Hello again and welcome to the blog – is it day 9 already……!

All the lads really excelled themselves again today. Alan Tordoff, Head Coach :” Good scores again – well done guys”

Again the day dawned sunny and bright as we sat down to fortify ourselves at our  0700 breakfast. Much less alone now as we have a lot more teams joining us for breakfast. They are either training early to avoid the heat or to ensure the GB team haven’t eaten everything!

We all set off again for the 45 minute trip up the valley to the sprint course being overtaken at the half-way-spring,  our customary water stop by the Irish team in their canary-yellow Czech minibus. The dress rehearsal yesterday paid dividends as your trusty photographer was dropped off below the course armed with sun screen/ flag/ midge repellent and of course the Union Flag (see photo) to make his way across the railway bridge and find a track up to the course. The aim was to get some good airborne shots as seen on the event poster and to bag the necessary rock before anyone else!

Meanwhile the A team rigged the Gazebo and a couple more Union Flags, Chairs and fixed the fridge to avoid the massive heat. (see photo)  The lads had a couple of practice runs which all looked clean. We got split takers and video cameras in place, reinforced by Mike & Janine plus Janine’s parents Alec & Maureen. (Anyone listening to the race video’s can hear Alec – courtesy of aforesaid support for Glasgow Rangers !). Again the stage was set.

The lads performed magnificently. Good clean first runs from Alec, Gareth & Harry with David having a heart-stopping but excellent high brace!  Suddenly it began to dawn we were in with a chance – they had all posted good times and as the top seeded boys started to coming in making some massive mistakes it became clear our lads were all in with a chance to significantly improve on their classic results. Video analysis in the bus with James (see photo) The second run was very similar – the lads posted equally clean times and more of the other highly seeded boys continued to make mistakes. It was fantastically exciting to watch – real thrills & spills! The Czechs took a well deserved 1-2, with the Germans in 3^rd. 

The final results were Harry 12^th, Alec 14^th, Gareth 16^th and David 30^th which puts us well positioned for the team race tomorrow.

At this point the weather changed dramatically – with a massive electrical storm and thunder rolling around the hills. The flower ceremony was completed in double quick time and we all legged it for the bus just before the heavens opened! So a change of plan – rather than siesta & team race practice it was back to base (Another downhill Serbian lorry slalom race with the added excitement of combine-harvester overtaking!) for another very well deserved monster ice cream (see yesterday’s photos!)  and another ( the last for your intrepid driving team)  all you can eat dinner plus post race video analysis etc. Anne & Vince Postill went off for a well deserved Team Manager’s dinner at the Restaurant Geneva in Kraljevo hosted by the Mayor whilst we packed for the journey home tomorrow.

So we are as prepared as we can be for tomorrow. The lads are seeded fifth and know what they have to do. This will probably be the last blog with pictures as we’ll be likely texting on our way back across Europe! The team race will be followed by a BBQ for all the teams who are staying and then an 0400 get-up for those flying back to get to Belgrade airport early Monday morning

Tomorrow has the closing ceremony in Kraljevo where there will be a minutes silence to remember Luca Gretener of the Swiss Team who was tragically killed in an accident just before the event. Luca paddled C1 at last year’s Junior Worlds and this year’s World Cups and will have been known to many involved in Wild Water Racing. I’d like to take this opportunity to extend our thoughts and prayers to his Mother, Eveline and to all the family for  their very sad loss.

We had a luxurious lie-in to 0800. Not sure whether as the normal dawn canine chorus or not as I think everyone slept through to their alarms!

Yesterday’s blog was praising the improved bandwidth – anyway it had vanished in the late evening so the hotel WIFI was not up until breakfast when it finally left to get to Miranda.

The day dawned hot, clear and bright – and just got hotter….

