage2 is the company behind the proposed artificial white water course in Manakau. The course has been half funded already but needs support from the Manakau city council to get the rest of the funding to go ahead. This will add 48cents per week on to the average Manukau rates bill. I do not live in Manukau and therefore do not pay their rates, so I cannot say that 48cents isnt much to add on per week.

I can however say that the benefits that come with having an artificial white water course there are phenominal. For one, Canoe slalom in New Zealand will thrive. We will have a proper training site and will be able to train with the internationals that will come over in the summer. We will be able to host world level races and the biggest part, Auckland has a huge population and there will be a lot of kids getting into the sport.

Other uses of the course:
Rafting
Fun Kayaking
Playboating/freestyle kayaking
White water/river safety courses for kids/firefighters/etc
Kayaking lessons
The list goes on...

Please show your support by visiting the following website and putting your name down as a supporter.

STAGE2 will bring an Olympic-level white water stadium and major cultural attraction to Manukau. The benefits will be millions of extra dollars in revenue, more jobs and another world-class attraction - all for an extra 48 cents a week on the average Manukau rates bill. But only if you show your support now!

www.stage2.co.nz

Bay of Plenty Times
15.04.2009
by Kelly Exelby

The camera will be staying at home when Tauranga's Luuka Jones leaves next month to begin her buildup for the world whitewater slalom championships in Spain.

Jones won her second consecutive national women's K1 title on Kawerau's Tarawera River at the weekend and heads back to Europe more focused than ever after competing at last year's Beijing Olympics.

'I'm approaching this stay in Europe with far more focus than I have in the past,' the 20-year-old said.

'Everything is building towards the world champs in September, an event I've never been to before, and I'm not heading to Europe for the experience like perhaps I've done in the past.



'I'm defin itely trying to get my way to the top.'

Jones, New Zealand's first female canoe slalom Olympian, won the season's senior ranking trophy as well as her second con secutive women's K1 title at the national championships.

Jones has based herself in Nottingham, England, for the past year but spent the summer training in New Zealand.

Former Tauranga paddler Johann Roozenburg won the men's K1 in a time of 94.34sec, more than a second clear of Australian Olympic paddler Warwick Draper (95.48sec).

Jones has been busy over the past few weeks working out a plan towards the 2012 London Olympics. She will compete in France when she gets to Europe next month before lining up in the women's K1 World Cup series.

She dominated the women's K1 at Kawerau for her second national title, lifting her effort after a lacklustre pre-qualifying on Saturday.

'I wasn't happy with Saturday but I pulled it out on Sunday. To be honest I haven't been particu larly worthy of calling myself national women's champ before last year because there's always been a group of older paddlers better than me but I think last year's win might have cracked the ice.'

Jones is part of the Waiariki Institute of Technology's paddling acad emy but gets little in the way of inde pendent finan cial backing to fund her overseas campaign.

'I've yet to put in place a financial plan to go with my four-year (Olympic) plan. We've recently had a meeting with (Government funding agency) SPARC, who made it clear there'd be nothing until someone achieves top 10 at the world champs.

Tauranga's Shaun Higgins won the C1 at the nationals, with the C2 title taken out by junior combination Ben Gibb and Bradyn Church (Tauranga).

The under-18 K1 women's title and junior ranking trophy was won by Jane Nicholas, with K1 under-18 men's honours to Shaun Travers, although Callum Gibb had the fastest K1 junior time and collected the junior ranking trophy.

Tauranga schools have also cleaned up at the national secondary schools championships on Hawke's Bay's Mohaka River.

The top trophies for allround excellence over four disciplines _ K1, C1, downriver sprint and classic _ were won by Tauranga duo Jane Nicholas (the Heather Jull and Lucy Forde trophies) and Ben Gibb (Phil Dooney Cup).

Travers won the K1 senior men, although again the fastest K1 time was posted by Callum Gibb (Tauranga), who is still an under- 16 paddler.

Jane Nicholas won the K1 and C1, with Abby Bastin taking the under-16 girls K1. Ben Gibb and Bradyn Church took out the C2 final, with Ben Gibb winning the senior C1 trophy.

Top schools were Tauranga Boys College (best boys and over all winners) and Tauranga Girls College (best girls).

Tauranga's Malcolm Gibb was elected president of New Zealand whitewater slalom at the sporting body's annual meeting.

