The Place:
River Una, Bihac, Bosnia Herzegovina

The People:
Alan Tordoff, Jes Oughton, James Wingfield, Dee Patterson, Jessica Oughton, Anna Wise, Martin Steele, Jamie Oughton, Jonnie Schofield, Simon Wright, Jamie Christie

After waving the bus trailer and 3 drivers off on Friday evening the rest of us made it to the airport bright and early (thanks to Jonnie's housemate and Steeleys Dad) on Sunday morning. At the airport Jonnie and Steeley managed to get themselves strange looks as they played with their "mac-sabers" as the rest of us tried to pretend we didn't know them! Apart from a small incident Jonnie had when trying to get through security with a drink the rest of the journey was fairly uneventful.

We quickly settled into our accommodation at the Hotel Sedra. The junior team had told us all how lovely the River Una and Bihac was but to we were all pretty impressed to see it for ourselves. On Monday morning we did our first run of the river. I forgot to take a spray deck but luckily Jes had a spare one in the bus so thanks for that! It turned out to be quite a tiring week with 5 days of competition for those competing in every event.

On the last practise day before the non-stop event Jonnie, Steeley and Jamie decided that rolling practise would be a good way to cool off and end the days paddling. Jonnie and Steeley succeeded and were looking the other way as Jamie made an attempt and ended up having a swim and hurting his shoulder at the same time!

There were lots of new things for me to learn on this trip as it was my first major international. I had never done a non-stop before and was quite nervous before the start but I realised it was a good practise for the classic the following day. Jamie and Simon only arrived in Bihac 30 mins before the non-stop so had to paddle it blind but successfully managed to get down the river in one piece!

Thursday was classic race day. I felt less nervous than I had for the non-stop although I did almost fall in on the practice run in the morning! The C2 managed to squeeze in quite a few practice runs before the race. Everyone did well in the classic event with a very impressive 7th place for Ica and 11th for the C2. The following day was the team classic, my nerves were high again as I was worried I would make a mistake. We finished in 4th place 7 seconds behind the French team. I think that is the most tiring race I have ever done! The mens team put in a solid run and finished in 8th place.

Saturday was sprint race day and I went with Peter Schofield to go and watch the others racing. It was a really exiting day as after the first runs Jonnie was in 1st place and Ica was placed in 2nd! Luckily Jes, who had been ill and in bed, managed to come and watch the second runs. Jamie put in a stronger 2nd run but unfortunately Steeley had some thigh bar issues. Jonnie put in a stronger 2nd run to win by just under two seconds. It was then time for the girls Dee had a much better 2nd run and Ica managed to secure 3rd place which was an amazing result. The medal ceremony that evening was really good to watch but celebrations were put on hold as there was still another day of racing to go. Sprint team racing was interesting and although both teams put in solid performances I think we all felt that more practice is needed to get it right.

We packed up all the kit and headed on a very long journey back to Ljubliana. I had a fantastic first trip so thank you to everyone involved.