 Fortunately we were well prepared so stopped on on-boarded another 16L of water plus the refills at the half-way spring to ensure we remained hydrated. After the 45 minute journey up to the sprint course our plan swung into action. We brought out the gazebo and erected it on the grass half-way down the sprint course plus chairs and our secret weapon – Vince’s gas operated fridge. The aim was to generate envy and admiration at our planning amongst the competing nations however after 20 minutes trying to get it lit tomorrow we’ll revert to plan B and leave it in the van plugged into the lighter socket!

The water level is slightly down (no surprise there) and the lads had a great morning practicing with all the other nations. All four have worked hard and nailed the big chute at the finish and the lines all the way down. With increasing confidence came increasing speed, followed by more runs in their race boats.  We finished off with a warm-down run of next year’s classic race course to get some headcam footage for next year. (for those with Google earth down to the foot bridge 15 mins. below the sprint course after both railway bridges and the Serbian 1912-1918 war memorial.

Being British we then had a picnic by the course in the shade, ( see photo) much to the amusement of the German coaches who were setting off for their own headcam run! Victualling by the hotel was up to the normal standard in terms of quality – but not quantity so we rapidly ran out of bread rolls. (any way this is now sorted for tomorrow with Vince giving clear instructions that a couple of large sacks of food would be preferable for individual packed lunch boxes with natty glazed lids).

We then headed off for the culture-vultures trip to the Orthodox Monastery of Studenica some 12km up from the sprint course. We swung of the main highway into a stunning almost alpine lateral valley with hairpins to match. Vince handled these with his customary aplomb and got his own back on the local drivers sending a little old VW golf heading for the crash barriers on one of the bends! The Monastery is high in the mountains, dates back to the 12^th century and is surrounded with circular fortified walls. There were roses in the gardens and beautiful icons in the different chapels and the wall paintings still showed the damage done during the Ottoman occupation. Suitably refreshed and laden down with a few souvenirs ( see photo) we then headed back down to base for a monster ice cream to fill those parts that two bread rolls each hadn’t reached.

This turned out to be the most exciting part of the day as we found ourselves in the midst of a Serbian downhill lorry driving slalom race! Two massive local mineral wagons vied with each other to see how long they could spend on the wrong side of the road (leading up to the many blind bends) this was then trumped by a couple of normal articulated lorries doing the same thing plus a couple of BMW’s – miraculously no one actually crashed although on one occasion it was incredibly close – I think only the fact that the wagon going uphill was ancient & knackered prevented a head-on smash!

Anyway back to base and your scribe headed off for the first coffee of the day (such dedication) before the team leader’s meeting and feedback from Jens Perlwitz, chairman of the ICF WWR committee on the future of the sport. There will be senior sprint worlds every year and world cups will be cut back to compensate. The understandable aim is to increase the sport’s mass appeal on TV and converge with events like canoe slalom. Always a difficult balance with the need to keep major events accessible to as many athletes and nations as possible.

Meanwhile the A team led by Anne & Mike headed off to find the largest ice creams in Mataruska Banja. In this I think they succeeded as some of the lads needed a little lie down before they could attack another all you can eat buffet! (see photos!)

So we are ready for tomorrow. Dawn patrol get-up, breakfast at 7 and up to the course for practice at 9 leaving plenty of time for race start at 11. Chilling out in the café spotted by Mike and Janine on their recce between runs and then second run at 1300. Another picnic and siesta followed by team race practice and then back to base. All is ready – the lads did well today in preparing so should be good. Your photographer has spotted a nice vantage point on the other side of the river so will get dropped off to get across the railway bridge and upstream to the course.

Now to the bar!

Day 7 (I think ….. losing track of time..!) dawned sunny and bright with the certainty of real “Phew what a scorcher” of a day.