For those of you who are still coming to terms with the sport of Canoe slalom and the technical terms that I often ramble on about, I hope the following explanations are a significant help.

Canoe Slalom is intended to test precision and speed in paddling skills by creating a course of gates to act as obstacles other than the water features. A Slalom race is held over a section of river approximately 300-400m long. The 18-25 'gates' are set in position creating a 'course' down the river.


CATEGORIES
K = Kayak (Athletes in sitting position and using double blade paddle)
C = Canoe (Athletes in kneeling position and using single blade paddle)
Individual Events:
K1: kayak men's one person
K1W: kayak woman one person
C1: canoe men's one person
C1W: canoe woman one person (has only just been introduced as a woman's class)

Glossary of Canoeing Terms
Bogie:
A particular method of negotiating a downstream gate. The downstream gate will be beside or near an eddy. The athlete passes through the gate in a downstream direction, then breaks into the eddy, then exits the eddy above the gate. This is rarely used, and only when the next gate is very hard to get to.
Boil:
Imagine what boiling water looks like, then imagine this on a much larger scale in a river (except not hot!). The current is flowing in all directions, including bubbling to the surface, and is unpredictable.
Bow:
The front of the boat. Also known as the 'nose'.
Bow draw:
A paddle stroke used to turn the boat from the front. Also known as a 'draw' or 'drawstroke'.
Class:
The type of boat used and whether a male or female is paddling it. There are four classes: K1W, K1, C1 and C2. K stands for kayak, in which the athlete is seated and has a double-bladed paddle. C stands for Canoe, in which the athlete is kneeling and has a single-bladed paddle. The number refers to the number of people in the boat. The W stands for Women, and is so labelled because K1W is the only class females are allowed to compete in internationally. Hopefully this will change soon! (Note that sometimes 'LK1' is used, the L standing for 'Ladies').
Cockpit:
The part of the boat where the athlete sits.
Course:
Also known as 'slalom course' - this can either refer to the whole section of river that is used for canoe slalom, or to a specific combination of gates, such as in a race, i.e. 'race course'.
Deck:
This refers to the top of the boat, and also to the piece of equipment worn around the waist to form a seal around the cockpit of the boat.
Demonstration runs:
Also shortened to 'demos' - After a race course has been set, competitors watch non-competing athletes from each class paddle through the course in short sections. This helps competitors develop their plan for the race.
Discipline:
The type of boat used. There are three disciplines: K1, C1 and C2. K stands for kayak, in which the athlete is seated and has a double-bladed paddle. C stands for Canoe, in which the athlete is kneeling and has a single-bladed paddle. The number refers to the number of people in the boat.
Downstream gate:
Also known simply as a 'downstream' or a 'down' - this is a gate that must be negotiated in a downstream direction. Downstream gates are striped green and white.
Eddy:
Eddies occur immediately downstream of rocks and other obstacles. Water in an eddy is usually either still or flowing upstream.
Eskimo roll:
The method used to upright yourself if you tip over. Also just called a 'roll'.
Features:
Refers to various water formations in a river, such as stoppers and waves. If we talk about 'big' water, we mean it has big features.
Fifty:
The term used when an athlete fails to pass through a gate in the correct direction, or at all. Named so because this incurrs a fifty second penalty.
Final:
The top ten competitors in the semi-final get to complete a second run of the course in the final.
Footpegs:
These are structures inside a kayak that are used to push against with the feet, to help with power transfer from the paddle through the body to the boat.
Full length runs (FLRs):
A training session that simulates racing. A race length course is set and athletes are timed as they negotiate the course.
Gate:
A gate consists of two poles hanging from a wire across the river. Downstream gates are green and white and must be negotiated in a downstream direction. Upstream gates are red and white and must be negotiated in an upstream direction.
Hole or Stopper:
A term used for a feature on a whitewater river that describes a place where the water is recirculating in such a fashion that it will stop and hold canoes, and kayaks. Holes are usually formed on the downstream side of boulders and other obstructions in the water as the water flows over the boulder and rejoins the main flow.
Jump stroke:
A paddle stroke used to lift the bow of the boat on top of a wave or stopper. Executed by moving the body weight from forward to back with the paddle stroke, and pushing against the footpegs.
K1:
The class or discipline in which the athlete sits in the boat with a double-bladed paddle. The womens class is called WK1. K1s are narrower than C1s and C2s.
Kayak:
A boat that the athlete sits in with a double-ended paddle.