A brilliant day for the lads – 5^th – one place up from their seeding, under 6 seconds behind the Italians with David 30 seconds up & Alec 10 seconds up on yesterday’s result   – a great result for all of them and setting us up well for the sprints. From Alan Tordoff, Head Coach – “That is much improved from last year – well done”

After another 0700 breakfast – not on our own now as others are cottoning on the plan swung into action again. The A team of Mike, Vince & James took the lads up for a couple of practice runs whilst the scribe and photographer took advantage of the spare bandwidth made available by David’s absence to upload yesterday’s photos and email Miranda our indefatigable Webmaster (followed by the first decent coffee of the day in the riverside café which only opens at 9).

The cunning plan of using the trailer for the practice runs and setting out ten minutes earlier meant they were back as planned half an hour earlier than yesterday – with time to chill and really get ready whilst the management  (us  general lifters & carriers) put the boats on the roof to avoid/ minimize the traffic chaos at race start (see photo). At this point the B team set off to refill water bottles at the spring, get Janine’s parents to oversee race finish, get Janine to her station 1minute 30 seconds from race finish and your photographer back to the big rapids just above the final straight.

Safely protected by a potent mix of Union Flags, Sun Screen and Midge repellent we then waited for the start entertained by the brilliant blue Mayflies, Elegant Swallowtail Butterflies cruising the riverbank and the aggressive Dragonflies patrolling the river.

Alec, David & Harry had a great race – staying in close formation and really working together. Alec took the lead as planned with David wash-hanging and Harry following shouting more encouragement (etc.). 

This took them well up on the Swiss  who were in front of them and stretching out a decent lead on the Dutch chasing them. On the second-from-last long straight Alec was tiring so David took the lead down the rapids and through the long final straight to the finish. A decent formation, as you can see from the photos, was maintained through to the finish which was celebrated by much swimming and jumping off rocks until they were rightly banned by the organizers (but the river did look very inviting!). It was great to see them really working as a team. After the flower ceremonies with well-deserved victories for the French Boys & German Girls K1’s and Czech C1 teams we headed back to the hotel for some running repairs ( see photo) and – you have guessed it – another all you could eat four course lunch.

It is a beautiful place so I’ve included one of Anne’s photo’s of the Medieval Castle overlooking the race finish and also another I took of the Orthodox Church we can see from the hotel in Mataruska Banja.

Suitably fortified time for some rest for the lads and more photo uploading for your photographer. I think Telecom Serbia must have massively increased the bandwidth to the hotel for the face book generation as the only time we have been able to get large emails out up until now is after they have mostly gone to sleep! Anyway there are now some more photos on the WWR Facebook site and hopefully soon on the official WWR gallery.

In the afternoon the team with Mike and James went up to the sprint course for some practice whilst the Management Team headed into Kraljevo for the Prize Giving (and the bar ) – moving bars on the advice of one of the Ladies with the Irish team not only obtained service with a smile but also a fantastic cooling fan spraying a cooling mist – blessed relief from the increasing heat!).  

The water level is lower and the big chute above the sprint race finish is now more challenging than ever with extreme precision needed to get clean lines – answer – more practice. This is very much a two-edged sword. All teams were struggling today so two decent clean runs would give the outside prospect of a medal. The weather forecast is for a further 10-13Deg C heating up over the weekend. (Actually we’ve been pretty luck so far ). The Sprint Course on Saturday means we’ll be there for the whole day so will need the Pergola we have brought and Vince’s secret wapon , a gas-powered fridge  plus A LOT of water!

So back to the hotel for another light repast where the Hotel Termal achieved a significant victory; quote of the day David “Wow that has defeated me” (after the quote was “bagged” and a second attempt to finish the dinner failed – quote stands!) .

Tomorrow the plan is for a well-deserved lie-in until 8 and then up to the Sprint course to practice followed by a cultural visit to the Studenica Monastery, a world heritage site. In the afternoon there is a team leader’s meeting plus something on the future of the sport whilst the rest will head into Kraljevo for a spot of sight-seeing and I suspect, and Ice Cream.

Your dedicated scribe returned to complete the blog, James studied the stats over the last two days whilst the Management team headed for the Riverside Bar where last night there were four frogs (of the genus Rana – not from France) busy nabbing flies attracted by the lights. At this point I think we’ll go over to join them!