Lactic session:
An intense training session where the rest intervals are of shorter duration than the paddling intervals. This causes lactic acid to build up in the muscles, which hurts!
Merano:
A particular method of negotiating an upstream gate. The athlete enters the eddy above the gate, moves backwards between the gate and the river bank, then goes up through the gate before exiting. This is rarely used, but is most suited to situations where the upstream gate is partially in the current. Named 'Merano' because it was invented at the slalom course in Merano, Italy.
Paddle:
The piece of equipment held in the hands to propel and steer the boat. Also refers to the action.
Penalty:
Given when an athlete touches a gate with any part of their body or equipment, or fails to pass through a gate in the correct direction (or at all). A touch incurs a two second penalty and a miss incurs a fifty second penalty, which is added to the athlete's raw time.
Pivot:
A method of turning the boat quickly on the spot. The tail is forced under the water and the nose sticks up in the air.
Pogies:
A kind of glove that wraps around the hand and the paddle shaft. Used only in very cold weather, and usually not in races because of their bulk and subsequent risk of hitting gates.
Qualification:
Every competitor has two race runs to attempt to qualify for the semi-final. The times from both runs are added together to give the result. The number of places available in the semi-final depends on the number of competitors.
Raw time:
The athlete's race time before penalties are added on.
Recirculate:
Also shortened to 'recirc' - when an athlete goes past a gate without having gone through it, he/she can paddle back for the gate, provided they haven't passed through or touched any of the subsequent gates.
Reverse gate:
Also known as a 'spin gate', - this is a downstream gate that is negotiated backwards by the athlete. It is usually only necessary to negotiate a gate in this way when there is a very tight stagger.
Reverse stroke:
A paddle stroke that starts and the back of the boat and ends at the front. Can be used to steer the boat or to slow the boat down.
Roll:
The method used to upright yourself if you tip over. More formally known as an 'Eskimo roll'.
Rowing:
Although commonly used by the ignorant, the words 'rowing', 'row' and 'oar' have absolutely nothing to do with the sport of canoe slalom!
Run:
When we say 'run', we generally don't mean in the real sense of the word. A run refers to a paddle down a course. It might be a training run or a race run.
Semi-final:
The competitors who make it through qualifications get to complete a single race run in the semi-final. The race course for the semi-final is changed from the qualifications course in up to six places. The top ten competitors in the semi-final get to complete a second run of the course in the final.
Stopper:
This is a water feature that is similar to a broken wave at the beach, only it stays in once place in the river. Called a 'stopper' because it can literally stop you as you go though it.
Staggers:
A stagger is a sequence of downstream gates that are offset from each other, e.g. one on the river left, the next on the river right, then left again, then right.
Sweep stroke:
A paddle stroke used to turn the boat. The paddle enters the water at one end of the boat and passes in an arc to the other end of the boat. Forward sweep strokes start at the front of the boat and reverse sweep strokes start at the back of the boat.
Tail:
The back of the boat, also known as the 'stern'.
Teams race:
Competitors race in teams of three, i.e. there are three competitors on the course at once. All three must negotiate the whole course. The time starts as the first team member crosses the start line, and finishes as the last team member crosses the finish line. This means that the competitors need to stay as close together as possible, so the extra challenge is not to run into each other.
Touch:
When a gate is hit by any part of the athlete's body or equipment, and two second penalty is incurred and this is called a 'touch'. Only one two second penalty can be incurred for each gate, so if you hit one, you can hit it again without extra penalty.
Training session:
Also known as a 'session' - a period of time spent training.
Upstream gate:
Also known simply as an 'upstream' or 'up' - this is a gate that must be negotiated in an upstream direction. Upstream gates are striped red and white.
Wave:
This is a water feature that is similar to a wave at the beach that has not broken yet, only it stays in one place in the river

Last Saturday I headed over to Pilot bay for the first day of my Beach Landings fundraising weekend. The weekend was organised by waimarino and bayfishing magazine to raise some much needed money for Europe this year. The first day I went through basic padding skills and strokes to use in the surf. Sunday was exciting as everybody went out to try out their new skills. I was coaching some great people on the course and they were paddling really well at the end of it. I really admired Pamela, an elderly lady who was extremely determined to learn to surf waves in her kayak.

I would like to thank Waimarino and Bayfisher magazine for organising this weekend. They are helping me to get to the Worlds this year and I really appreciate it. It is people like this who athletes like myself rely on to be able to train and compete at the world races overseas.

Louise is pictured sporting a luukajones.com awesome apparel onesy. As one of Luukajones.com's biggest fans, Louise is barely seen wearing anything else but this magnificent striped piece. The brand pays attention to the finest details and on the back of Louises one piece is her favourite word - sweet. For more photos, visit the apparel album in the gallery.

Louise heads off to Europe tomorrow with fellow team member Mike Dawson. They are traveling to the UK to buy a van and fit it out with all the luxuries so they can travel and sleep in it whilst on the circuit this year. Louise at 20 has been on every New Zealand team with me and I have been paddling with her since we were 15. I will be catching up with her when I travel to Europe on the 23rd May.

Spending a rushed week of training in Australia was an expensive learning curve, but an important one. I did not race to my expectations, rather I had a shocker as I navigated the semi-finals course with no sign of my true ability. The entire week I felt exhausted and unsure exactly as to why that was. I was staying in the bunk house and biking to the course which was only a 15min ride from our accommodation. Despite my noted fatigue, I was still optimistic, hoping that I could pull it together and have a good one. Unfortunately I did not. Qualifying into the semis in 16th place, with a slow time, I failed to improve on that, having a bad run and on top of that incurring a 50second penalty. It reinforced the fact that slalom - or any sport - can pick you up and slam you back down. Having gained even more determination from that experience and focussing on the next races I am back training very hard.

Congratulations to Mike Dawson who, despite breaking his paddle in his semi final run, made it into the final as the only New Zealander finishing in 7th place. Well done also to Ella Nicholas with a commendable result of 14th in her first race as a senior. Full results can be found at: www.canoe.org.au

Two weeks on from the Australian Open, I am putting together some plans and budgets for Europe and have just started a business degree at Waiariki. I have joined the Waiariki academy of sport and I am on a scholarship with them. It is great to have organisations like this backing me up and doing all they can to help me out.
I have started a new gym programme, getting into the heavier weights and Olympic lifts. Its really great working with Donna Pickard and having her coaching and constantly challenging me. Starting a proper gym programme for the first time since I started kayaking, I can really notice an increase of strength and stability in my kayak.

In between training sessions in the placid town of Penrith, we decided to start globalising the phenomenon that is luukajones.com.
With much help from Sarah Jane and with many thanks to the Penrith Op shops, we started branding the website address on a large amount of awesome apparel.
Did it catch on you say? Most definitely!! By the time demo runs for the race came around, we had a large group of people proudly wearing their new luukajones.com clothing. Before I knew it, people all over the place were asking if they could be a part of the increasingly popular brand.
This year I will be taking luukajones.com around the world and promoting it in various different ways.
Big ups to Heather Ceaser and Tom Wakeling for really embracing the launch and proudly wearing their t-shirts about town.

Check out the Awesome Apparell album in the gallery for a few photos, and many more to come!!!

In the next few weeks I have a couple of fundraising/promotional events. The first is on Monday the 23rd and is a triathlon at the lakes housing development out Tauriko. I will be completing the kayak leg of the triathlon and am in a team with two triathletes. We will be competing against local celebrities and school kids. Even though this is a fun event, I am still hoping that we take it out. It is a great way for the community to see one of Tauranga's newest housing developments and a great way to meet with local celebrities and sports stars. Please feel free to come down and watch, there will be a lot going on!

The second event coming up is in association with Waimarino and Bay fisher magazine. They have put together a weekend (28th/29th) where I will teach people how to paddle in general and how to paddle in the surf. It will be a great weekend and from $95 per person, all of the proceeds go toward me. If there are quite a few people, it will be a great event and I can hopefully raise a bit of money to put toward my Europe trip.

There is an article in this months fishing magazine. http://www.bayfisher.co.nz/luuka_jones

Selection was rounded off with two races in Kawerau last weekend. As Kawerau is fairly rocky, it is not my favourite course to paddle on. However, it is technically fairly tricky and I wanted to negotiate the river as fast as I could. Unfortunatley, I came away feeling a wee bit disappointed with my performance but on the whole, pleased that I had again, made the New Zealand team as first boat.