A good result for the lads – 15, 22, 33 & 35. From GB Team Coach Alan Tordoff – “Well done Guys” (Photos are Alec, David, Gareth, Harry)

The BIG day dawned sunny and bright. The cathedral shone through the trees and mist wrapped the hills as we all staggered down for another 0700 breakfast – first in the dining room again to attack the food mountain. Everyone was pleased to see bananas back on the menu after the temporary supply blip yesterday.  Our plan swung into action as we headed off for a couple of practice runs on the course to clear the early morning cobwebs.

It went like clockwork although the management team needed nerves of steel as they were heading back to the hotel with a steady stream of teams heading the other way for race start! Anyway a quick turn-around was achieved and the athletes

 delivered fresh and cool in nice time for the start and clear of the traffic chaos of 15 team buses converging on race start. Although incredibly hot and windless the Serbian event staff had a great set up so all went smoothly and hotly with Anne and Mike providing cool spring-fresh bottles of water to our athletes as they warmed up.

For the backroom staff the various split and noisemaking and photographic units (i.e. Janine, Vince, James and Peter) were dumped out at the half-way point. We should have been armed with machetes to carve our way through the undergrowth but yesterday’s recce had spotted a couple of possible tracks. With camera , Union Flags and Zuzuela’s plus Neil Stamps mobile split taking application all was ready.

Things went very much according to plan with all challenges and drama expected of a major international event. The lads worked really hard and  did themselves justice against the expected very tough competition. Technical lines were all good, technique held up and the flat three-and-a-half minute slog to the finish proved as hard as expected. The whirlwind of noise undoubtedly helped with Janine’s recent acquisition, the Zuzuela’s,  and at the finish Janine’s dad Alec proving that many years of supporting Glasgow Rangers is an extremely useful asset! Everyone paddled as hard as they could, with the local helpers for boat 

weighing having to help actually lift the lads boats out of the water for weighing after the finish.

Afterwards it was back to the relative cool of the hotel for – you guessed it – another all you could eat

 extravaganza. This was followed variously by a quick caffeine boost at the Riverside Café followed by photo and post-race analysis / or detailed eyelid examination before the afternoon’s team race practice. Back up to the course in the “cool” of the afternoon and the lads had a good time trying out wash-hanging technique for tomorrow with James briefing the lads at the top lay-by.

 Mike as driver had a particularly unusual challenge as full –size remote-controlled Tonka toy was unloaded from a low-loader in the middle of the road!– one of many road obstacles although the Serbian traffic cops have been pretty effective.

It finished off with more excellent food in the dining room followed by the management teams & reinforcements going out for a cool walk by the river or emails and blog writing followed (very shortly) by a cool beer!

All is ready and set-up for tomorrow. Alec, David & Harry all know what they have to do and Gareth will be helping James with splits at the half-way point.

Another bright day dawned with our athletes first into breakfast bright and early at 0700 for an early couple of runs before the days heat,  leaving  time to get back for scrutineering at 11:15. (If not bright then early anyway!). Yet more cereals, bread rolls and “full Serbians” (A very meaty sausage sliced length ways plus scrambled/ fried eggs). Some consternation in the ranks as the hotel appears to have run out of bananas! (Against the run of play – the mountains of food on the breakfast buffet seem to grow each day!)

A good couple of runs on the classic course, fast down the rapids & easy on the flats to get it sorted. Levels back to the first day so pretty much sorted about what each of the lads want to do. Back to scrutineering at the Hotel Termal where all the boats passed with flying colours. A massive relief for a slightly edgy Harry after last year’s nightmare when his boat was too narrow…..anyway the lolly sticks and epoxy weren’t needed and all the boats sailed through and all the buoyancy aids floated…. .( See photos of edgy team and pleased / surprised team management) A novelty this year that should have had HAZCHEM labeling was the checking of the athletes race footwear. The scrutineers survived the experience, David won the prize for the closest boat to race weight (11.1Kg) and the intrepid team management headed en bloc for their first Cappuccino of the day in the riverside bar to recover whilst the athletes variously rested their eyelids or  watched extreme wild water videos.