The week following was a very busy one, as I tried to get many things accomplished, as well as showing my friend Lizzie Neave from Nottingham the sights of Tauranga. This resulted in some surf kayaking and also a trip down the mighty Kaituna. The Kaituna river run for me was a thrill as I had not run it in years. I decided to top the day off also by running the precariously dangerous trout pool falls. Having seen it at the age of 14 and vowing never to paddle it, I thought that it was time to see how far my paddling (and maybe my stupidity?) had come. With Okere falls local Ryan showing me the line, I got back in my kayak and took a very deep breath as I set out to take a left line down the falls. My line didnt go entirely to plan as I headed straight toward the middle and worst part. Luckily, I pulled off a very late 'boof' or big forward stroke to clear me from the big stopper and tow back and I paddled safely (and triumphantly) to the get out.

I am currently in Australia training toward the world series race which is tomorrow. There is a strong international field as most people are out in Penrith training over the European winter. I am excited to see how the race will go and how my results will improve from last years race.

Last weekend I competed in the Oceania Championships at our national white water course at Mangahao, Shannon. The race doubled as New Zealand junior and senior selection races, and was the first race of 2009 for athletes to earn International Canoe Federation (ICF) world ranking points. It was the first race under the new ICF rules with the best single run counting rather than the addition of two runs.

We had a strong contingent of European paddlers, including three Beijing Olympians competing in the race, as well as world cup champion Kate Lawrence. It was great to have such a high level of competition at a New Zealand event.

The first day was qualification and the first of four selection races for the New Zealand team. The course was difficult but I managed to have two consistent runs, my fastest run winning me the first NZ selection race and putting me in fourth place going into semi finals the next day.

Sunday was semis with the top 10 from each class making it through to the finals. The new rules meant that the semis run does not get added together with your final run. I concentrated on putting down a safe run to make it to the finals, which I did, putting me in third place going into the finals. I was quite nervous going into the finals, seeing the banks lined with New Zealanders and also wanting to get the best possible result to go toward my world ranking. I went all out, trying to go fast but concentrating on being precise through the gates. The course had a lot of tight moves that I knew I needed to nail in order to get a good time.

My run went well, but I wasn't sure where it would place me. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that I placed 2nd with a time of 100.91, just 2.59 seconds behind previous world number 1# Jana Dukatova. I was so pleased that I finally raced to my potential and that my training is starting to pay off. After having a bad season of racing last year, I hope to have many more good races and results this year.

I have improved a lot since the world cups last year where I was 44seconds of Dukatova and hope to keep improving still.

I have two New Zealand selection races under my belt and just need to win one more to place top boat on the team.
The next selection races are in Kawerau this weekend (7/8th) starting at 11am on Saturday.

Full results from Oceania's can be found at
http://www.slalomnz.org.nz

On Friday the 9th, I travel to Sydney for 13days to get in some good paddling on the Olympic slalom course in Penrith.

I will be doing a solid block of white water paddling which will be great seems I can only do four sessions per week on the white water at the moment. I have been doing a lot of fitness training and gym with Donna Pickard, my strength and conditioning coach at fit co. Donna is sponsoring me through her business one2one personal training and it is going really well so far.

13 days on Penrith will allow me to become familiar with the course which flows at a considerably higher volume than the kaituna river on which I am training at the moment. It is important to practice on the course again because the Australian Open will be held there on the 20th of February.

My upcoming races are the Oceania Championships in Palmerston North on the 31st of January and the New Zealand team selection races on the same weekend as the oceanias (at mangahao) and the weekend of the 7th and 8th of February (kawerau).

I am training harder than ever and I trust that this year will bring some good results for me. I am hoping to raise enough money over the next few months to travel to Europe in March with fellow paddler Mike Dawson. Compete in the ICF world ranking races and train at the world cup race venues and at Seu in Spain where the worlds will be held in December.

14 RUNS
An international slalom competition consists of 2 runs. The better score of the 2 runs will count. The organiser may hold heats, semi-final and final runs as in ICF competitions (seer rule 41.3). The start order of the semi-final run will be the reverse of the competition results of the heats. The start order of the final run will be the reverse order of the competition result of the semi-final result.

27 MARKING OF THE GATES
The gates consist of 1 or 2 suspended poles painted with green and white rings for downstream gates and red and white rings for upstream gates, with bottom ring always white, each ring 20cm.

27.2 The width of the gates a two pole gate is 1.2 meters minimum to 4 meters maximum...

34 CALCULATING AND POSTING OF RESULTS
34.1 The following formula is used to calculate the results:
Best run time in seconds + penalty seconds = result

34.4...A competitor or team is given a DNF (did not finish) status in case that competitor leaves the boat completely. A competitor or team is given a DNF (did not finish) status in case that competitor leaves the boat completely or crosses the finish line upside down.

35 DEAD HEATS
In the event that two or more competitors obtain the same score as their best run, the score of their other run will resolve the tie. If there is still no difference then the competitors are given the same ranking.

41.3 RUNS: HEATS - SEMI-FINALS - FINAL
For the score of the heats the better of the two runs counts
Progression to the semi-final run is as follows:
From the results of the Heats those that finish in the top 20 boats will progress to the semifinal.

41.3.3 For the score of the semi-final the result will be determined on the total seconds by the result of one (1) run. From the result of this run those that finish in the top 10 boats will progress to the final. For the result of the final the score will be determined on the total seconds of the single run

41.3.6 World Championship Slalom Team event consists of: one heat run and one final run for the qualified teams. Progression to the final run is as follows: the top 50% of boats ranked will qualify for the final (at least 4 teams will qualify)

41.3.7 For the results of the Team event, firstly the teams who make the final are ranked, then
the other Teams are ranked using the results from the heats.

For all of the ICF slalom rule changes visit http://www.canoeslalom.co.uk

This weekend, the mighty Kaituna river played host to the first race of the Southern cup slalom Championships. The Southern Cup Slalom Championships is series of four existing and new events designed to foster slalom racing in the Southern Hemisphere.

The events are organized and advertised in order to promote racing in Australia, New Zealand and to the international community. We had a great turnout with international paddlers from Czech also here to compete for their place on the podium. It was a great course with a pretty tricky move on the chute.

The competition was tight and although I won my class (U23) and was top female overall, I didnt feel like I raced very well, incurring 12 seconds of penalties over both runs.

Well done to the winners of each category.

I had a great weekend overall, with some good white water training with Ian Mercer.

I had always followed the dream; to one day compete among the best at the most prestigious sporting event in the world. That chance came four years earlier than expected when I qualified New Zealand's Olympic spot in the sport of Canoe slalom. I set off to Beijing on the 27th of July, not knowing what to expect.

What I encountered was better than I ever imagined. The atmosphere among the Kiwi team was terrific, and I was grateful to be a New Zealander. There were a lot of really good sports people to talk to leading up to my event, who had been to previous Olympic Games. People like Sarah Ulmer, Hamish Carter and Ben Foughy offered great advice, and helped put things into perspective.

I had not attended any training camps in China prior to the games, so I was really excited about paddling on the course and tackling what some described as one of the biggest slalom courses in the world.

It was great to have Tim Baillie from the British Slalom coaching me in Beijing. He was a really good coach, and I learnt a lot from him throughout training. Being able to do video review and assess my paddling in detail after every session was incredibly beneficial. A big thanks to him for volunteering his time to come out to China with me.

Every one on the New Zealand team was impressed with the course, and with my sport as a whole. A few people came out and watched some of my training sessions and gained a new appreciation for canoe slalom. Not many people really know what this sport involves and it is really great to see people start to understand what it is all about and just how exhilarating it is.

Leading up to the race, I felt nervous, but also excited. Everyday at training, I would look at the grandstands that surrounded the course, and imagine them being filled with 12,000+ people. When race day finally arrived, I walked the course with Tim and figured out which lines I wanted to take. One of the challenging factors in slalom is that you are not allowed to paddle on the course once the gate sequence has been set. You have to look at it from the side, an imagine yourself paddling down it. You also have to be reactive on the course, as the changeable water ensures that no one can stick to their plan exactly. The K1men and C1s were on the first two days, so I was able to observe them. It was really exciting to watch because the water was so unpredictable, there were a lot of really good paddlers that didn't do as well as everyone expected them to. The previous Olympics C1 champion Tony Estanguet didn't make the final.