This was followed by the obligatory motor transport activity – this time getting the Minibus washed anyway my Serbian must be excellent. A young lady washed the van, I had another coffee and returned sparkling in time for lunch (yes another all you can eat and yes – they did – again). After lunch planning for official training and the rapidly approaching  race day (Team Management are starting to loose track of time…..) determined that Anne would be driving the bus, Peter Taking Photos, James taking splits and Vince shouting “encouragement” on the last three and a half minute slog to the finish. Fortunately reinforcements arrived, in the form of Mike and Janine Baker plus Janine’s parents , at the precise moment when we decided to head for the bar for coffee and inspiration . So we now have Mike driving the Minibus with Anne (much to her relief) to race start and Janine adding to the volume of “encouragement” on the final straight plus a new noisemaking device (see tomorrow for further reports). 
The sun shone all afternoon, the lads had a good official practice,  the hotel is suitably adorned with Union Flags, (see photo)  one of Alec’s mates in the Irish Team has is paddles heat glued together again, we have a new flagstaff from one of the local trees negotiated by Gareth with one of the Serbian Police “Ok only One” as we headed off to the Opening Ceremony in Kraljevo.

A great and mercifully short event in the beautiful main square of Kraljevo with the ICF, Local canoe federation. Lots of spectators, television  and loads of police and excellent (i.e. short and to the point) welcoming speeches followed by the Mayor opening the event to a massive wall of noise from a concurrent local demonstration (power station) added to the uniqueness of the occasion. Gareth & David definitely had the biggest flagstaff (see picture) which made the GB team really stand out (and easy to find after a much needed relief trip to the ATM). Standing listening to the “Ode to Joy” and looking around at our team and the 15 other nations with us it struck me what a great privilege it is that beautiful cities go out of their way to host such events and we have the brightest and best young people from across Europe competing together to achieve the very best. 
Anyway afterwards back in the trusty minibus armed with three new Vuvuzela’s for tomorrow – tested out on any young lady the lads spotted on the way back plus other random victims. The lads must be suitably tired – quote of the day (David) “I can’t poop anymore!”. A quick briefing – Dawn patrol get-up 0700 breakfast, 0800 practice run then back ready for the race at 11 then team practice later in the afternoon. The rearguard go up at 0930  to reserve relevant rocks for photography and shouting “encouragement”. Everyone knows what to do and is ready so time for bed after an excellent Serbian Beer.

Apparently there were great thunderstorms all night – which I managed to sleep through (no surprise there). All were woken by the dawn canine chorus which takes some getting used to!

Anyway off to breakfast and again all you can eat – Harry probably has the greatest quota of bread rolls whilst Alec fairly outstripped the squad on pasta last night. No power because of the thunderstorm meant no coffee – which was fairly tragic. Our intrepid coach James tried the large urn,  labeled tea,  – a turbid fruit coloured liquid with hot milk. Needless to say none of the rest followed the experiment so we were caffeine-less until a LOT later in the morning.

First out of the car park in the morning meant we got a good timed practice team run after the warm up. At this point we found there was an espresso bar at the finish (not so good for the split takers). After the obligatory refill of water bottles at the half-way-point spring it was back to the hotel for accreditation, video analysis and the usual spot of boat fettling and pre-emptive trailer maintenance.

High Points of the morning were when Gareth was spotted looking for one of the Italian girls team in the front of his boat (or was he checking his airbags? ) and Harry was also caught on camera trying on a Kayak for size in preparation for tomorrow’s opening ceremony. 