On my own race day, I felt confident that I could do the course well. I planned my lines and did my warm up. As I was warming up, I saw heaps of the New Zealanders come to watch me. It was great to have a huge level of support. My first run was not so good. I started off really well but then got stuck in a stopper up the top for a little bit. The rest of the run was good until the third to last gate, where I didn't quite get through, and got a 50 second penalty. I was really gutted at the finish because I knew that with a 50 second penalty, chances of making the semi final were extremely low. My second run was a lot better and I was pleased with my performance. Overall, it was such a privilege to represent New Zealand at the Beijing Olympics, and an invaluable experience. I am so motivated to train really hard for the next four years to go to the London games and achieve my goal of being on the podium.

After my event, I took the opportunity to go to many different sporting events. I went to the athletics, hockey, track cycling, BMX and the flat water kayaking. It was great finding out about different peoples sporting events. I found out so many things I didn't know about other sports. I also met a lot more of the kiwi team and made a lot of friends.

I am now in Nottingham until December. I look forwards to the next four years and the challenges that lie ahead as I train to qualify for London 2012 and to climb the ranks to the top of the world stage.

Thank you, to everyone who supported me throughout this year. It makes it so much easier knowing that I have a lot of people behind me. Thank you for the emails and best wishes leading up to the race, and also the support after the race. Sometimes it is hard to deal with disappointment, and I really felt it after my race. It was great to be uplifted by those who sent their condolences following my race.

I would also like to thank my sponsors, and those people who financially supported me. Big thanks to MD Pool and Spa, Fulton Hogan, 1st Web Design and to my Parents, Grandparents and especially my great grandmother who also contributed significantly.

I will now be updating my website continually throughout the next years, and will upload some video of my race runs and training footage from Beijing.

Take care,
Luuka

Yesterday I flew to Prague for the day to pick up my new kayak. I was pretty excited about getting my shiny new boat, but a bit daunted by the eight hours of waiting in the airport.

I met Franta, the Caiman boat designer who dropped the kayak off for me, and was delighted to see that the colour design is exactly the same as my previous one. Trademark colours, nice!

After getting my kayak, I still had five hours to spare, so I found a nice corner of the airport, took the cover off my kayak and lay on it to catch up on some sleep for a few hours. Between sleeping and reading my book, time passed resonably quickly, and next I was at home, glad to be back and pretty excited about paddling my new kayak.

Thankyou to Etienne, who helped me bolt in my seat and footrests so I could paddle it in this afternoons training session. I still have to resin the seat in however, so that is tomorrows mission.

Thankyou again to Fulton Hogan for sponsoring me the funds to buy my new kayak, I really appreciate it.

I am based in Nottingham until the 27th of July where I fly out to Beijing to start training on the course.

Training is great and I am paddling well.

Check out the following link to the news story that was on TV3: www.scoop.co.nz

Also, here is a video clip of my friend Sarah Boudens of Canada having an unfortunate time in a hole whilst training on the course in China:
www.sarahboudens.ca

After Prague, I was determined not to let the chance of going to the olympics slip from my grasp. Trainign up to the race was going well, and it was just a case of believing in myself when it came to the race. The course is big and they always set pretty hard moves.

The qualifications course was quite unique, with gate one being further down the course which meant you had to go through it and paddle back up the eddy for 2 and 3. I had two very safe, very slow runs which put me through to semi finals in 35th place. The semi finals course was even harder with some hard moves that I had to get well, first time to have a chance. I went hard and nailed the tricky moves, but had a bit of a paddle back down the bottom. I finished in 28th place overall and within the top 16 nations. This is my best world cup result so far, and it was an enourmous improvement on my 42nd placing last year. I hope to continue to improve considerably and join the ranks of the top. Thankyou to Tim for coaching me on the weekend and also to Bryden, Andrew, Louise and James for your support. My condolances to James who only just missed out in a tough field.

I am in Augsburg now, training for the final world cup this weekend, then I am off to Seu in Spain for the Pre Worlds. I have ordered a new kayak, thanks to my new sponsor Fulton Hogan and cant wait to paddle it. My kayak at the moment is being held together by duct tape and is in desperate need of an ultimate repair job.

Thankyou to everyone who has supported me, and also to my sponsors.

Qualification through to my first ever world cup semi finals meant that I had to put one good run down to qualify within the top 16 nations. With the 18 nations in the Semi finals being extremely strong, it was going to be another big challenge. However, if I put down a good, solid run, it was definately in my hands.

Unfortunately I had a few very costly mistakes and I new by the end of the race, I had definately not succeeded. I am now in Tacen and training for this weekend's second world cup and my last chance to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

My semi final run can be watched via the following link, along with all of the other paddlers in the semi final.