After yet another all you could eat meal (and yes they did-again ) plus short siesta it was back in the van  for the 45min trek up to the sprint course in the afternoon. We were pleased to see a large variety of Serbian traffic cops slowing down the traffic at all the main points (without much impact it has to be said on the quality of driving anywhere else) and successfully over took a horse and cart, tractor & combine harvester whilst being overtook by everything else on the road. (Speed limits and solid white no overtaking lines are clearly advisory………)

A good afternoon was had by all. We erected our pergola at the key vantage point for videoing and the lads all had a great set of timed runs trying out different lines and generally getting the course ironed out. All looked pretty tidy and clean throughout whilst the session was enlivened by a number of swims & other spectaculars by some of the other teams. One of the other advantages of the lunch time use of boat repair boxes was the discovery of the Senior Team’s super soaker – at which point the lads discovered they weren’t the only ones so armed!

Tonight brings the first team leaders meeting and tomorrow the Non-Stop in the morning and Opening Ceremony in Kraljevo in the evening. Should be fun looking at the photos of the central square but rather later than we would have liked. Still we do have a plan……. Now off for a Cappuccino before dinner and getting ready for our dawn patrol practice run tomorrow.

Breakfast massively exceeded expectations – actually more than enough for everybody to eat! (A pretty even score on who can eat the most so far).

After breakfast head for the hills to get the runs in – following the Swiss & Irish teams who were first out of the car park. Amazingly everything went to plan.

Three runs with helmet cam sorting out the routes. A good bash off the start down some small rapids. A longish flat stretch under a really rickety footbridge – a lot of rusting ironmongery and rotten woodwork.

95% sure it is river right round the island at that point.  More flat bits past a natural spring by the roadside. This solved the hydration problems. The routine is drop the athletes off, get to the spring and refill all the water bottles then down to video the next section and then the finish. The water is pure, tastes beautiful and is COOL! 

After a morning checking out the Classic course then back to the hotel for a light lunch (4 courses which brought everyone to a standstill and was really good) then video analysis and detailed examination of the inside of eyelids for a rest then off to the sprint course. During lunch we became aware that the perfect blue sky had been transformed to something rather more threatening.

Hero & Heroine of the day were Vince and Anne Postill for braving the extreme thunderstorm to turn everyone’s race boats over so they didn’t fill with water. Apparently there was some excitement in the hotel reception when Vince started stripping off his tee shirt before going outside to brave the elements.

It is 45 minutes to the sprint course from the Hotel Termal but worth it – a good course and the lads got a good lot of practice on the decent size chute just above the race finish. Various lines were tried and different interesting options tested out – still no one fell in and the boats survived intact. We tore the lads away from the attractions of the Italian WWR team who had just arrived to head back down the valley building up another impressive queue behind us.

We got back to the hotel  for yet another monster meal (basically self-service all you can eat – which the lads did!) followed by video analysis & some much needed sleep.

Anyway tomorrow basically the same plan – plus accreditation and the first team leader’s meeting. All the teams are arriving so all is looking good.

All now safely at the Hotel Thermal in Mataruska Banja after various epic journeys across Europe.

The cunning plan appears to be working. The advance guard of James and Peter switched to a neat little Renault Megane at Belgrade ( seems to be Beograd on the sign posts) with one boat and a handy Handirack lent by Ken Bain.

After stocking up on coffee and breakfast plus Serbian Dinars from a friendly ATM (quote of the day – “what don’t they have it in Welsh?”) ….(actually no – but we did get the quota of funds for more coffee and the tolls). They pressed on to recce the hotel and race course armed with the trusty Helmet Cam and more flapjack.
 Mike Baker stayed with the Minibus to collect the team plus supporters who then followed to the famous Hotel Thermal down the Motorway and across a scenic route through the mountains. This proved to be a good choice guided by the Foreign Office who warned against the direct route and the hire car guide who told us about the new ring road to avoid traffic jams in the centre of Belgrade. Comparing notes with Jean Pierre Berni with the Belgian team they took 5 hrs on the direct route against 3 hrs for the longer journey.