Tomorrow is the big day, qualifications for the Prague world cup. Top 40 paddlers go through to the semi finals and to even consider Olympic selection, I must qualify. Here is a link to the live results feed: www.slalomtroja.cz.

Thankyou to everyone for your help and support, I will be doing my absolute best.

The time until Prague is quickly lessening and now there are less than two weeks until I will be sitting on the start line of the first world cup and Olympic qualifying race. The all too familiar nervous feeling in my stomach as I prepare to navigate the course as fast as I can!

I have been training hard, so when I get there, I can say there is nothing more I could have done to prepare for this.

Yesterday I raced in the Pan Celtic cup in Nottingham. The first time I have raced against the British girls. The course was fairly challenging, and big thanks to Tim Baillie who walked through it with me.

I felt really good on the start line and my focus was really good throughout my runs. I was pleased with my first run, a few errors but I nailed the hard moves. My second run was a little slower and I picked up two touches to add to the two I had picked up on my first run. Fortunately my times were good enough to put me in 4th place behind British team members Laura Blakeman, Louise Donnington and Lizzie Neave. It was good to have a fairly good race and gave me a bit of confidence for the big races coming up.

I fly to Prague on Sunday and start my training there, getting used to the course again and being coached by Kidda.

If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.- Arthur Ward

I am now in Nottingham and have been here, training for over three weeks now. I am doing two sessions a week with Kidda and the rest, training with other athletes or by myself.

I have a training plan in place to build up to the world cups which are about four weeks away. I am quite nervous but am feeling fairly confident about my training, so its all going to come down to how I race on the day.

I fly out to Prague on Sunday the 15th of June and train there until Friday, where I race in the Qualifications.

Semi Finals and Finals for the women are on Saturday.

Here is a link to the slalom website with all the information about the Prague race: www.slalomtroja.cz

I will be keeping my website up to date with what is happening, and results. At the moment I am just training in preparation for the upcoming races.

On the 29th of April, I depart New Zealand for the third time this year, although this time, I will not be back for seven months.

I am going to Nottingham to train at the National water sports centre and get in some valuable white water training before flying out to Prague to compete in the first world cup. To hopefully achieve a top 16 nation placing to meet requirements to compete at the Olympic games.

All of my results will be posted on this site, as well as latest updates of what I am up to throughout the year.

The weekend after returning from Oceania, was again another big race, the New Zealand Nationals. I spent the week coaching the Tauranga Girls college kayak team in the Secondary School Nationals, and now it was my turn. It is my second year as a senior, in the open K1 woman's class and after a disappointing second place last year, I was out to claim the National title.

The first day was Pre Nationals, a lead up to the race the next day. It was also a chance to compete in a number of different classes, as I also entered in C1 and C2 with Abby Dawson. C1 proved to be harder than it looks, as my chances of C1W champion were thrown away with a costly paddle back for a gate at the bottom. Fortunately, I still achieved second in this event, as well as winning my K1 category, with times I was quite proud of, and taking out the C2W as Abby and I paddled to victory.

The next day was an important race, as the National title was at stake. I had two fairly solid runs, but was still a little disappointed with my performance.

Nevertheless, I won by over 10 seconds and was national champion and top ranked female for the first time ever!!

The fact that a race can determine what you do for the rest of your year is a scary prospect, especially when the Olympic Games are concerned. After qualifying for the semi finals in the Oceania race in Penrith, I knew that the one race in the Semi Finals would decide whether or not I would be going to the world cup in Prague with the prospect of going to Beijing.

I was calm going into the race, but also had a strong confidence; I knew I could do it.

I believed that to qualify the spot would be a bonus and that ultimately the 2012 games were what I was aiming for. Even so, I was out to win, and to go to Beijing this year, was the opportunity of a lifetime. Going to the Olympic Games at the age of 19, something not many people get the chance to do.

My focus in the semi finals was great, and I was having an awesome run until the last drop where I rolled. Under the water, I was in disbelief, as I was sure I had blown it. Rolling up before the next drop and point of no return, I furiously paddled up the eddy to the last gate, and sprinted to the finish line.
I was pretty upset and super disappointed.

That was, until I discovered I actually had still qualified the spot, by a mere 0.8 of a second, gaining the chance to be the first K1W to represent New Zealand at an Olympic games!!!!